For over 4,000 years, acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine has been an evolving system of healing. For thousands of years, no one could tell you WHY it worked to alleviate pain, just that it DID (for a small percentage of people, acupuncture does not have an effect).

Remember – acupuncture is using YOU to heal yourself! Not adding anything created by a pharmaceutical company…

One reason acupuncture has been around for so long is because it works – quickly – for acute and chronic pain. Acute pain (when you wrench your back lifting that box), can often be treated in one session, depending upon what caused the pain.

As an acupuncturist, treating pain is one of the most rewarding treatments to provide because people may suddenly feel the pain dissipate just a few minutes after their needles are inserted. What a priceless look people get on their faces! We have some powerful acupuncture points that we know can provide quick relief, as well as providing the longer-term support to keep the pain at bay. The quickest way to describe this, without going all ‘scientific’, is that the acupuncture sends a message to the brain and nervous system saying ‘it’s OK, you’re safe, let go of the pain response now’. Once the brain gets the message, it is often all it takes.

There is a 2016 Australian study with acupuncture in the emergency room, showing that acupuncture provided pain relief faster than intravenous morphine in a higher percentage of patients, as well as with with MUCH fewer adverse reactions. Some of the outcomes included:

Acupuncture IV Morphine
Successful pain relief 92% 78%
Delay to pain relief 8 – 24 minutes 14 – 42 minutes
Adverse events 4 85

(The study coordinates are: Acupuncture for acute pain in Emergency Departments. Grissa MH, Baccouche H, Boubaker H, Beltaief K, Bzeouich N, Fredj N, et al. Acupuncture vs intravenous morphine in the management of acute pain in the ED. The American Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2016;34(11):2112-6.)

It is exciting to know that the explosion in studies about acupuncture these days, we are finally beginning to understand some of the mechanisms of acupuncture, but despite finer and finer imaging technologies, no one quite can say with 100% certainty how and why it works… what we DO know, however, is that in a high percentage of people, acupuncture DOES work for pain, fast!

Another recent caution about treating your acute (or sudden-onset) pain with NSAIDs, (like Advil(R) or Ibuprofin) is this study reported in the CBC recently https://www.cbc.ca/news/health/mcgill-university-inflammation-chronic-pain-study-1.6458382 Interrupting your body’s natural healing processes may result in longer term chronic pain…. so why not enlist your body’s natural healing mechanisms early on with acupuncture?

Chronic pain, including autoimmune conditions and arthritis, for example, take more treatments but remarkably, you can have relief right on the acupuncture treatment during the first treatment. I remember as a student treating a patient who had chronic pain for decades (and, of course, depression and other conditions, as you can imagine living with chronic pain); she had almost cancelled her appointment that day because she was in so much pain. But – she said – I’m going to be in pain whether I lay in bed or get treatment, so why not come. About 4 minutes into the treatment, her eyes popped open, and she said ‘I don’t feel any pain!’ She described the feeling like her pain was the air in an inflated balloon, and needling just let the air leak out. The emotional space and hopefulness that relief provided to her was lovely to see – we cautioned her it was not a permanent change, but just the ability to truly feel good for even a day or a few days created a feeling of optimism that had been lacking for ages for her.

Chronic pain can create actual changes in your brain – so you need a series of treatments to ‘rewire’ the way your brain reacts to the pain messages it gets (often inflammatory). Your ‘pain signalling’ system might be stuck ‘on’. After a few days or a few weeks, however, it may return, which is why a regime of treatment can actually reinforce the ‘safety’ message for your brain and nervous system.

So – if you or someone you love is suffering from pain – if it’s new (non-emergency room – heart pain or pain with red, hot swollen area) pain – meaning sudden onset, the quicker you can try treatment, the faster acupuncture can work, and stop that pain signalling before the brain makes it a habit.

If you or someone you know suffers from chronic pain, then maybe trying acupuncture can create some relief and make them feel they can have their non-pain life back. The great thing about this is not only alleviating the physical pain, but the myriad mental and emotional ‘baggage’ that comes with chronic pain, including avoiding activities, losing joy in life and feeling hopeless and like everyone is sick of hearing you talk about your pain.

I’m hopeful this gives you something to think about, and to feel it may be possible that YOU can use your own body to help heal yourself, instead of adding pharmaceuticals. DO NOT*** STOP taking anything your MD prescribes, however! This is not meant to replace medical advice, just meant to provide COMPLEMENTARY health treatment, NOT replacing or alternative.