Today, the military utilizes treatments such as acupuncture to help wounded soldiers tolerate chronic pain. NPR news featured the militarily health care systems ongoing changes towards more conservative treatments such as acupuncture and chiropractic care and away from their former approach “a pill for every ill” was announced. Sgt. Rick Remalia, who broke his back, hip, and pelvis in Afghanistan, said “acupuncture is the first treatment that has really made a difference.” Arizona Pain Specialists is honored to have a working relationship with Phoenix department of Veteran Affairs helping this country’s injured servicemen.
Military pokes holes in acupuncture skeptics theory – APS Responds
“sham” acupuncture
USA Today recently did an article on how “sham” acupuncture was as beneficial in alleviating migraines as traditional acupuncture. However, there were several flaws in the way the study was conducted and the article uses broad terminology which leads the reader to a faulty conclusion. There was an inconsistency in the patients chosen for this study. Not all of the patients had the same prevalence to migraines, the same types of migraines, and/or had experienced migraines for the same amount of years. Also, the article uses vague terminology such as “fewer days with a migraine” and “fairly equivalent”. The article did not elaborate or define these terms. Headache: The Journal of Head and Face Pain shows a detailed study proving that traditional acupuncture is more effective than “sham” acupuncture in treating migraines and preventing a relapse of migraines.
Arizona Pain Specialists offers traditional acupuncture as part of their comprehensive approach. Contact us to learn more.
Preventing Back Pain: 10 Ways to Protect Your Back
Back pain is one of the most common ailments encountered by US physicians and causes of job-related disability and missed work, costing Americans more than $50 billion per year on diagnosis and treatment2.
Common causes of back pain include degenerative diseases such as osteoarthritis, muscle strain, mechanical problems such as a herniated disc, soft tissue injury and vertebral fractures associated with osteoporosis2. Rare, but more serious, causes include cancer, infection, vascular problems and damage to nervous tissues.
Often the best treatment for back pain is prevention; below are the top 10 methods for protecting the back from injury and preventing pain.
8 Signs You Need to Visit Your Pain Physician
Pain is an unpleasant sensation produced by the nervous system. There are different types of pain, such as sharp or dull, localized or widespread, acute or chronic.
While acute pain is a transient sensation designed to warn a person of potential injury, chronic pain is persistent. With chronic pain, signals in the nervous system continue to fire for weeks, months, even years[1]. Chronic pain may occur long after the initial injury or infection that initiated it, or may arise from a prolonged disease such as arthritis or cancer. Some people even experience chronic pain in the absence of any tangible cause. Common chronic pain complaints include headache, low back pain, cancer pain, arthritis pain, neurogenic pain (pain from damage to nerves or the central nervous system), and painful disorders such as fibromyalgia and complex regional pain syndrome. A person may have two or more co-existing chronic pain conditions[2].
5 Reasons to Visit your Chiropractor
There are many good reasons to seek chiropractic care. Our top five?
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