Posts
Why is sore spot not necessarily the problem?
When it comes to muscles, there are two main reasons that pain or tension is caused by another area of the body; feedback issues from nerve compression or satellite referral via active trigger points.
Feedback
If you have tension within your joints (hips, shoulders ect..) or areas with complex small muscle mass (neck), it is likely that you have some form of feedback issue in your extremities. Feedback refers to the nerve signal returning from your extremities to your brain, not the signal from your brain to your extremities. If nerves are compressed along the pathway back to the brain, the brain senses that there is a problem in the extremity due the nerve disruption. In actual fact, the extremity may be fine, however, due to the brain believing that there is damage of some form, the area is ordered to guard itself by tightening the muscles in the area. Short term this is not problematic, however, over a prolonged period of time this excessive tension results in muscular issues in the extremity (pain or weakness).
In treating this condition, it is not uncommon for a therapist to treat the local area of pain or tension, which does provide relief, however, if the compression causing feedback issue is still present the pain or tension will return fairly promptly.
Treatment for issues relating to extremities should always be treated from the point of referral outward, treating the catalyst before the presenting problem area.
Satellite Referral
Satellite referral is an effect caused by active trigger points in a muscle. Every trigger point has a specific referral pattern; however, at times this can change and puzzle therapists and practitioners, often resulting in poor diagnosis.
When a trigger point is active and referring for a long period of time, or the problem is more compound, due to injury etc.. the referred pattern from trigger point A will activate trigger points that fall within the initial referred pattern of point A and add their own referral range to the initial trigger point B referral, thus creating a domino effect.
Treating referral pain requires good knowledge of myofacial referral patterns in the body, muscular groups and connective tissues. Trigger point therapy and sports massage excel in treating this condition, so if this sounds familiar to you, then this is another option which you may not have considered.
Can we really think our way out of unhappiness?
We live in world filled with research from Neuroscientists proving that our brains are the cause of everything that arises within us. We are told to think differently if we want to feel differently. More and more we are given snippets of studies demonstrating that our thoughts are the cause of everything we do, say and feel. But have we really got the whole picture?
Neuroscientists neglect the scientific fact that the heart actually sends 3 times more mood altering signals to the brain than the brain does to the heart. And that the Vagas nerve, which is located at the core of the stomach, sends 9 times the mood altering signals to the brain that the brain does to the body. Scientists have now realised that more than 60% of the heart is composed of neurons with the same structure as those in our brains. We have also discovered that the Vagas nerve is largely comprised of these neurons as well. Does this suggest that both our hearts and our stomachs actually have the capacity for intelligence similar to our brains?
With this in mind, the research is starting to suggest that although there is much use in changing our thinking to improve the way we feel, we could get better results if we worked more on our bodies than our thoughts.
You can’t think away most feelings!
To make such a statement suggests that in fact our brains are not in complete control of our experience and unfortunately this is often true.
Unfortunately what most of us try to do is to think our way out of feeling what we don’t want to feel, such as sadness, anxiety and anger, and by trying to figure out the cause of the feeling, or how to fix the feeling, the person loses contact with the feeling momentarily, only to have the experience re emerge later, and then the cycle of thinking kicks in and the cycle continues. Many people who try to fix their emotions like this find themselves waking in the night with that very same feeling back to haunt them for hours on end before getting back to sleep.
I see this approach to attending to our experience a little like trying to wash one’s car by watering their plants. No matter how much watering one does, the car still remains the same.
Similarly with situations where we want to change the feelings of sadness or anxiety and others, rather than moving our awareness away from the feelings and to our thinking, what ultimately transforms our felt experience is moving our awareness towards and into the feelings.
For example, when we are sad, rather than thinking through how to be happy, sit with and fully experience the sadness. Allow the feelings to pour through your being without judgement or resistance. It can often be easier than you think, and by doing this the sadness shifts and changes and the body’s innate wisdom of the sadness (the what’s and the why’s of the sadness) are realised like flashes of recognition giving rise to new ways of being with sadness. And we often realise truths about our sadness that all the thinking in the world wouldn’t achieve. When one sits with their experience without trying to change it a very strange thing occurs. The experience actually changes. In Gestalt therapy we call this the paradoxical theory of change. The paradox being that when we accept what is and allow what is and fully be what is within us, change occurs.
So next time you feel blue, angry, anxious or lonely try this out. Remember, allowing the feeling is the key to transforming the experience.
How does Acupuncture work?
It might seem bizarre that inserting needles into various points on the body can influence the way our cells work. But a lot of research shows this is the case.
One of the areas most studied is the pain-killing effect of acupuncture. We have known for some time now that acupuncture affects nerve conduction within the spinal cord. The basis of the theory is that acupuncture stimulation ‘closes a gate’ within the spinal cord, preventing pain signals from travelling up the spinal cord and getting to the brain.
Beyond this, we also know that acupuncture has hormonal effects. Researchers initially noted that when people addicted to narcotic drugs (like heroin or morphine) had surgery using acupuncture as anaesthesia, they did not experience the withdrawal syndrome that you’d usually expect when the narcotics were stopped. This is because endorphins, the chemicals released by the brain when you exercise that are responsible for the “feel-good” phenomenon, are also released during acupuncture. This effect can be blocked with an endorphin-blocking drug.
We also know that acupuncture increases blood flow at the site needled, probably through local release of biochemically active substances.
Do meridians really exist?
According to Traditional Chinese Medicine, energy (Qi) flows through the body along pathways or meridians, and acupuncture influences this flow. These meridian lines are depicted in texts that are at least 2000 years old.
Scientists have found that electrical resistance of the skin is much lower at acupuncture points (which are mainly situated along the meridians) than other points. This supports the idea of a flow of electrical energy through the body along meridians, which can be accessed via the skin at the acupuncture points.
But has science found any other evidence that meridians exist?
One study injected radioactive tracer molecules into acupuncture points (on meridians) and random points not on meridians. At the acupuncture points, the tracer travelled in a line consistent with the traditional description of the meridian, whereas it just diffused outwards at the non-meridian point.
When we look down a conventional microscope, meridians have been elusive. But some studies using electron microscopy (giving a much more magnified view in which individual cells can be seen) have shown thread-like structures within lymphatics, within blood vessels, on the surface of organs, and elsewhere. These structures appeared to contain fluid and may be the meridians described in ancient texts.
Although further research into this is required, the preliminary findings are fascinating. Clearly we are only just beginning to understand the science behind what the ancient texts described thousands of years ago.
Sleep peacefully with Oriental Medicine
How did you sleep last night? Could have been better? If you are rubbing your eyes while reading this and trying to counteract the effects of insomnia with coffee, you are not alone. Almost one in four of us has trouble sleeping on a regular basis.
Much has been said about modern life eating into our sleep. In Victorian times, before the electric light bulb, adults generally slept 9-10 hours per night. Ancient Chinese texts describe the idea of the body being governed by a 24-hour clock, with each of the 12 main meridians responsible for a 2-hour segment of the clock. For the body to function at its best, with all meridian pathways and associated organs working smoothly, it is advised to be in deep sleep by 11pm, so to go to bed between 9 and 10pm, and to rise between 5 and 7am. But with today’s long and irregular working hours and access to electronic devices that stimulate the brain instead of winding us down, many of us would struggle to follow these guidelines.
We now know that chronic (long-term) sleep deprivation has a host of health consequences. It plays havoc with your hormonal and metabolic regulation, contributing to weight gain, elevated stress hormones, and raised blood pressure. If you aren’t sleeping well, you are also more likely to struggle to concentrate, have accidents at work or while driving, and to suffer from depression.
If insomnia has been a long-term issue for you, you will probably have tried a lot of the self-help strategies recommended. Even so, it’s worth reading through the list at the end of this article to see if there are ways you could tweak your lifestyle to help promote sleep.
Various medications are available for insomnia, but most have side-effects you’d probably rather be without, like feeling groggy in the day. And for some classes of these drugs, long-term dependence is a real issue. So the ideal approach (in combination with lifestyle changes, of course) is one that’s natural and doesn’t have troublesome side effects.
That’s where Oriental medicine (the combination of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine) come in. This has a long history of use for insomnia. There are several Oriental medicine patterns associated with insomnia, and we work out which is responsible by taking a detailed history of your sleep issues and other aspects of your health, examining your pulse, tongue and abdomen and putting all the information together.
Treatments focus on calming the mind, using a combination of points throughout the body. I use the gentle Japanese style of needling, which inserts very fine needles very shallowly, so is suitable for even the most needle-phobic. Generally, 4-6 weekly sessions will give us a good idea of your response to treatment. After a few sessions, herbal support is often introduced as the frequency of acupuncture treatments is dropped.
There has been quite a bit of research done on acupuncture and sleep, although the quality of the research could be better.
One recent research trial looked at the effect of acupuncture on insomnia, focussing on quality of sleep. This trial was small (180 patients) but had a great design, comparing true acupuncture (points selected to treat insomnia) with sham acupuncture (points that don’t actually treat insomnia) and a commonly used sedative as control measures. This was done to make sure that any effect of the acupuncture treatment was not just due to being paid attention by the practitioner, or relaxing in the treatment room, or some other aspect of the treatment not actually related to needling specific acupuncture points.
After 6 weeks of treatment, those in the true acupuncture group rated their sleep quality as better than those in the sham acupuncture or sedative groups. They also reported less drowsiness and more energy in the daytime (in contrast to those on the sedative, who felt worse during the day even though their sleep improved). These improvements were maintained 2 months after the end of the treatment period.
Another couple of small trials looked at how acupuncture (or in one case, acupressure) works to help you sleep. They found that acupuncture or acupressure tended to normalise the levels of melatonin, a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain that regulates the sleep-wake cycle. This is very intriguing; and hopefully larger studies will explore this area in the future to verify the results.
The bottom line? Acupuncture can be a long-lasting remedy for insomnia, giving you better sleep quality without that hung-over feeling from sedatives.
Some tips to help you sleep.
- Avoid caffeine after 4pm, or noon if you are sensitive to it. Remember that chocolate and green tea also contain small amounts of caffeine that can be too stimulating for some people. Many “energy drinks” contain a lot of caffeine too.
- Try to get up at around the same time each day and go to bed at the same time each night. This gets your body into a regular pattern, so that the sleep hormone, melatonin, is being produced right when it’s needed.
- Aim for a short walk in sunlight (about 20 mins without sunglasses if you can tolerate it) first thing in the morning. A surge in melatonin (which promotes sleepiness) happens about 12 hours after this first exposure to sunlight, so this is another measure that can help reset your sleep clock.
- For at least an hour before bed, limit your use of TV, internet, mobile phones and other electronic devices, which tend to stimulate the brain. For some people who are sensitive, 2 hours may be better.
- If you can’t sleep after 30 mins, go and do something that’s not very interesting for 10-20 mins in low light, then try again. Avoid TV etc, for the reasons given above.
- Acupressure (applying pressure to acupuncture points) can help. Run your fingers outwards from the back of the neck at the base of the skull, till you reach a sore point behind the ear (but still under the skull). This is the An Mian (peaceful sleep point). Massage this area with firm pressure. The other point to apply pressure to is Kidney 1, which is on the sole of the foot, about 1/3 of the way down from where the toes join the sole of the foot. When you bend your foot downwards, you can feel a depression here, which may also feel quite tender.
Neurolink
Neurolink is a system of balancing the body and the physiological functioning of all its systems. The body is an amazing being that can repair and heal itself very efficiently. Sometimes due to various stressors it may not work at its optimum.
Neurolink uses muscle testing to determine where there are areas of the physiology that aren’t working as ideally as it could be, and then utilises feedback to the brain about these imbalances to stimulates the brain and body to make corrections in these areas. In this way it stimulates and promotes healing and normal functioning of the body.It can be used as a treatment all on its own, or to complement and assist other treatments and adjustments. It can address imbalances in digestion, hormones, immunity, sleep patterns and moods. It also addresses how well organs, brain centers and the nervous system are functioning, and how effective our immune response is to virus, bacteria and fungus. It results to strengthen our body to stressors including emotional chemical and physical stress and allows your body to cope better with these stressors.