Integra Acupuncture - In The News!: September 2016

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

Get to the Point: Treating Infertility with Acupuncture

SEPTEMBER 4, 2016 by SARA NOVAK

Infertility–which is on the rise–generally means that a couple isn’t able to get pregnant after a full year of trying. It may be caused by the fact that couples are waiting longer to have kids, but other factors may also be at play.

It’s a problem that impacts 12 percent of all women ages 15 to 44 years old in the U.S. But it’s far from just a women’s problem. In fact, out of all men under age 45 that sought help for infertility, 18 percent were diagnosed with male infertility. While the root of the growing problem is not completely clear, a growing number of couples are turning to a more holistic, Eastern approach to treatment.

A Closer Look at Treating Infertility

There’s a lot that has to happen for a woman to get pregnant, and if seventh grade sex ed has slipped your mind, here’s a quick recap: A woman must release an egg from one of her ovaries which must join with a man’s sperm along the way to the uterus to fertilize. The fertilized egg must go through the fallopian tubes and implant on the inside of the uterus. So, a problem with any of these steps can cause issues getting or staying pregnant.

Infertility can be caused by any number of issues including:

A lack of ovulation
Hormone imbalances
Blocked fallopian tubes
Fibroids
Insufficient eggs or poor egg quality
Environmental toxins including endocrine disruptors
Low sperm count
Abnormal semen
Getting pregnant later in life

Whatever the reasons, infertility is heartbreaking for the couples that go through it.

Conventional Methods for Treating Infertility

When it comes to treating infertility, common methods include intrauterine insemination (IUI) and in vitro fertilization (IVF). IUI is the process of placing a concentrated sample of sperm directly in the uterus at the proper time to help a women get pregnant. It can be done with or without fertility drugs. IVF is a more intensive process and it works by manually combining the egg and sperm in a laboratory dish, and then transferring the embryo to the uterus. This requires fertility drugs. IUI costs around $800 per treatment and it’s usually done before IVF. IVF costs at least $12,000 but it can often cost as much as $17,000 per round.

Using Chinese Medicine to Treat Infertility

There are a number of reasons why people might turn to less invasive fertility treatments like Chinese medicine instead of Western treatment methods. Here are a few:

In general, it’s just a fraction of the cost of IVF. Costs are usually between $60 and $100 per treatment.
It’s less invasive.
It doesn’t require fertility drugs.
Many find the treatments relaxing and even pleasurable.

According to Sara Putnam of One Life Wellness, Chinese medicine practitioners take a holistic look at patients. They look beyond the obvious to all areas of physical and emotional health and then they tie everything together. Putnam helps patients all along the spectrum of fertility issues from those that are just beginning to try to conceive to patients who are using it along with Western treatments like IVF.

“We look at the root of the problem from emotional trauma to stress,” says Putnam. “Even digestion can play a role. For example, if your digestive system isn’t absorbing nutrients then it can be hard to get pregnant.”

Putnam uses acupuncture points customized for each patient’s fertility issues. For example, certain points can regulate ovulation or induce menstruation. Other points can influence hormones like the pituitary gland and hypothalamus. Acupuncture can also increase blood circulation which keeps everything healthy and can increase the flow of cervical fluid.

Diet can also play a role. And while Putnam contends that dietary changes vary between patients based on needs, certain inflammatory foods are often removed from the diet including:

Gluten
Dairy
Sugar
Alcohol
Caffeine

These food groups constrict blood flow, which is generally a negative for fertility. Tobacco (obviously!) is also off limits. Putnam may also combine massage with other treatments like Chinese herbs and cupping for the best results. She encourages couples to look toward a more holistic approach before exploring conventional treatments. Even if you choose IUI or IVF, Chinese medicine can increase your chances of these treatments being successful.

Are you struggling to get pregnant? Have you tried using alternative therapies for treating infertility? What have you learned? Drop us a line via Twitter @OrganicAuthorit.

Acupuncture image via Shutterstock

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Acupuncture & Sports Injuries

My son injured his lower back and right neck the other night at a football game. The trainer and the walk-in clinic diagnosed a spinal stinger. X-rays were taken and nothing is broken. The orthopedist said it was "just a strain" and wants to take him out of sports for four weeks. That's almost half the season. Nobody has offered any type of treatment other than rest and pain pills which do not help. Can chiropractic or acupuncture offer any quick relief? I would like to no what kind of treatments he can do at home to speed up the healing process. He wants to get back on the field.

First of all, that is what every athlete wants is to get back on the field Chiropractors have special training in sports injuries, and some, like myself, even have post-graduate training in orthopedics and sports medicine that can ultimately lead to diplomat status. This an additional 300 hours of sports orthopedic training that can be achieved after chiropractic school.

Lets address a stinger. This usually happens after an intense blow to the top or either side of the head. It is very common in football and should be taken very seriously.

After the injury, the player may experience numbness, tingling, burning and spasms of the neck, upper back and affected extremity. This is basically a pinched nerve in the neck. It usually in the lower neck, but it can be in the upper neck also. Chiropractors specialize in pinched nerves.

Image result for acupuncture and sports injuries

Once the medical personal have ruled out any serious damage to the spinal cord, it is time to get evaluated immediately by a chiropractor.

A thorough exam should be performed and a treatment plan will be implemented.

At my office, there will be an intense series of spinal manipulation, therapeutic massage sessions, physical therapy treatments and acupuncture performed.

Home treatments will include ice massage, TENS therapy, orthopedic bracing if needed and special instructions on stretching.

Remember, sprain or strains of the joints and surrounding tissues are the most common injuries related to any kind of sports injuries. Pain, swelling, redness, purple skin discoloration, reduced range of motion and a dull ache are the most common symptoms.

Along with the conventional R.I.C.E. formula (rest, ice, compression, elevation), acupuncture has been found to be very effective in quickly suppressing inflammation and swelling and typically speeds up the healing process.

I know what you are thinking, my kid is afraid of needles and is not going to do acupuncture. Maybe or maybe not, but you would be surprised at how many kids are willing to try acupuncture to get better faster and get back on the field.

My son was 9 when he first tried acupuncture for chronic stomach problems. He had miraculous results and is now receiving acupuncture for his low back pain.

By Layne Towery
Sept. 13, 2016 at midnight

Acupuncture Helps With Pain!

LAS VEGAS — Acupuncture is an effective way to relieve some chronic pain conditions, according to a presentation at PAINWeek 2016.1

Richard Harris, PhD, an assistant professor in the department of anesthesiology at the University of Michigan and co-president for the Society for Acupuncture Research, reviewed the basic principles of acupuncture research during his discussion.

In his presentation, Dr Harris discussed results from a meta-analysis conducted by the Acupuncture Trialists' Collaboration, an international group of 31 physicians, clinical trialists, biostatisticians, acupuncturists, and other specialists established in 2006 to provide best evidence on the effects of acupuncture on chronic pain.2

For the analysis, the Collaborative obtained individual patient data sets from 29 randomized clinical trials of acupuncture in back pain, neck pain, headache, and osteoarthritis. The paper, published in the Archives of Internal Medicine in 2012, concluded that for all of the included conditions, patients who underwent acupuncture had less pain but that the effect size of acupuncture differed based on the control group. A moderate effect size was found for acupuncture over non-acupuncture controls, such as no treatment or wait lists, while a smaller yet statistically significant effect size was found for acupuncture over sham acupuncture techniques.

Dr Harris explained in his presentation that these data have significant clinical implications for patients. A patient with a baseline pain score of 60 on a scale of 0 to 100 would be expected to have a pain score of 45 after a non-acupuncture intervention, a score of 35 after a sham acupuncture intervention, and a score of 30 after true acupuncture.

The Acupuncture Trialists' Collaboration concluded that the differences in effect size by control group suggest that factors in addition to needling specific effects are important contributors to acupuncture's therapeutic effects.

“The total effects of acupuncture, as experienced by the patient in routine practice, include both the specific effects associated with correct needle insertion according to acupuncture theory, nonspecific physiologic effects of needling, and nonspecific psychological (placebo) effects related to the patient's belief that treatment will be effective,” wrote the authors.

Dr Harris' presentation also included a review of research on evidence from a neuroimaging trial his group conducted that showed the benefits of acupuncture compared with sham acupuncture.3

"What we found is that there are many areas of the brain where acupuncture needling changed the opioid receptor binding potential differently than sham acupuncturing," Dr Harris said, adding "all of the acupuncture-treated patients had an increase in their binding potential in the short term as well as the long term."

References

Harris RE. Acupuncture analgesia: therapy or sham? Presented at: PAINWeek 2016. Las Vegas, NV; September 6-10, 2016.
Vickers AJ, Cronin AM, Maschino AC, et al. Acupuncture for chronic pain: individual patient data meta-analysis. Arch Intern Med. 2012;172(19):1444-1453.
Harris RE, Zubieta JK, Scott DJ, et al. Traditional Chinese acupuncture and placebo (sham) acupuncture are differentiated by their effects on mu-opioid receptors (MORs). Neuroimage. 2009; 47(3):1077-1085.

Zap! How acupuncture can ease constipation

Stuart Bradford

Acupuncture to the abdomen, boosted by an electric current, helped relieve severe constipation, a new study found.

Chinese researchers studied 1,075 patients with severe functional constipation, which means they were unable to have a complete bowel movement more than twice a week. The study subjects all reported a number of unpleasant symptoms, including hard stools, a sensation of incomplete evacuation and often needing to strain when going to the bathroom. They were randomly assigned to receive either a form of acupuncture or a sham procedure, according to the report published today in Annals of Internal Medicine.

For the treatment group, the researchers used electro-acupuncture, in which low-voltage currents are passed through acupuncture needles. Trained acupuncturists inserted needles at six acupuncture points in the abdomen deep enough to puncture the muscle layer of the abdominal wall, and then passed current through attached wires for 30 minutes. The control group received shallow needles at nonacupuncture points, with electrical wires attached in the same way, but with no current passing through them. The procedures were repeated in 28 sessions over eight weeks.

Participants in both groups were allowed to use a laxative every three days if needed, and they recorded their use in diaries.

During the eight weeks of treatment, 31.3 percent of people in the treatment group showed improvement (measured by three or more bowel movements per week without the need for laxatives) compared with just 12.1 percent in the control group who improved. Over the 12 weeks of follow-up, 37.7 percent of the treatment group reported similar levels of improvement, compared to 14.1 percent of the patients in the control group.

The authors acknowledge that the acupuncture treatment could not be fully blinded, possibly influencing the researchers’ expectations. While it’s not known exactly why acupuncture may have made a difference, one theory is that the treatment stimulates the muscles along the gastrointestinal tract.

The researchers noted that more study is needed. “Though the safety of acupuncture is good, we do not suggest it as a first-line treatment,” said the lead author, Dr. Marie Jia Liu of the China Academy of Chinese Medical Sciences. “The people in this study had severe constipation.”

A version of this article appears in print on September 13, 2016, on page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Alternative Medicine; Acupuncture and Constipation. Order Reprints| Today's Paper|Subscribe