PAIN MANAGEMENT

I have been treating pain for more than 20 years. I find unless there has been some sort of physical trauma or accident, 90% of pain originates in the soft tissue - the muscles and fascia. From sports injuries to compensation patterns, to repetitive stress injuries, releasing the soft tissue alleviates pain. Acupuncture along with massage, is one of the best ways to relieve soft tissue issues, and can often provide immediate relief. In my west village office, all of my treatments usually combine the two,

I specialize in orthopaedic acupuncture and trigger point release. Trigger points form in your muscle fibers from repetitive use, strain, or trauma. They can cause debilitating pain that can refer and mimic nerve pain. They are very common, and and acupuncture is the best way to release them. Releasing the trigger point alleviates the muscle pain, sometimes immediately.

Acupuncture can also target the sources that drive pain, such as inflammation, by modulating autonomic pathways, while also suppressing pain signals at multiple levels of the nervous system and triggering the release of endogenous opioids and other biochemical mediators. The result is a natural, drug-free shift in how the body processes and responds to pain. In simple terms, the needles signal the brain and nervous system to release the body's own built-in painkillers - including endorphins and serotonin - while also calming inflammation and resetting the way pain signals travel through the body. Think of it like rebooting an overloaded system: rather than masking pain with medication, acupuncture helps the body regulate itself from the inside out.

The research backing this up is substantial. A landmark study published in The Journal of Pain pooled results from 39 studies involving nearly 21,000 people treated for osteoarthritis, headaches, or chronic back, neck, and shoulder pain, finding that acupuncture provided substantial pain relief. (1) A systematic review analyzing 16 randomized controlled trials found that for chronic lower back pain, evidence consistently demonstrated that acupuncture provides short-term clinically relevant benefits for both pain relief and functional improvement compared to no treatment or conventional care alone. (2) A randomized controlled trial found that after just four weeks of acupuncture treatment, patients with sciatica showed significant improvements in pain intensity, functional disability, and sciatic bothersomeness scores. (3) A large multicenter randomized controlled trial of 425 patients experiencing shoulder pain found that adding acupuncture to physiotherapy significantly improved shoulder function compared to physiotherapy alone, and that 53% of acupuncture patients reduced their use of pain medication versus only 30% in the control group. (4) There are similar studies showing the effectiveness of acupuncture in the treatment of knee pain, fibromyalgia, and migraines. All of this research makes a strong case that acupuncture is not just an alternative to conventional care - in many cases, it is a better the more effective option.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3658605/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4364128/

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9948020/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18403402/

"LouLou is a master with her hands and her needles. She got me to the starting line of the Boston Marathon and helped put me back together when I finished. I've recommended her to countless friends and fellow athletes and do so without hesitation".

- Diane Weinberger, Founder, Hamptons Marathon