Arthritis, joint & muscle pain
THIS ARTICLE SHOULD BE READ IN LIGHT OF THE INFO IN MY RECENT POST RE CONDITIONS I”M NOT ALLOWED TO CLAIM THAT I CAN TREAT. SO PLEASE BE ADVISED THAT I CANNOT CLAIM TO TREAT ARTHRITIS !!!!!
‘Well you’ve got arthritis, what can you expect’….. A common thing to hear at the first sign of any new ache or pain. In fact once we’re over the age of 40 it’s assumed that joint & muscle pain comes with the territory.
In my Acupuncture practice I have two approaches to joint pain.
FIRST I look for muscular problems. Localized acutely tender points in muscle were first documented by Professor Janet Travell, a brilliant American physician. She mapped out areas of dull aching referred pain which often spread into joints and become confused with joint problems. Many of the muscles around the shoulder blade send aching into the joint for example, and often down the arm. Muscle ‘trigger points’ in the haunch may get confused as hip joint pain.
The answer it was found, is to use a needle to stimulate the muscle at the point which can then release it, thereby removing the pain.
If the muscle points are there you can easily tell because when those points are pressed, they hurt even though the area around doesn’t.
Clear the superficial problem first. If the muscle problem is gone and the pain goes also, we know it was being created by that muscle problem. If the pain’s still there then we know it’s probably created by the joint itself (In my experience, don’t assume that just because an xray says there’s arthritic change in a joint, that’s automatically going to cause all the pain).
SECONDLY if there are no muscle trigger points, or clearing them doesn’t resolve the pain, then I look at Classical Chinese Acupuncture where we use points away from the area as well as points around the joint to try and help blood flow in the tissues of the joint (helping to clear inflammation) leading to a possible, albeit gradual, improvement in joint health. Fact is, however it works, this kind of acupuncture has been used for over two thousand years and nothing survives that long if it’s just the latest health fad.
In some cases I also use Chinese Herbal Medicine. Plant-based medicine has been the primary form of medicine up to the last hundred years or so. In the Han dynasty of the second century a.d. a sophisticated method of treating severe epidemic disease using combinations of plants (formulae) is well documented and that sophistication has developed over subsequent centuries. Certainly many plants we use have anti inflammatory properties and have been used in arthritic pain for at least one to two thousand years.