Sticks and Stones May Break My Bones...

It’s skiing and snowboarding season, finally! I’m sure a lot of you are anxious to get out on the slopes. As with any vigorous outdoor activity, there’s always a chance for traumatic injury. There’s a lot we can do with acupuncture and herbal medicine to speed the healing and reduce the pain associated with injuries to the musculo-skeletal system.  

The Magic of Needles

Other than getting your injury seen to by an MD, what can you do? First, acupuncture is very effective for pain and inflammation. As most of you know, we don’t need to needle into the area that’s hurting to have a beneficial effect. As one of my mentors described it, whether your turn the light on at the lamp or using the light switch at the wall, the effect is the same. Acupuncture can help speed your healing time whether you have a sprain, a pulled muscle or a broken bone.

The Wonders of Chinese Herbs

Second, we can give you herbs to take internally for sprains, fractures and contusions. These herbs help move the stagnant qi and blood away from the area to promote healing, reduce swelling, and reduce pain. Certain Chinese herbs affect different areas of the body, so we can target them to the injured area. There are two ways we usually give herbs. The first is a powder that can be dissolved in hot water. The second is the actual themselves: roots, stems, leaves that you can cook into your own tea. The very best thing about Chinese herbs is that we can customize them specifically to you, your constitution, and your injury! The downside is we can’t give Chinese herbs to everyone. Some folks have a finicky digestive system. Others may be taking prescription drugs that prevent us from prescribing herbs. We must consider your safety above all other concerns when we treat you.

Slather it On

For those of you who want to get better ASAP we can give you poultices to apply to the affected area, (unless it’s in a cast). It’s usually a little stinky and messy, but worth it in the long haul.

What can you do to avoid injury?

1. Stay hydrated. Wind and cold air dehydrate you. Dehydration is linked to muscle and tendon fatigue. So, drink up!
2. If you need lessons, spend the money and time to get them. You will enjoy your sport much more, improve your skills, and reduce your chance of injury. 
3. Ski within your abilities.
4. Wear a helmet, but realize a helmet does not make you invincible!
5. Warm up your muscles, then stretch. Stretch those calves, hamstrings, quads.
6. Avoid pushing yourself. So many people get a severe injury by trying to do that last run of the day when they had worn themselves out.
7. Have your equipment checked at least twice a season by a trained technician. Have your equipment fitted to you, don’t borrow from a friend. 
8. Leave the booze and smokes at home! Winter sports enthusiast who used cigarettes or drank alcohol were shown to be two to four times as likely to sustain a fall.
9. For those of you who don’t ski or snowboard, keep walks shoveled and stairs de-iced. 
10. Avoid carrying too many burdens over slick terrain.

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Left Hand Community Acupuncture is located in the heart of Old Town Lafayette 
at the corner of Simpson St. and Michigan Ave. LHCA offers an affordable sliding 
scale of $25-$55. We do not ask for proof of income. You decide what you feel is 
fair to you and fair to us. We treat patients in a relaxed, group setting that promotes 
an atmosphere of healing. Caroline Adams is a Licensed 
Acupuncturist and nationally board certified. Acupuncture can help with a wide range 
of health issues including pain, stress, insomnia, arthritis, allergies, depression, 
headaches, fatigue, cold and flu, digestive issues, PMS, and many other health concerns.

http://lefthandacu.com 

720-248-8626

What's Blood got to do with it?

Ouch! Traumatic Injury
Blood stasis is what Chinese Medicine labels a "secondary cause of disease". Something else must happen before it occurs. The easiest example: you drop the fry pan on your foot, it causes a bruise. Literally a bruise is blood stasis: a bunch of capillaries are broken by the injury, the blood leaks out. Your body uses inflammation to shut down any additional blood loss. Inflammation causing swelling and limits the oxygen to the area. The lack of O2 is what causes the distinct black and blue color of a bruise.

You trip while training for the Bolder Boulder and sprain your ankle. What happens? The area turns black and blue, it swells: blood stasis. Do a good job of staying off your ankle, getting acupuncture, letting it heal, and doing gentle PT, you'll clear out the blood stasis. If, for whatever reason, the ankle isn't able to heal like it should, you'll end up with one of those chronic injuries that becomes painful when it's overused or when a weather front comes in.

The Stream Analogy
I was talking to one of my patients about blood stasis. She asked me: "How can blood ever be stagnant? It's pumping all the time." It's a good point, but think about a creek: the same amount of water flows through it all the time, but there are some places where the water rushes quickly. There are many places that the water slows and pools deeper. In these places, you might smell the musty smell of algae growing. It's harder for water to flow as smoothly through these areas. The more the water slows down, the harder it is to clean out the gunk, so this is where the dried leaves, muck and garbage collect. It works the same way in your body. Where qi and blood aren't moving smoothly, pain results.

The Low Down on the Slow Down
It's a maxim of Chinese Medicine that "The Qi leads the Blood".  When the qi slows down, we get qi stagnation.  When the qi stagnates long enough, eventually the blood slows down, too. My first  example is of my dear beloved aunt. We'll call her Auntie Katherine. Auntie Katherine has 'cankles', those kind of calf/ankles that flow over the tops of her shoes. She was never a very active sort and spends most of her time in a chair watching game shows. She rarely gets her heart rate up, so her Qi doesn't get moving much. Over time, the blood slowed down, too.  Her lower legs became swollen and covered in a spidery network of painful-looking veins. Sure, her blood is still flowing, but not flowing very efficiently, hence the fat ankles and painful legs.

In a Mess with Stress
Another example: Joe, a businessman is 45. He works at the Acme widget factory as an executive. His work is very stressful; he spends a lot of his days shouting into his speakerphone at the incompetant nincompoops he's forced to work with. Let's look at his signs and symptoms: headaches, high blood pressure, red face, and he's angry most of the time. Any of us can easily diagnose him with "stress". What do we know about stress? It stagnates the qi, slows it down, makes it flow erratically. Stagnate the qi long enough, you end up with blood stasis. Blood stasis in Joe's case might very well end up manifesting as a blood clot that causes a stroke or a heart attack.

Brrr!!!
Stagnant qi is not the only reason for blood stasis. Cold can play a part, too. Marcy, 25, is a competitive runner.  She has very painful menses, so painful in fact that she has to take a day off work to lay on the couch with a hot water bottle. When I asked her about her training regimen, she admitted that she ran outside winter and summer in shorts and a t-shirt. I asked her to either train inside when it was cold or to wear leg warmers to keep the acupuncture channels of the lower legs warm.  I told her if she wanted things to change, she needed to stop wearing flip flops, crop tops and capri pants in the winter months. She followed my recommendations, and along with Chinese herbs to warm the uterus, her pain ceased.

Wait? Aren't you supposed to put ice on traumatic injuries? Well, there's been a lot of discussion about that recently in the news. Some MDs and PTs feel that limiting the amount of inflammation in the area, by using ice, will speed healing. Others counter that it's actually slowing the healing process and there's no benefit to it. I'm of the opinion that you should only ice an injury *if* it brings relief and only for the first 24 hours. Then, switch to warm compresses.

I'm Lookin' at You Jackie Chan
Martial artists are at a great risk for hidden blood stasis. They are active enough that their Qi flows nicely. However, they spend a lot of time falling and getting hit. Their pulse is likely to cover the telltale "choppy" pulse of someone with blood stasis. Looking at the underside of your tongue is a good indicator for blood stasis. Does it have bulging purple or blue veins? That's a good sign you have some blood stasis going on in your body. If you see them, don't panic. Come in for an assessment and we'll determine the right course of action for you.

In Conclusion
The good news about blood stasis: it's reversible. There are lots of different ways to treat it including lifestyle, acupuncture and Chinese herbs.  The bad news about blood stasis, it's not as easy to clear out as Qi stasis and leads to significant issues over time. As usual, approaching problems early leads to easier and more effective treatment in the long run.

**Note: these case histories, although based on real people, are completely fictional.**

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Left Hand Community Acupuncture is located in the heart of Old Town Lafayette 
at the corner of Simpson St. and Michigan Ave. LHCA offers an affordable sliding 
scale of $25-$55. We do not ask for proof of income. You decide what you feel is 
fair to you and fair to us. We treat patients in a relaxed, group setting that promotes 
an atmosphere of healing. Caroline Adams is a Licensed 
Acupuncturist and nationally board certified. Acupuncture can help with a wide range of health 
issues including pain, stress, insomnia, arthritis, allergies, depression, headaches, 
fatigue, cold and flu, digestive issues, PMS, infertility and many other health concerns.

http://lefthandacu.com 

720-248-8626

The Kung Fu of Healing

As some of you know, I have been doing some physical therapy for a recent knee injury. I am of course, getting acupuncture for my knees, but I’m worried about being able to ski with my family this winter. While I was waiting in the lobby, I observed two other patients in the clinic. (The identifying characteristics of these patients have been changed.)

The first one was a young woman who, like me, was just starting her therapy. Her physical therapist was giving her suggestions on lifestyle changes, such as a different way to get out of her car. After each suggestion she explained in a loud voice why that wouldn’t work for her, or that she “had already tried that” or doing things that way sounded impossible. “Gads, what a handful!” I thought to myself. 

The second patient was a little old man, dressed as dapper as could be. He checked in, but instead of taking a seat in the waiting area, he hung up his hat and scarf. Walking with obvious pain, he got right into the “gym” area of the clinic and started working on the exercises that had been assigned to him.

My turn came. My therapist interviewed me, conducted a physical exam, and gave me some exercises to try. With each visit she gives me new things to do. The therapy that used to take me five minutes a night to do is now taking twenty five. Last night I thought to myself: “Going to all these appointments is a lot of bother... I thought I would feel better by now... This is taking a lot of time... This is hard work!” 

Then, I caught myself. 

Yes, going to all these appointments is a lot of bother, but if I want to be able to continue to work and ski without pain, then I’m going to have to follow through with my therapy. Yes, it’s a nice idea to think that I could go to physical therapy a couple of times and all my problems would vanish. However, as my therapist is showing me, my injury has been precipitated by a lifetime of bad habits. Bad habits take time to correct. And, yes, this is hard work! 

Healing - is - hard - work. 

Kung fu is a phrase that most people identify with martial arts. In reality, Kung fu translates roughly as “good hard work”. According to Wikipedia it is “a Chinese term referring to any study, learning, or practice that requires patience, energy, and time to complete”. So, there is the kung fu of martial arts, the kung fu of acupuncture,  the kung fu of skateboarding and the kung fu of healing. 

We would all like to take the magic pill and no longer be bothered by our ailments, but health is not like ordering at the drive through. It’s more like the cooking in Grandma’s kitchen: low and slow. Which patient did I want to resemble? The little old man who was committed to his healing or the woman who made every excuse for why this wasn’t going to work? 

Do you want to get better? I encourage you to do the following: 

1. love your body in spite of its flaws
2. have patience with yourself
3. be consistent with treatment
4. be willing to change your habits

I have committed myself to the kung fu of healing and I encourage you to do the same!