Western Medical Acupuncture for Pain Relief
Western Medical Acupuncture is applied by physiotherapists using a mixture of traditional Chinese acupuncture points, trigger points within muscles and manual therapy to relieve pain. Western Medical Acupuncture is a more recent development practised predominantly by doctors and physiotherapists which uses acupuncture techniques within their existing scope of practice on the basis of a western medical diagnosis. In this context, it is generally used as a method of pain relief.
Western Medical Acupuncture is principally used by conventional healthcare practitioners, most commonly in primary care. It is mainly used to treat musculoskeletal pain, including myofascial trigger point pain. It is also effective for postoperative pain and nausea. Practitioners of Western Medical Acupuncture tend to pay less attention than classical acupuncturists to choosing one point over another, though they generally choose classical points as the best places to stimulate the nervous system.
Dry Needling for Pain Relief
Dry needling involves insertion of filament needles into the muscle that have contracted and become shortened. These shortened muscles compress and irritate the nerves. The aim of dry needling is to achieve a local twitch response to release muscle tension and pain. Dry needling is an effective treatment for chronic pain, such as chronic low back pain and sciatica symptoms. It is a physiotherapy modality used in conjunction with other therapies to treat myofascial pain.The needles used are very thin and most subjects do not feel the needles penetrate the skin.The needle sites can be targeted at the site of taut, painful muscle bands, and/or can be near the spine where the nerve root may have become irritated and super-sensitive.
A healthy muscle feels very little discomfort with insertion of this needle. However, if the muscle is sensitive, shortened or has active trigger points within it, the subject will feel pain as a sensation like a muscle cramp -‘the twitch or cramping response’. This sensation lasts only a few seconds.
The number of treatments required depends on several factors: your general health, the duration and extent of your condition, how much scar tissue there is and how quickly your body can heal. The rate of healing also depends on the condition of your nerves. If the pain is of recent origin, one treatment may be all that is necessary. The average person responds very well within 4 to 6 treatments.
What common conditions are treated using Western Medical Acupuncture or Dry Needling therapy?
- Chronic Pain & Headaches
- Neck Pain
- Lower Back Pain
- RSI
- Tennis Elbow and Golfer's Elbow
- Shoulder Tightness and Impingement, Frozen shoulder
- Knee pain and ITB Dysfunction
- Hip Pain and Bursitis
- Buttock Pain
When will your therapist use Western Medical Acupuncture or Dry Needling?
If dry needling is identified by your physiotherapist as being beneficial for your condition they will request your consent prior to treatment. This service is integrated into our normal consultations at no additional cost.
In A-Z PHYSIO HEALTH our physiotherapists are trained under the Educational standards of The Acupuncture Association of Chartered Physiotherapists (AACP, U.K). Our physiotherapists are Accredited members of the AACP and practice Western Medical Acupuncture and Dry Needling in accordance to the Health & Safety requirements of AACP. We are committed to Continuous Professional Development and attend all the required post-graduate training so as to continuously update and upgrade our Acupuncture skills.
.jpg)