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There are a thousand ways to heal, and most of my fibromyalgia patients have tried almost all of them without great success by the time they begin Oriental medical therapies. The symptoms associated with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) include pain in the muscles and joints, insomnia, fatigue, brain fog, and digestive imbalances. This is a disease process that takes many forms of expressing itself and is tenacious in nature. Because Chinese medical therapies treat energetic imbalances in the body, fibromyalgia responds extremely well to this type of treatment.

Typically, FMS patients look healthy. Hence, no one can imagine that they are quite ill and in a great deal of pain. As a result, FMS sufferers receive little empathy from family, friends, or even health care practitioners. Western medical practitioners often avoid billing using a fibromyalgia code fearing reprisals from insurance companies that are still debating whether or not fibromyalgia even exists. FMS patients also run into misinformed health practitioners who treat fibromyalgia patients as drug seekers. This is because FMS does not respond well to pain medications and patients, especially those with severe pain, are looking for solutions where they may not exist. There is a great deal of mystery surrounding the origins of FMS. Western medicine has yet to determine the cause of FMS. However, according to the ancient theories of Chinese medicine, fibromyalgia follows patterns of imbalance associated with Qi (vital energy loosely), organs and energetic qualities of the body leading to pain syndromes. Some of the patterns are as follows:

1) Latent Pathogens
According to Chinese medicine, a cold or flu is treated by releasing the pathogen to the exterior. Part of this process includes opening the pours by causing a sweat. If an exterior pathogen is not treated properly, it can become lodged in the interior of the body. This unresolved virus can lodge itself in the muscle tissue, or more seriously, in the organs of the body. Interestingly, antibiotics are very cold in nature and cold causes contraction. When antibiotics are used in the presence of an exterior pathogen, the pathogen cannot move to the exterior. Environment toxins are also pathogenic factors that can become stuck in the muscle tissue.

2) Liver Qi Constraints
The Liver is dynamic in its ability to move Qi in all directions in the body. When the Liver function becomes constrained, there is a tendency for the Liver to become heated. Not only does the Liver function become impaired, but the Liver overacts on other systems. It can affect the Heart function causing insomnia and the Spleen and Large Intestine functions causing digestive difficulties. With Liver Qi constraints there is typically an emotional imbalance causing frustration, easy anger and even depression.

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Green tea could become a new treatment for skin disorders such as psoriasis and dandruff in the near future. Medical College of Georgia researchers studied a model for inflammatory skin diseases, which are often characterized by dry, red, flaky skin patches caused by the inflammation and overproduction of skin cells. Those treated with green tea showed slower growth of skin cells and the presence of a gene that regulates the cells’ life cycles.

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Chiropractors have long known that ‘cracking’ the neck to combat pain and stiffness can also lower blood pressure. University of Leeds scientists’ recent findings indicate that treatment for a stiff neck can not only lower blood pressure, but also heart rate and breathing. A team led by Professor Jim Deuchars examined pathways between the neck and the brain to determine how neck muscles could play a role in lowering blood pressure.

Their study, which appears in the Journal of Neuroscience, provides the first evidence for a link between treatment for a stiff neck and brain regions which control body functions such as breathing and blood pressure. “Cells in the area that receive neck signals jumped out at us when we labelled sections with particular markers. We wanted to know how these cells were organized and the other brain regions to which they were connected,” Deuchars said. The team found a link between these cells and the nucleus tractus solitarius, an area of the brain that is pivotal in control of autonomic functions—body functions under unconscious control.

They found that nervous signals from the neck could play a role in ensuring adequate blood supply is maintained to the brain. Previous reports indicate that treatment of the neck region helps to reduce blood pressure in some people.

Acupuncture can be effective in reducing chronic neck pain, according to a recent systematic review of research literature completed by Cochrane review authors to determine whether there is evidence that acupuncture is effective in treating neck disorders due to whiplash, muscle strain and other causes. Acupuncture can minimize neck pain, but there is no cure for the musculoskeletal system disorder. For some individuals, acupuncture may be the best treatment, while different combined therapies may work best for others.

Acupuncture & Massage College’s Masters of Oriental Medicine and Massage Therapy programs prepare graduates for careers as acupuncture physicians and massage therapists. For program information contact Joe Calareso and for treatmenbt contact Dr. Richard Browne at (305) 595-9500.

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