No one goes into a pregnancy thinking it is going to be a pain-free experience. Pregnancy discomfort is a fact of life. One of the problems with pregnancy pain is that many women are uncomfortable taking over-the-counter medicines, not knowing how much effect they will have on their unborn child. Acupuncture for pregnancy pain could be the solution for many common problems with pregnancy discomfort.

5 Common Ailments During Pregnancy

There are 5 common problems that most women experience sometime during their pregnancy:

• Morning sickness
• Headaches
• Sciatica
• Depression
• Insomnia

Many of these symptoms are the result of increased hormones in your body, particularly HCG (human chorionic gonadotropin), the “pregnancy hormone.” Some pregnancy pain is a result of the normal stress and strain on your back and muscles as your weight and your center of gravity changes as your baby gets larger and heavier. Other symptoms are an unpleasant side effect as your body works to provide the proper environment for your unborn baby. Constant pregnancy pain and discomfort can be debilitating, especially if you are not comfortable taking over-the-counter medications that could also affect your unborn child.

How Does Acupuncture Work?

Ancient Eastern medicine is based on qi (pronounced “chee”), energy that travels smoothly through subdivisions in the body called meridians. A disruption in this flow results in pain, discomfort, and disease. Inserting tiny needles releases these energy blocks and re-establishes normal qi flow, allowing the body to naturally heal itself.

Western practice also stimulates certain areas of the nervous system by inserting hair-thin needles just under the skin surface. This stimulates the nervous system to release hormones, endorphins, and other chemicals into the blood stream, spinal cord, and brain.

How Acupuncture Can Help

When these tiny needles are inserted into the skin, they stimulate deep-seated nerves to release different chemicals, including endorphins. Endorphins block pain signals in the brain. For example, targeting points on the wrist can help to reduce the nausea and vomiting associated with morning sickness.

A study released by the American Journal of Obstetrics & Gynecology on pregnant women in their late 2nd and 3rd trimester seems to support that acupuncture can help with many of the problems associated with pregnancy. About 80 percent of the group treated with needles placed in the proper position reported a clinically significant reduction in pain. Compare this result with 56 percent of the women treated with random needles and only 36 percent of the women who were not treated at all.

Summary

Acupuncture for pregnancy has been shown to be a safe, gentle, and effective way to treat the normal discomfort and pain that comes with pregnancy with little risk. Find a professional who is trained and experienced in practicing acupuncture for pregnancy, and you could experience relief from normal pregnancy discomfort without fear of side effects that could harm your unborn baby.

To learn more about how acupuncture can help you, contact the Pain Care Clinic of Idaho at 208-629-2492 or visit paincareclinicofidaho.com.

Seasonal allergies affect about 20 percent of the American population. Millions of dollars are spent each season by people looking for allergy relief. If you are looking for a solution from the sneezing, runny nose, and itchy watery eyes, you might want to consider acupuncture.

How Allergies Affect Your Body

Some people are hypersensitive to specific airborne particles such as grass pollen, ragweed, and other weed pollens that are prevalent during spring and fall. Sneezing, runny nose, and itchy, watery eyes are your body’s way of trying to get rid of these irritants. While many people try to treat their symptoms with both over-the-counter and prescription medicines, allergy shots, and even surgery in extreme cases, these treatment methods can come with unpleasant side effects. Studies have shown acupuncture to be a safe and effective treatment method that can significantly reduce or even eliminate dependence on other forms of treatment.

How Acupuncture Affects Your Body

This type of medicine has been practiced for a few thousand years in Eastern cultures. The Eastern thinking revolves around qi (pronounced “chee”), or energy flow. Normal qi travels smoothly throughout the body through subdivisions. When this energy flow is disrupted, the body reacts with disease and pain. Placing needles in the proper position corrects this disruption by releasing the energy blocks and re-establishing normal qi flow. This reboots the body’s natural ability to heal itself.

Practiced in the U.S. since the 1970s, Western medicine has shown that these needles stimulate the nervous system to release hormones and endorphins. These chemicals are released into the blood stream, spinal cord, and brain, stimulating the body’s natural ability to heal. This results in physical and emotional well-being.

A Safe and Effective Treatment

A study in the Annals of Internal Medicine journal showed promising results. In three different groups, the group that was treated with needles placed in the proper position showed more improvement than either the group with randomly placed needles or the group treated with just antihistamines. Most people treated by a proper acupuncturist as either the primary or a complementary treatment method showed a quick response and  were able to reduce their need for medication to treat seasonal allergies.

The needles used are hair-thin, FDA-approved, sterile, disposable, and made of solid steel. These tiny needles are inserted just under the skin at specific points. Adverse effects are rare, with fewer side effects reported than many of conventional drugs. Once the treatment has stimulated an adequate response, most people can be weaned off treatments.

Summary

If you are one of the millions of people who suffer from seasonal allergies, consider looking for an acupuncturist with experience and a good success rate with treating allergies. This practice has been growing in popularity. You might be able to find relief without the annoying side effects of conventional medicine.

To learn more about how acupuncture can help you, contact the Pain Care Clinic of Idaho at 208-629-2492 or visit paincareclinicofidaho.com.

Chronic pain sufferers everywhere are becoming more aware of the tremendous benefits that health maintenance can provide. By adhering to a healthy lifestyle, some types of chronic pain can be mitigated. There are many paths to success, including eating a balanced diet and exercising regularly. While these practices are important, there is another vital piece of the puzzle that needs to be addressed.

This increasingly recognized therapy is commonly known as meditation. Practiced for millennia and widely studied in modern times, this sophisticated discipline has been shown to provide a wide range of benefits to adherents, including enhanced pain management. This article will introduce readers to the subject of managing chronic pain with basic meditation. It will also deliver a basic step-by-step startup guide to help pain sufferers reap the remarkable fruits of enhanced mental control.

Just What is Mindful Reflection?

Meditation is the general name for a number of mental or physical skills and practices that can alter mental states. By using the techniques that are described below, individuals can become more in tune with their inner material and spiritual states and can gain greater control over their bodily functions.

Basic Techniques

Here are some tried and tested yogic techniques that are known to promote relaxation, harmony, and pain relief. Set aside about 15 or 20 minutes for these pain relief techniques. While certain exercises can be performed just about anywhere, the following methods are best performed in a quiet and clean setting.

• Assume a relaxed position in a supportive seat, with the soles of the feet touching the ground.
• Passive awareness exercise. Allow your attention to be drawn to the details of your body, mind, and environment. Make observations without judgements.
• Deep breathing. Proper breathing can activate the parasympathetic nervous system, releasing many therapeutic substances along the way. Practitioners should breath in and out slowly and rhythmically, making sure to allow the abdomen to move freely.
• Use a mantra. This can be any word or phrase that is significant to you. Speech can be synchronized with breathing for greater effect.
• Thought acceptance. Take note of the thoughts that pass through your mind without trying to address them. Observe as each one slowly floats away.
• Body scan. Focus your attention on different areas of your body in sequence.
• Final stretch. Take a moment to loosen up the major muscle groups to promote further relaxation.

Benefits of Mindfulness for Pain Management

Basic meditation has helped many people manage their constant pain, improving the quality of their lives in the process. Some other benefits include:

• Pain relief without the need for drugs. While opiate pain relief products have their place, they also have many well-documented and potentially dangerous side-effects. According to many studies, including one conducted at Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, meditation can provide rapid pain relief that can supplement or replace drug therapies.
• Effective. Another related study at the same institution tested mindfulness against placebos. The results showed that practitioners of mental awareness and acceptance enjoyed greater pain reduction on average than the placebo recipients.
• Can provide lasting relief. One of the main dangers of opioid drugs are their tendency to lose effectiveness over time. Mindful reflection suffers no such constraints, and can be key to managing chronic pain over the long term.

To learn more about how to manage and relieve chronic pain, contact the Pain Care Clinic of Idaho at 208-629-2492 or visit paincareclinicofidaho.com.

Scrambler therapy is a form of pain management that uses a machine to block the body’s transmission of pain signals. This goal is accomplished by sending non-pain data to the nerve fibers that have been recipients of the pain messages. As an electro-cutaneous treatment, this form of therapy introduces a process called plasticity to retrain the brain so that it will not ascribe pain to the affected region.

The machine used to complete this form of therapy looks similar to the electrocardiogram machine. Leads are placed near the patient’s areas of chronic pain. An electrical signal from the normal tissue communicates a “non-pain” signal to the brain via the central nervous system that is specific to each individual. This signal is a synthetic signal of “non-pain” that the brain now recognizes as “normal self” because it travels the same pathways on the central nervous system that previously carried the “pain” message.

The treatment requires six to 10 visits to the clinic over about two weeks to retrain the brain’s perception of the signal. The pain relief can last three to six months, and if it returns, patients can receive booster treatments.

The first study regarding this type of therapy was published back in 2003. Led by Giuseppe Marineo, a group of researchers found that this form of therapy was effective in reducing pain for individuals who experienced severe levels of drug-resistant pain resulting from terminal cancer. The device used to complete the therapy attained clearance by the FDA for use in the United States. The device can be used for individuals experiencing pain from the following conditions:

• Diabetes
• Multiple Sclerosis
• Arthritis
• Neck Pain
• Back Pain
• Phantom Limb Pain
• Failed Back Surgery Syndrome
• Cancer
• Chemotherapy

More About Us

The Pain Care Clinic of Idaho specializes in providing clients cutting edge, customized treatment services that alleviate pain and restore life. The clinic is multi-disciplinary and is pleased to utilize scrambler therapies. Dr. Boese earned his certification to offer Scrambler therapies in Rome from Professor Marineo. As a community of pain management professionals committed to operating in excellence, you can count on us to provide you with the dynamic, detailed services you need and deserve.