Acupuncture for Musculoskeletal Pain

Acupuncture Treatment for Musculoskeletal Pain Starts by Identifying the Pain Source

When a patient presents with a chronic pain (six months or longer duration), for example, shoulder pain, they can not usually tell a healer where the pain arises. The source of the pain seems a mystery.

To find the source of the pain, Dr. David Blake Jones, D.A.C.M., L.Ac. uses an orthopedic assessment tool called Exstore.

About the EXSTORE system

The EXSTORE system allows Dr. Jones to rapidly evaluate pain patterns, determine the root cause, and accordingly, treat the correct motor and trigger points to produce the maximum pain relief and restoration of function.

Testing the strength of the muscles to find which ones are neurologically inhibited (weak) is the first step.

It may seem at times that a joint is the key element of a case of pain. However, the muscles of the body buttress the joints of the body and its other structures. If they are weak, or not firing properly, pain and dysfunction almost inevitably result. Think of a joint that is stiff. For a joint to move, a muscle that lies across it must contract. If the muscle tension is pronounced, however, like a vice grip on the joint, it prevents normal range of motion. Once the muscle tension is unwound and the function restored, the joint can then function with normality.

After the initial assessment

Once the assessment has revealed which muscles are inhibited, Acupuncture at specific motor nerves (located in the central part of the muscle, and serving as a literal command center for the muscle) usually combined with some form of mild electric stimulation, wakes up the weak, often tight, and dysfunctional muscle.

In fact, a patient usually notices an immediate change in strength and range of motion during the retesting of the formerly inhibited muscle, right after treatment.

Restoring muscle relieves the pressure on stressed joints, allowing for great improvement in range of motion, reduced pain in both muscle and joint, and restoration of formerly limited functions such as walking, reaching, gripping, bending, and etc. There is often dramatic improvement during and after just one treatment!

Dry Needling

In some ways, the treatment arising from the Exstore analysis resembles what is called “Dry Needling,” which is just another form of Acupuncture. However, most practitioners of “Dry Needling” seem on a hunt for every tender spot they can find. While treatment of trigger points can be quite helpful given their power to refer pain to other areas, this approach can be painful to some patients.

Dr. Jones instead focuses on the motor points in inhibited muscles, for treating these unique locations is direct access to a muscle’s command center. This typically precludes having to needle the most painful spots detected upon palpation.

Indeed, since most muscles have only one or at most two motor points, the number of points once must “release,” is dramatically decreased.

Did You Know?

Two non-lumbar muscles that most health care practitioners who treat back pain never think of treating

There are two non-lumbar muscles that most health care practitioners who treat back pain never think of treating, yet studies show that in virtually every person with back pain, they are inhibited. These muscles are the Transverse Abdominis and the Internal Obliques. They are two of what are called “core muscles.”

The Transverse Abdominis is like a lumbar belt that supports the core of the torso. It works in a feet-forward fashion, meaning that it activates prior to any movement of the torso. So if it is inhibited, the back will not have proper support.

The Internal Obliques, along with the Transverse Abdominis, holds everything together.  Both the Transverse Abdominis and the Internal Obliques are antagonists to the diaphragm and a key lumbar muscle, the Quadratus Lumborum.

If the Transverse Abdominis and Internal Obliques are inhibited, there is poor sensory-motor integration with the diaphragm and the Quadratus Lumborum. This predisposes the back to further injury.

Thus it is crucial for any back treatment plan to include a treatment to activate the Transverse Abdominis and Internal Obliques.

What our patients are saying:

“I had lower back pain, and after trying other doctors and physical therapy, I saw Dr. David Blake Jones for my first ever acupuncture treatment. I was in so much pain, I could barely walk. His Acupuncture helped me to walk good after only one session. Two more sessions, and I had no more lower back pain. So thank you Dr. Jones for helping me feel good again. I recommend him to everyone looking for pain relief.”

– Sheriff Yassin

“After only a month of Acupuncture with Dr. David Blake Jones for chronic hip and back pain I am already beginning to feel like a new person. Before my first treatment, I couldn’t walk on an incline or sit for more than 15 minutes without pain. The treatments are very relaxing with the soft meditation music he plays and the wonderful aroma light blocking eye pillows. Afterwards I enjoy organic tea in the waiting area. Dr. Jones is an expert about treating different ailments and I can trust him to take care of other issues affecting my health. Highly recommend him!!”

– Melissa Shields

“After years of too much sitting at a desk job, and no regular exercise, I developed really bad pain in my hip flexors. After just one visit with Dr. David Jones, there was no more pain! Here is the really great thing. It’s been well over a year, I’m still in a desk job, but I have had no more pain in that area. Needless to say, I highly recommend him.

When my son was preparing for the SAT, I hired Dr. Jones to teach him Primordial Sound Meditation, to help with the stress of the test prep and the test itself. He helped him get a 1490 out of 1600 on his SAT, and my son still meditates to this day.”

– Sherri Wessler

“Dr. David Blake Jones is a true healer. I have 2 major herniated discs, and rehab had not helped med. I was limping in agony before I found Dr. Jones. Each session with him provided significant relief. Thanks to him, I was able to avoid having to take medical leave from work. Another thing he helped with was the migraines a couple times a month. In just one visit he was able to knock it out completely with a combination of acupuncture and Chinese Medicine herbs. Since he helped me with my pain, I decided to take him up on his suggestion to take his Primordial Sound Meditation class. I had been trying all sorts of meditation in the past, and this is one that I was able to stick with, cause its effortless to practice and provides benefits much quicker than other meditative techniques.”

– William Henderson