Chronic chest pain and acupuncture

According to a recent article in Cardiology Journal, approximately 6.4 million people in the U.S. suffer from symptomatic cardiac disease usually involving fatigue and chest pain. For some, drug therapy or surgical procedures like cardiac bypass or angioplasty may cure their suffering. But those who continue to suffer with chest pain are known to have “Refractory Angina Pectoris” or simply RAP (also known as “intractable Angina Pectoris” or iAP). For these people, there is no clear cure. While there are numerous new experimental methods of helping, from spinal stimulators to the latest drugs, there is a very old therapy that has also shown to help reduce pain: Acupuncture.

Researchers at Liaocheng Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Shandong randomly divided up 70 RAP patients into two groups of 35 each. The control group received the standard medications including nitric acid, beta blockers, calcium antagonists, aspirin and heparin. The study group received the same drugs and acupuncture once daily for 10 consecutive days. The group that received the addition of acupuncture improved significantly over the group that only received drug therapy on measures of perceived pain (89% vs. 60%), electrocardiogram readings (63% vs. 31%) and even sudden death (6% vs. 20%). (Acupuncture.com, T Boldt)

That’s pretty impressive! And to boot, the patients who received acupuncture were also receiving an overall body balancing like you do when you see a TCM Practitioner whose diagnostic skills are good. Ask your practitioner about his or her pulse diagnosis training including courses taken after formal academic TCM training to determine their level of skill. Remember, a proper diagnosis drives effective treatment and you are not just there to get pain relief. You are receiving treatment to balance your overall qi so that your general health is better. That way, your pain goes away because your body is better at staying balanced. Acupuncture should not just be a bandaid treatment. That is, seeing someone who puts needles only where your pain is. Treatment needs to encompass your entire body and energetic systems. Call or email me if you have questions about diagnosis and treatment. 303-947-6224; DrMLucas@AcupunctureWoman.com.

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