Q: What are possible causes of shoulder and lower back pain?
A: If you do not have any other apparent reasons such as visceral diseases and injuries, causes could be (1) muscle spasm and stiffness caused by excessive muscle tensions and (2) inflammations of muscles, joints and tendons caused by those muscle spasm and tensions. Muscle tensions could be result of physical stresses caused by bad posture, doing deskwork for a long time, etc. and also be brought by excessive mental stresses. When you feel nervous or anxious (strong mental stresses), you feel tension and tend to brace yourselves up, doing things like bringing shoulder up, resulting in muscle tensions. It is also known that excessive mental stresses make muscle tensions worse. Regardless of gender and age, anybody could have inflammations of muscles, arthritis and tendinitis. Recently we see more patients with neck and/or lower back pains caused by prolonged use of smartphone. When people use smartphone, they tend to face down, and it causes excessive forces on neck and lower back.
Q: How do you improve immune system?
When tensions are accumulated in muscles, blood circulation is also affected in the area. If it continues, we have inflammations. With acupuncture treatment, I will insert needles in the areas of troubles with inflammations. It will help relax muscle tensions, promote blood circulations and trigger body’s immune response to send white blood cells around the troubled area. We always have white blood cells in our body. By inserting needles, we will tell our body where the inflammations are. Example: When treating shoulder stiffness and pains, I will insert needles in shoulder to help relax muscle tensions and treat inflammations. Most of pains are caused by inflammations. In most cases, pains will be lessened by treating inflammations. Acupuncture treatment also help produce certain hormones known for a stress relief effect. One of those hormones is endorphin that is produced and function in a brain. Endorphin has an analgesic effect similar to morphine and help relax body and mind. Similar effects can be achieved by doing exercise.
Q: How do you treat shoulder and lower back pains?
A: By stimulating (improving) body’s immune system, we help our body to treat or lessen inflammations of muscles, joints and tendinitis by themselves. Treatment plans are different from patients to patients, depending on their conditions and what causing them. I will explain treatments in general. We always have inflammations somewhere in our body. For example, after we do exercise, our body always go through inflammation issues, but we can treat them by ourselves. But for any reasons, when our body is not able to address these inflammation issues by itself, inflammations tend to accumulate in our body, and we have problems. If it keeps accumulating, it causes pain related issues and other kinds of symptoms. With acupuncture treatments, we will help (1) regulate circulation of energy in our body and make body function better, and (2) improve (stimulate or wake) body’s own immune system to treat and/or lessen muscle tensions and inflammations. As for (1), energy or chi in oriental medicine run throughout body through pathway called meridian. When circulation of energy or chi is good, organs are balanced and function properly. With that state, our body can treat issues and troubles by itself and try to keep everything healthy. (Dr. Choi, you said “achieve homeostasis”. In Japanese, I think homeostasis is still a new term and not common yet, so I did not use the word and instead, explained it.)
Q: When can we expect the result of treatment?
At our clinic, many patients say that pains are relieved right after treatment. But if you do not address the underline causes of pain, it is possible that pain would come back. For example, when a bad posture is causing muscle tensions, you need to correct it. Otherwise, you might have inflammations again, and if it accumulates in your body, you might have pains. To prevent reoccurrence, it is important to continue maintenance treatment, even after you no longer have any pains. Also important is to find the underline causes and get rid of them. If you have a bad posture, you need to correct them. Eating healthy, good sleep and proper exercises are also recommended. Pain medications and muscle relaxants are effective in treating pains, but medications are good only for relieving symptoms temporarily, and taking medications does not cure the underline causes. If you take medications for a long time, side effects could be concerned, too. Both oriental medicine and western medicine have their own benefits. It is important that you understand them and find appropriate treatments for yourself.