In my later years of medical school, I thought that pain treatment was below me. Even though acupuncture was best known for its effective pain relief, I thought that
Western medical world was simply behind as usual. We were amazed to learned all other diseases we could treat with acupuncture, like neurological problems, immune system dysfunction, anxiety, and depression, and I thought, "Anyone can treat pain. I'd rather focus on something more interesting." As I wrote about Chinese medicine on Pulse website, I thought, "It would be more beneficial for acupuncture's image if I focused on something like psychology. And, people really need to understand complexity and power of our herbal medicine system."
So talking about treatment of pain wasn't really on my list.
Western vs. Eastern Pain Relief But, I couldn't help seeing that Western medicine didn't have great pain relief solutions. They always have side effects of some drugs, and addictive potential of opiates (their most powerful pain killers).
My wonderfully well-read wife subscribes to a journal called The Pain Practitioner (www.aapainmanage.org/literature/PainPrac.php). After reading that for a few months, I suddenly realized that they never mentioned acupuncture. That's crazy, I thought. After all, it competes with drugs in terms of effectiveness and doesn't cause side effects. Plus, it's superior in permanently removing neurogenic pain, and preventing temporary pain from going through "grooved into brain" process that leads to chronic pain syndromes.
When you think of acupuncture, first thing that should come to mind is "Superior for treating pain."
Higher Standards for Pain Relief with Acupuncture I've found that many acupuncturists do not enjoy treating pain. I think this may be because they haven't learned a style of acupuncture that treats pain effectively and quickly. In October 2002, I began a mentorship with Robert Chu, who had learned a quick and powerful pain-relieving acupuncture system from a student of famous Taiwanese acupuncturist, Master Tong.
Dr. Chu has taught me several acupuncture systems that are not currently taught in acupuncture schools. His goal is immediate pain relief, to some degree, and immediate relaxation or a sense of well being in other diseases.
This is a high standard - we can't always achieve total pain relief with one treatment. It may take ten treatments to make a permanent dent in some situations. But I like having big goals. I think I'm more likely to make progress that way.
Location and Cause of Pain In clinic, first we find out where your pain is. If you've been in an accident, or there are nerve-related issues, we do a physical examination to discover nature of problem. For example, your pain may be due to a problem in spine, messages from brain, one of your internal organs, or because you've bruised a muscle, tendon, or ligament.
Sometimes, we can't find an obvious cause, even with X-rays, MRI's, and lab tests. We have to assume then that cause is neurogenic- from brain, nervous system, or even psyche. Pain can be a manifestation of emotion. There's nothing wrong, or less valid about that kind of pain.
Actually, Chinese medicine is well-suited to treat that. And people with pain of a psychological origin may find their Western physician less sympathetic, because they always have to look out for addicts. Acupuncture, conversely, can treat addiction.
