- Cloud 9 Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine22 West Padonia Rd. Suite A-203
Timonium, MD 21093
Neuropathy
What’s Our Medical Director Been Up To?
Have you heard? Our Medical Director, Laura Parks, M.Ac., L.Ac. went back to school and will be graduating at the end of April 2023 with her Doctorate in Acupuncture. 13 years after graduating with her Masters degree in Acupuncture, we’ll be calling “Dr. Laura” to the clinic with all her new wisdom on how to help patients.
Here’s what she had to say about her doctorate experience so far: “It’s been so great studying advanced, complex conditions like Lyme’s disease, advanced fertility and gynecological issues, pediatrics, and autoimmune conditions, weighing in with some of the most brilliant minds in the country. Last semester I got to celebrate getting straight A’s in all my classes while juggling family life and running a very busy clinic, all while completing medical internships, studying modern acupuncture research, and learning from live case studies. I’m so grateful for this opportunity to take my training to the next level and serve thousands of patients in the future with this centuries old medicine.”
We can’t wait to see what the future holds upon completing her doctorate this April!
If you’re interested in working with our Medical Director, Laura Parks, this spring, give us a call at 410-847-4766.
Acupuncture Research: Neuropathy Solutions are Here!
One exciting piece of compiled research breaks down many times of neuropathy and how acupuncture was used to improve the various types of acupuncture called, “Acupuncture for the Treatment of Peripheral Neuropathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.”
Results of 13 clinical trials showed, “most long-term follow-ups favored acupuncture at 4 weeks,56,60 5 weeks,61 7 months, and 13 months,55 ” and “all four RCTs56,60,61,62 used validated CTS-specific scales (Table 2) and reported significant improvement with manual acupuncture56,60,62 and electroacupuncture61 compared with baseline in the Global Symptom Score,56,60 Boston Carpal Tunnel Score,61 Carpal Tunnel Self-assessment Questionnaire,62 and Visual Analogue Scale61 (Table 3). Three of the four RCTs included showed significantly greater effectiveness of acupuncture compared with night splinting,61 sham acupuncture,60 oral vitamin B1 and B6,60 and oral prednisolone.56 ”
Acupuncture-induced changes in nerve conduction parameters
“NCS were performed in included trials on DPN and CTS (Table 4). With respect to motor nerve function, acupuncture produced significant effects on median nerve compound muscle action potential (CMAP) amplitude, median nerve distal motor latency (DML), and motor nerve conduction velocity (NCV) of the median, ulnar, and peroneal nerves. Compared with medication control, acupuncture caused significantly greater improvement in DML and in median, ulnar, and motor NCV.”
Sensory NCS revealed that acupuncture caused an increase in sensory nerve action potential (SNAP) amplitude in the median nerve, lowered median nerve distal sensory latency (DSL), and increased median and peroneal nerve NCV.”
This piece of research can be found in full text at: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5359694/ Dimitrova, A., Murchison, C., & Oken, B. (2017). Acupuncture for the Treatment of Peripheral Neuropathy: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis. Journal of alternative and complementary medicine (New York, N.Y.), 23(3), 164–179. https://doi.org/10.1089/acm.2016.0155
The Acupuncture profession has been extremely busy the last 10 years with clinical trials, experiments on how effective specific acupuncture protocols are for different conditions. Up until about 10 years ago, many clinical trials on acupuncture were skewed because the “control” in the experiments was “sham acupuncture.”
Sham acupuncture and regular acupuncture had to be “double blinded” in the original clinical trials, and therefore were done with something placed on the skin and a plastic “guide tube” used to tap the acupuncture needle into the skin. Participants in the clinical trials were not sure if they were receiving the sham acupuncture or the regular acupuncture, because the tapping sensation was the same for both. Another way sham acupuncture was performed was to needle places on the body that were not the exact anatomical acupuncture point locations, however the needle placements were often still located on the acupuncture pathway or close enough to an acupuncture point to still stimulate an acupuncture point and create clinical improvements in the participants.
The more impressive clinical trial results are those that compare acupuncture to another health modality, such as pain medication or physical therapy. Acupuncture often is shown in these clinical trials to be significantly more effective in improving patient outcomes and getting better clinical results in treating most conditions.
You can see more acupuncture research (and ALL types of medical research!) for yourself, by exploring research on the government regulated public medical database, www.PubMed.gov
If you look at research, I do suggest reading how the experiment was conducted, what the ‘control’ of the experiment was, and how big the sample size was, and for how long.
At Cloud 9 Acupuncture, we specialize in treating many types of neuropathy, including peripheral neuropathy, bell’s palsy, and diabetic neuropathy, as well as chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy. We are one of a handful of clinics in the country that provide this proprietary neuropathy treatments with over a 85% success rate. Call 410-847-4766 to begin with a consultation.
Chronic Pain Stops Here
At Cloud 9 Acupuncture & Integrative Medicine, we’ve mastered the art of treating chronic pain. “I’m finally starting to feel better, thanks to you!” is our favorite thing to hear every day at the clinic.
Most of our patients come to us as a last resort, after trying countless surgeries, medications, and procedures without any relief they finally come to us to feel better. Boasting over a 90% success rate in treating conditions such as Fibromyalgia, Neuropathy, Lupus, Lyme’s disease, Arthritis, and other chronic, complicated conditions, it’s no wonder patients are starting to recommend their family and friends to this “alternative option.” For some patients, we are their only option left.
With the addition of advanced therapies such as ATP Resonance BioTherapy TM and Ozone Regenerative Therapy TM our patients are feeling better than ever.
Our patients are seeing long-lasting results after just a few weeks with these advanced therapies. Need proof? Read over 95 five star reviews on Google at https://g.page/r/CQGy9oVQIk1FEAE
Call 410-847-4766 to begin today!
Neuropathy… Did You Know?
Neuropathy plagues approximately 20 million people in the United States. This particular type of nerve damage can have a multitude of medical causes.
- Diabetes
- Chemotherapy (or Radiation) Induced Peripheral Neuropathy also known as CIPN
- Nerve damage, especially originating from spinal compression, bulging disc, or pinched nerve.
- Viral Induced (including COVID-19)
- Unknown
Symptoms usually include tingling, numbness that can be quite painful, feeling of walking on “pins and needles,” unable to properly feel one’s feet or hands. After the pain of numbness and sharp, hot pain fades the feet or hands become truly numb, which is a progressive degeneration of the condition. This is a sign that the peripheral nerves have actually died and started to recede, which presents as true numbness creeping upwards, for example from the feet up the legs to even the groin. Or from the hands towards the shoulder. The exact level of severity of the Neuropathy condition is assessed by a neurological exam called the Toronto Exam.
Unfortunately, there is not much doctors can offer to treat neuropathy… Until now.
Now there is Hope.
At Cloud 9 Acupuncture, we have over a 85% success rate in significantly improving neuropathy cases. Without meds, without side effects, we use acupuncture combined with cutting edge technology to create a reversal of neuropathy. To get started, call for a consultation to find out if you are a candidate for our Neuropathy Program.