Can't sell it in a bottle, if you get my drift.

True, but there are plenty of studies that get done outside the realm of pharma. Just my WAG, but if you pick up most medical journals or attend medical conferences, probably half the studies/abstracts have absolutely no direct or indirect for-profit motivation; just science for science's sake.

That was me 23 years ago. Got into a really bad car wreck and went through multiple doctors, physical therapy, massage therapy, exercise therapy... and my back would only get healed to a certain point. My doc suggested acupuncture and I was really skeptical, but I tried it. A month later I was feeling much better!

When I 1st started, I thought he was only working on my back & hand, didn't know that he was working on my lungs too, then went a week that we didn't work on the lungs (I didn't know this at the time) and I starting having trouble breathing again. Didn't really thing anything of it until the doc asked how I was feeling and I said that I had had a breathing episode , and he said we would work on my breathing again, and low & behold, I have been much better. Point is, I didn't know (or think) it would help my breathing when I started, I had other issues I was worried about at the time.

I had had a nerve acting up, and couldn't straighten my left index finger, my regular doctor wasn't to help, but after a few acupuncture treatments, I had most of the use of the finger back. And I pay for this out of pocket. http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1412290663.jpg
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There's always the other natural pain remedy..

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Depending upon the skill of the provider, it does, indeed, work.

Well, below is something my Sister posted and as I've stated before, it has saved her.

Glad to hear it. it helped my Nana quite a bit too.

Dragging up an old thread here.
I've had trouble with the piriformis muscle in my left hip for years. It started out as sciatica and general low back pain. Through physical therapy and years of daily stretching exercises I've gotten most of the other pain under control. But the pain from the piriformis has been intractable. My doctor is an athlete (running, tennis) and was a skeptic but went to an acupuncturist out of desperation and swears it helped him. He recommended this acupuncturist. He and I are kindred spirits and I'm inclined to take his advice, but I'm still skeptical. But I might do it, again out of desperation.
This is thread is over 8 years old. Anyone had any recent experience with acupuncture?

If I do it I promise no pictures.

Patrick, sit in a stable chair that you can cross your legs

Sit up straight shoulders back. Cross your legs with the curve above your ankle bone resting on your knee, so your thighs are roughly in the same plane. Keep your back straight, head up and bend forward at the waist. You will feel it pulling, deep on your ass, that is your piriformis. Sciatica is pretty common. That stretch will help, matter of how much. Seen acupuncture work too many times to be that skeptical. It channels your chi,or something like that. Maybe it stimulates subcutaneous nerves and causes endorphins to be released. Been doing it a long ass time, I tell you what

A friend of mine survived Rocky Mountain spotted fever . A side affect was he is allergic to all meat . Only thing he could eat was fish or wild game . Last week he completed a 3 week acupuncture treatment on Friday . He decided to put it to the test and made/ate some hot dogs .

Previous to the treatment those hot dogs would have made him violently ill . He was fine all weekend and when I spoke to him on Monday he was feeling great . A small sample size but powerful results .

I've done acupuncture as well as acupressure for pain. I had better results with acupressure but neither one provided permanent relief.

Tobra. that exercise is similar to a couple of the ones I do now. It's not exactly the same though, so I'll add it to the routine and see if it helps. I had my quarterly cortisone shot yesterday - feeling great, but it wears off in 6 to 8 weeks. I'll know if the acupuncture and new stretch is helping in 6-8 weeks.

You will probably know sooner than that. Piriformis is difficult to stretch, that maneuver is the best one I have found. Saw a pt in school and you could see the improvement in her gait after she went to her "Chinese Doctor" for acupuncture. She is the one that told me you had to wait for your chi to recharge before it would work

A high school friend of mine graduated from Harvard Medical School. Later he discovered acupuncture and went into that. He keeps his MD license so he can write some scripts. If he thinks it works, I think it works. My ex found a good practitioner and I saw her for wrist pain from riding motorcycles. The pain was gone for two weeks, then progressively came back. I've tried it with another, but to no avail. So, I think the practitioner matters.

My friend said the "old school" Constitutional practitioners treat the underlying problem vs the symptom. The post-Mao style practitioners treat the symptoms instead. I asked him once if he can treat migranes and he said so far he's had success with every case. He's been in Seattle for a long time, so I haven't seen him for decades.

Maybe someone who believes that positive results from acupuncture are the result of nothing more than the "placebo effect" can explain why it's been used with great success on countless dogs and horses which, unless they're Brian Griffin or Mr. Ed equivalents, have no inkling of the concept.

_

I was shown the "real test" with the very thin Japanese needles:

A). Damaged area=
Skin is puffy with retained fluid.
Skin can't be pulled up and rolled and is stuck to the fascia/muscle underneath.
Skin is warmer.
Needle goes deep into it like butter.

B) Healthy area=
Needle bends and won't penetrate the skin.
Exact same spot on L/R side of the body produced different results. Not a trick.

Went to the acupuncture guy today. I got cupped and scrapped and poked with the needles. He says I have liver and kidney problems :confused: plus the Piriformis issue. Interestingly, he said the same thing about the Piriformis that the MD and the PT technician said - I need to get more blood to flow to that area. He used a massage gun that hurt like hell, but worked the same area that the PT technician worked on. He was really nice, didn't seem like he was just in it for the money (charged $50 for 1:45 minutes) and at least as far as the butt pain issue goes he seemed to know what he was talking about. OTOH I felt like hell all over for the rest of the day.

As promised - no pictures.

When they tell you you might have a headache by the time you get home but in the morning will feel like a different person believe it. Just go home, drink some water and then some more and go to bed.

Acupressure on occipital protruberance can be very therapeutic for migraine, squirting a little lidocaine up the nose works too