This is a sweet video about someone who was told that he would never walk again but who DID the work and now walks!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qX9FSZJu448
In less of a way but still very dramatic for me, I've been told never to run again (and I still play soccer), that my back crookedness was basically incurable because of bone on bone lumbar spine - think about disc replacement or low back fusion. I couldn't turn right in the mornings because my back was so stiff and muscles so tight - and, naturally, I was in pain. I was starting to feel fairly depressed .. asking myself "is this it?". It's going to be too hard to hold my grandchildren, I'll never be able to pick them up, no more extreme mt biking, soccer, hiking w/ a backpack, etc. etc.?! I didn't like the prospect of back surgery - though have to admit, I was willing to do it if I could get function back and have less pain - I wanted to live my life! Didn't like the prospect of taking Vicodin - how would my body look in 20 years of being wracked by pain killers? (not to mention that they don't address the problem and since I practice Traditional Chinese Medicine I like to go to the cause. So, I got faithful about receiving acupuncture treatments and taking anti-inflammatory and bone building Chinese herbal prescriptions, I see a fantastic structural integration MT (and have been rolfed), and I started to see a structural yoga therapist and DO the work. Oh my gosh, you cannot believe the difference in my life! No pain meds, play soccer, back to mt biking without (much) fear, play w/ the grands all I want. My morning pain and stiffness (that "they" said is arthritis and just get used to it) is somedays non-existent. Now, is this utopia? No. I'm aging, having to accept certain things about the aging but what a difference I have in my life now and I will never give up; aging back or not!
DrMLucas@AcupunctureWoman.com, 303-947-6224. Acupuncture works!
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Tuesday, 8 May 2012
Traditional Chinese Medicine-Personal Success-Pain Killers-Soccer-Bone
Sunday, 1 April 2012
Acupuncture Treatments-Back Pain
Why do I need a number of acupuncture treatments when I only need to see my MD once?
Ahhhh .... the ever frequent question about why you need more than one acupuncture treatment in order for your chronic symptoms to go away ..... i.e., be miraculously cured. My pet peeve: when people get one acupuncture treatment after suffering through 10 years of back pain and then say it didn't work. Healing takes time. Even a small cut takes time to heal and sometimes healing takes effort (i.e., more than one treatment, change in lifestyle, etc.).
So here's the deal. You see your MD once and come home with Vicodin for your pain, birth control pills to control your PMS, diuretic for your high blood pressure, Protonix for your acid reflux or GERD, Imitrex for your migraines, etc. etc. You need a pill box. If you really think about it, theoretically you are seeing your MD every day - in fact sometimes more than once a day since you need to take your pain meds more than once a day. Further, some of these pharmaceuticals are only masking the cause of your pain or other symptoms while the promise of Chinese Medicine is to find the cause and treat it; treat the root.*
Take my own back pain as a case study. I've had years of back pain probably mostly sports induced (structural damage). I was at the point of seeing surgeons for opinions, being offered all manner of prescriptions, etc. etc. .... the story of many people who have back pain. But I KNOW that the body can change despite what some diagnostic tests show - I see it in my patients every day.
I wanted to change my situation. Bone on bone. You might rightfully ask, how can any treatment besides surgery and pain meds deal with that? Well, acupuncture, structural yoga therapy, and deep tissue massage seem to have me on the very right path! WHY DID I CHOOSE THIS PATH? - I want to be healthy and active not drugged with the condition that is causing the pain continuing to get worse. I am now faithful in receiving regular acupuncture treatments and taking Chinese herbal formulae. I see a dynamite structural yoga therapist and do the postures that she teaches me and receive MT. I am considering canceling my next MD/spine specialist appointment because the AM crookedness, stiffness, and pain are minimal now and I am back to being able to do my AM workouts which I couldn't do 4 months ago. Yay!!
Your body CAN change; it's a matter of whether you are willing to find the proper cache of treatments/practitioners and then DO the work! Do I get discouraged sometimes, wish I didn't ever have to do any work to be pain free or not stiff? I do. But when I look at the alternatives, I'm super happy that I have found therapies that work.
*Naturally there are some conditions that can't be "cured" by dealing with the cause when they are too far gone. But, quality of life, for example pain reduction, chemo induced nausea relief, etc. etc., can be much much better. read more..