Electroacupuncture for Pain Relief and More

Don't miss any of HealthyWoman from Bottom Line. Add our address, HealthyWomanfromBottomLine@news.bottomlinepublishing.com, to your Address Book or Safe List. Learn how here. May 19, 2011  Electroacupuncture for Pain Relief and More Mind-Boosting Secrets Drink During Pregnancy? Don’t Believe What You Heard Blood Pressure "Switch" Found on Human Body... Ginger Eases Nausea for Cancer Patients   Electroacupuncture for Pain Relief and More "I felt a bit like Frankenstein, getting zapped with electricity while sharp things were sticking into me," a friend told me with a laugh. "Yet it did make me feel like I was getting a new life, because after the electroacupuncture, my arthritis pain really was reduced." It may seem strange to combine an ancient healing practice with modern technology, but that is basically what electroacupuncture does in sending a small electric current into acupuncture needles. I called Stacy Drinkut Smith, LAc, a licensed acupuncturist who uses electroacupuncture in her practice in Santa Barbara, California, to discuss the technique. She explained that it is similar to traditional acupuncture in that the same points and meridians (energy channels) are stimulated, but adding electrical current makes the needle stimulation stronger and steadier. Does electroacupuncture work better than manual acupuncture? It can, according to a study that directly compared the two techniques in patients with tennis elbow and found superior pain relief and grip strength in the electroacupuncture group. Experts don’t agree on whether electroacupuncture helps with all the same conditions as regular acupuncture, but a surprising amount of up-to-the-minute research does support the effectiveness of the technique. Recent studies show that electroacupuncture can help... Relieve arthritis. Patients with hip osteoarthritis had electroacupuncture or took a prescription pain reliever/anti-inflammatory (one that is commonly prescribed but has potentially serious side effects). There was significantly more improvement in joint pain, function and range of motion among electroacupuncture recipients than among medication recipients. Improve blood flow. With Raynaud’s disease, fingers and toes feel cold and turn white or blue as blood vessels constrict... then throb, tingle and turn red when blood flow returns. Raynaud’s patients reported significantly reduced discomfort and frequency of attacks after receiving a series of electroacupuncture sessions as compared with before their treatment. Reduce postsurgical pain. The day before heart surgery, patients received either electroacupuncture or a sham treatment... after surgery, the electroacupuncture group reported significantly lower pain intensity and required less pain medication than the other group. Restore damaged nerves. Patients with peripheral nerve damage and some loss of muscle function had poor prognoses... but after electroacupuncture, function improved or was recovered completely in the majority of participants. In addition, there are studies supporting the use of electroacupuncture for treating fertility problems and hormonal imbalances. And according to Smith, electroacupuncture works very well for various types of pain... recovery from joint replacement and other surgeries... menstrual cramps and irregularities... headaches... and stress. Electroacupuncture often is preferable to traditional acupuncture when treating chronic pain and other chronic conditions that involve lots of energy stagnation in the body, Smith added. Caution: Electroacupuncture should not be used on anyone who has a pacemaker because the electrical stimulation might disrupt the function of the device. Some practitioners opt not to use electroacupuncture on patients who have a seizure disorder. What to Expect in an Electroacupuncture Session During a treatment session, acupuncture needles first are placed in the target meridians and/or acupuncture points, just as in traditional acupuncture. Then electricity is added by attaching small clips (imagine miniature car battery jumper cables) that connect a pair of needles to a small battery-operated generator. With traditional acupuncture (not using electricity), the practitioner can boost stimulation at a particular acupuncture point by twirling or otherwise manipulating needles. With electroacupuncture, electricity provides the stimulation—called e-stim—and the acupuncturist controls its intensity by increasing or reducing the current. The practitioner may use e-stim on a single pair of needles at a particular acupuncture point or on more than one pair at a time. "We can do e-stim on one side of the body and then switch to the other, but we don’t do both sides at the same time because crossing the midline would interfere with the stimulation effect, jamming the patient’s own signals," Smith explained. When I asked my friend what electroacupuncture felt like, she said, "My acupuncturist increases the current just to the point where I can feel mild tingling, and then he dials back a bit, so all I feel is an awareness of energy flow. If I perceive any numbness, knocking, thumping or discomfort, he dials back more." Typically an electroacupuncture treatment session lasts about 30 minutes. The number of sessions required depends on the condition being treated, but generally an acupuncturist recommends a course of six and then does another evaluation, Smith said. Sessions cost about $60 to $120—similar to or slightly more than traditional acupuncture. If your insurance covers regular acupuncture, it probably covers electroacupuncture, too, but check in advance just to be sure. To find a licensed acupuncturist in your area, consult the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (call 866-455-7999 or visit www.aaaomOnline.org and click on Patients and Find a Practitioner). Practitioners’ AAAOM profiles may or may not specify the types of acupuncture they provide, but you can phone or check individuals’ Web sites to find out whether they practice electroacupuncture. Source: Stacy Drinkut Smith, LAc, Dipl OM (diplomate in Oriental medicine), is a licensed acupuncturist and herbalist specializing in women’s health. She is the cofounder of Points of Health, a clinic in Santa Barbara, California. www.PointsOfHealth.org Mind-Boosting Secrets Ray Sahelian, MD, put the medical world in an uproar with his discoveries that turn ordinary people into super-brains—and rapidly reverse "incurable" mental decline. Thousands of patients are proving now that his powerful therapies work, and skepticism is yielding to thunderous applause. Reverse age-related memory loss with stunning speed... even say good-bye to Alzheimer’s disease—with Dr. Sahelian’s astonishing cure in a can... Read on... Drink During Pregnancy? Don’t Believe What You Heard Q: I read about a study showing that it is OK for expectant mothers to drink some alcohol. Can that be right? Have the guidelines changed? A: You are referring to a recent British study that looked at women who reported consuming small quantities of alcohol (up to one to two drinks per week) during pregnancy. When the children born to these mothers reached age five, researchers compared their behavior and abilities with those of children whose mothers did not drink during pregnancy. The researchers could not determine a harmful effect on the children born to the light drinkers, at least during these early years of childhood. Though this study got a lot of press, its findings are unconvincing. Here’s why... The study compared women who drank with women who didn’t. These groups were "self-selected," based on the women’s own reports—participants were not randomly assigned to one group or the other, which is the gold standard of research—so it wasn’t an apples-to-apples comparison. As it turned out, the women who drank small amounts while pregnant were also significantly more likely to be in a higher socioeconomic class... and kids who come from socially advantaged homes have fewer developmental risk factors overall than kids who don’t. These findings would be scientifically compelling only if the trials were randomized so that socially advantaged women had an equal chance of being in either group. Since alcohol is known to be a potent fetal neurotoxin (a substance that poisons an unborn baby’s nervous system), this type of study will never be done because it would be unethical. Bottom line: Alcohol does nothing good to a developing brain. There is a wide spectrum of health and behavioral problems that can affect children exposed to alcohol before birth. These problems are 100% preventable if women do not drink while pregnant. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines say it best—"There is no known safe amount of alcohol to drink while pregnant. There is also no safe time during pregnancy to drink and no safe kind of alcohol." These guidelines haven’t changed one bit as a result of this study. Source: Timothy Naimi, MD, MPH, is an associate professor at Boston University School of Medicine and a clinician/investigator in the university’s Clinical Addiction Research and Education Unit. Blood Pressure "Switch" Found on Human Body... Chicago, IL: A recent study conducted by the Hypertension Center at the University of Chicago identified a small spot (the "Atlas area") on the body that appears to control blood pressure. In minutes, a single touch lowers blood pressure back to healthy levels. Top number drops 14 points, bottom number drops 8 points. No drug on Earth can match this instant miracle. Who knew it was this simple? It’s almost like a switch that allows doctors to dial down your blood pressure in minutes. Learn more... Ginger Eases Nausea for Cancer Patients As if it weren’t tough enough to face cancer, many patients who receive chemotherapy experience severe nausea and vomiting afterward, particularly on the first day of a treatment cycle. And even when antivomiting drugs are used, nausea often continues. Good news from a recent study: For three days before and after their chemotherapy cycles, cancer patients took conventional antivomiting medication plus either a placebo or capsulated ginger root (purified, dried ginger extract). The daily ginger dosage was 0.5 grams (g), 1 g or 1.5 g—equal to about one-quarter teaspoon to three-quarters teaspoon of ground ginger. Results: At all doses, ginger users reported significantly less nausea than placebo users... patients who took 0.5 g or 1 g of ginger had the biggest benefit, experiencing about 40% less nausea on the first day of chemo than placebo users. Best: If you are scheduled for chemotherapy, ask your doctor about adding ginger supplementation to your treatment regimen before and after chemo to reduce nausea. Source: Julie L. Ryan, PhD, MPH, is an assistant professor of dermatology and radiation oncology at the University of Rochester Medical Center in Rochester, New York, and author of a study of 644 cancer patients, most of whom had breast cancer.    Tamara Eberlein, the editor of HealthyWoman from Bottom Line, has been a health journalist for nearly three decades. An award-winning author or coauthor of four books, she is committed to helping other women in midlife and beyond live healthy, fulfilling lives. Her latest book is the updated, third edition of When You’re Expecting Twins, Triplets, or Quads (HarperCollins). She is also the "chief health adviser" to her husband of 25 years, college-age twins and teenaged son.    BOTTOMLINESECRETS.COM Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy About Us Contact US Bottom Line Publications | 281 Tresser Boulevard, 8th Floor | Stamford, CT 06901 You received this free E-letter because you have requested it. You are on the mailing list as healthwellness82@gmail.com. Or... a friend forwarded it to you. Click here to easily unsubscribe. To change your e-mail address click here. To update your e-mail preferences click here. © 2011 by Boardroom Inc. All Rights Reserved.