Dr Maggie Ju Acupuncture London Chelsea, North Kensington, Notting Hill, and Richmond

Neck and shoulder pain is a common complaint that affects millions of people worldwide. While it can be challenging enough on its own, some individuals also experience an alarming phenomenon: the pain shooting down to their arms, forearms, and fingers. This radiating pain can be both distressing and debilitating, but understanding why it occurs is the first step towards finding relief and addressing the underlying issues. The Anatomy of the Neck, Shoulders, and Arms To understand why neck and shoulder pain can radiate to the arms, forearms, and fingers, it's crucial to grasp the complex anatomy of this region. The neck consists of seven cervical vertebrae, while the shoulders comprise the scapula (shoulder blade) and the humerus (upper arm bone). The arms extend down to the wrists and hands, where numerous bones, muscles, tendons, and nerves converge. Common Causes of Neck and Shoulder Pain Muscular Strain: One of the most prevalent causes of neck and shoulder pain is muscular stra...

Neck pain and stiffness are common complaints that affect millions of people worldwide. The discomfort can be a result of various factors, including muscle strain, poor posture, sports injuries, and stress. Among the muscles most affected is the levator scapula located at the back and side of the neck, connecting it to the shoulder. Understanding the causes and potential remedies for neck pain and stiffness is essential for effectively managing and preventing these issues. Causes of Neck Pain and Stiffness Muscle Strain: Everyday activities like sleeping in an awkward position, prolonged computer use, or sudden sports injuries, such as a fall or swimming accident, can strain the neck muscles. The levator scapula muscle is particularly susceptible to strain due to its location and function. Stress and Anxiety: Mental stress and anxiety can lead to tension in the neck muscles, contributing to neck pain and stiffness. Chronic muscle tightness can impair blood circulation, depriving muscle...

 

Many of us have experienced that unpleasant sensation of tightness in our bodies, whether it's in the neck, shoulders, back, or other areas. This tightness can hinder our daily activities, cause discomfort, and even lead to chronic pain if left unaddressed. While there are several factors that contribute to this sensation, acupuncture has emerged as a holistic and effective approach to alleviate tightness and promote overall well-being. In this article, we will explore the reasons behind a tight body and how acupuncture can offer relief. Understanding the Causes of a Tight Body: Stress and Tension: Modern lifestyles often subject us to high levels of stress, both physical and emotional. This stress leads to increased muscle tension, resulting in the feeling of tightness. Prolonged stress can also disrupt the body's natural balance, leading to imbalances in energy flow. Sedentary Lifestyle: A sedentary lifestyle, characterized by long hours of sitting and minimal physical activi...

 

Mast cells are a crucial type of immune cells in the human body that play a significant role in the progression of numerous diseases. They serve as regulators of protective host immunity. Acupuncture, on the other hand, has been proven to be an effective analgesic therapy. Acupuncture points, also known as acupoints, are characterized by a high concentration of subcutaneous mast cells (MCs), and their activation has been found to play a crucial role in the initiation of the analgesic effect. Recent studies have revealed that subcutaneous mast cells are involved in the mechanism of analgesia induced by acupuncture. The high density of skin mast cells in acupuncture points makes them highly sensitive to mechanical stimulation. The accumulation of mast cells and the dense arrangement of collagen fibers, microvessels, and nerves form the basis for acupoints as the reaction sites of acupuncture. During acupuncture manipulation, the activation of the mast cells occurs via the collagen networ...

Chronic neck pain is a prevalent and serious health issue worldwide, often accompanied by restricted neck movement, dizziness, anxiety, and insomnia. Fortunately, acupuncture has emerged as an effective treatment for chronic neck pain. A review was conducted to summarize the latest scientific evidence on the effectiveness of acupuncture in treating acute, subacute, and chronic neck pain. The review included 27 studies that represented individuals with various types of neck pain. Three studies involved individuals with whiplash-associated disorders, five studies explored chronic myofascial neck pain, five studies focused on chronic pain due to arthritic changes, six studies involved chronic non-specific neck pain, two studies addressed neck pain with radicular signs, and six studies focused on subacute or chronic mechanical neck pain. The review revealed that acupuncture was beneficial for pain intensity at immediate-term follow-up compared to sham acupuncture, short-term follow-up comp...

Pain is an inevitable part of life that can have a significant impact on one's quality of life. The experience of pain involves the transformation of pain stimulus into a nerve signal that is sent to the brain. The pain sensation and pain response are produced by integrating and processing this information in the brain. Several neurotransmitters, such as opioid peptides, γ-aminobutyric acid, norepinephrine, 5-hydroxytryptamine, and glutamate, are involved in pain modulation. While painkillers can be effective in managing pain, they also have potential side effects such as addiction, drowsiness, and damage to brain function. Consequently, many people are turning to alternative therapies such as acupuncture, which is known for its few side effects. Acupuncture has gained popularity as a method of pain management around the world. Originally from China, acupuncture has been shown to have positive analgesic effects in many studies. Numerous clinical trials have demonstrated that the ne...

You Might Be Overlooking the Role of Fascia in Your Pain and Stiffness When we experience pain or stiffness in our bodies, we tend to attribute it to tired muscles or stiff joints. However, there is a part of our body that we often overlook in this context: the fascia. The fascia is a network of thin connective tissue that surrounds and holds every organ, bone, muscle, blood vessel, and nerve fiber in place. Despite its crucial role in our body's movement and structure, fascia received very little attention until recently. One of the fascinating aspects of the fascia is that it has nerves, making it almost as sensitive as skin. When it is stressed, it tightens up. Although fascia appears to be one sheet of tissue, it is actually made up of multiple layers with liquid in between called hyaluronan. It is designed to stretch as we move. However, certain factors can cause fascia to thicken and become sticky, which can limit our mobility and cause painful knots to develop. Factors that ...

Neuropathic pain, also known as nerve pain, is a type of pain that occurs due to damage to the nervous system. It can arise from any level of the nervous system, including the peripheral nerves, spinal cord, and brain. Patients with neuropathic pain typically experience spontaneous and/or evoked pain. Spontaneous pain is characterized by shooting, burning, stabbing, or electric shock-like pain, as well as tingling, numbness, or a "pins and needles" sensation. Evoked pain, on the other hand, is pain brought on by normally non-painful stimuli, such as cold, gentle brushing against the skin, or pressure, and can also be increased by normally painful stimuli like pinpricks and heat. Neuropathic pain is a common problem, affecting more than 7% of the general population and accounting for 20 to 25% of individuals with chronic pain. However, treating neuropathic pain is a significant challenge, and the available treatment options are often limited by side effects and tolerance. In...

Acupuncture has been shown to be an effective treatment for fibromyalgia, which is a condition characterized by chronic pain, muscle stiffness, fatigue, sleep disturbances, depression, irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), stomach pain, bloating, low mood, poor concentration, and memory problems. Although fibromyalgia can affect people of different ages, it is most commonly found in middle-aged women, and treating this condition can be challenging. Acupuncture is a treatment method that has been used to address various medical conditions, particularly chronic pain. Research indicates that acupuncture's analgesic effect on the central nervous system, achieved by stimulating nerve fibers and producing an activation in the cascade of pain-modulating endorphins, serotonin, and noradrenaline, may contribute to its effectiveness in treating fibromyalgia. For example, a recent research paper summarized 20 studies, including a total of 1497 participants, with most of them being women, that inves...

  Dr. Helene Langevin, Director of the Osher Center for Integrative Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Brigham and Women's Hospital was talking about chronic pain and acupuncture and connective tissue. This helps you to understand how acupuncture works. 

 

Pain receptors Pain is a signal that is transmitted from the injured part of the body to the brain. Most illness causes pain; therefore the pain signal cannot be ignored. Noxious stimuli elicit tissue damage and activated pain receptors. Activation of pain receptors initiates the process that pain is experienced. Pain receptors are free nerve endings presented in the skin, muscles, joints, bone and viscera. They are sensory receptors that sense and detect tissue damage and then transmit the signal through nerves to the brain. There are three types of pain receptors. First type is skin pain receptors which are in the skin. They can sense pinching, cutting, stretching, temperature, chemicals and other mechanical. If the stimulation is prolonged, these receptors are sensitized and respond more widely. Second type is joint receptors in the joint capsules and ligaments. Third type is visceral pain receptors located in internal organs. Silent pain receptors or sleep pain receptors are these ...

Pain starts from activation of the nervous system. There are 9 steps of the pain circle: Step 1: Local inflammation. Anything causing tissue damage such as injury, surgery, or infection can lead to local inflammation. This is the origin of the pain. Step2: Peripheral sensitization. Local inflammation irritates the nerves lowering the pain threshold causing peripheral sensitization. Step3: Central sensitization. Nerve signals are transmitted to the brain causing central sensitization. Step4: Pain sensation. The brain tells you that there is pain in the body somewhere. Step5: Pain cognitive processes. The brain where is sensing the pain connects other part of the brain where controls emotion causing emotional and behaviour changes. Step6: Depression and anxiety. The brain where controls emotions is affected by the pain signals and alters its function causing depression and anxiety Step7: Cortical reorganization. The brain reallocates its task to different parts of the body to reduce pai...

Pain is an unpleasant feeling and a signal in the nervous system that something may be wrong. Pain could be in one area of the body, such as back pain or all over the body such as fibromyalgia. It could be divided into two types of pain according to the onset and duration. There are two types of pain: acute and chronic Acute pain usually comes on suddenly, because of a disease, injury, or inflammation. It can often be diagnosed and treated. It usually goes away, though sometimes it can turn into chronic pain. Chronic pain lasts for a long time, and can cause severe problems. There are mainly three types of pain sensations Pricking pain is caused by a needle, pin prick, skin cut etc. This type of pain is precisely localized from the skin and conducted by the A fibers of the nerves. It is sharp, fast and short duration in nature. This pain is a protection mechanism to the body and warning to the brain that something goes wrong. Burning or soreness pain is caused by inflammation, burned s...

 

Acupuncture began in China about 2500 years ago and it is a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is based on theory of meridians (channels). Chinese Medicine believes that energy (called qi) flows around human body freely through meridians without being interrupted. If the channel is blocked resulting that qi cannot pass through the channel, this may cause illness. The acupuncture needles are inserted into certain points of your body along with the channels to unblock the channels. The effectiveness of acupuncture to treat disorders is still a long standing question in research field. There are many conflicting research results on treatments of different kinds of conditions. Sometimes it is difficult to draw firm conclusions, because of the way that the research was conducted. Researchers are trying hard to perform well designed research using control group and sham acupuncture. For some conditions, the effectiveness with acupuncture treatment is agreed, such as back pain by the...

What is fascia? Fascia is a band or sheet of connective tissue consisting of collagen lying under the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs. Fascia is classified by layer, as superficial fascia, deep fascia, and visceral or parietal fascia, or by its function and anatomical location. A recent study by Helen Langevin a researcher at the University of Vermont has suggested that people with chronic and recurrent low back pain had 25 percent greater fascial thickness than a low back pain-free group. She concluded that increased thickness and disorganization of connective tissue layers may be an important and so-far neglected factor in human LBP pathophysiology. Another study in Skeletal Radiology, 2005,2 found that pathological Achilles tendons showed increased thickness and 89 percent were painful. Antonio Stecco, MD, recently completed an unpublished study3 using ultrasonography on chronic (longer than 3 months' duration) neck pain...

Chronic pain is often defined as any pain lasting more than 12 weeks. Chronic pain persists—often for months or even longer. Pain is a very personal and subjective experience. There is no test that can measure and locate pain with precision. Chronic pain can occur anywhere in the body from the head to the toes, such as headaches, neck pain, back pain, thigh pain, leg pain and foot pain, facial pain, chest pain, abdominal pain, pelvic pain and genital pain etc. Chronic pain may occur in a variety of locations in the body and for many different reasons. With chronic pain, the goal of treatment is to reduce pain and improve function. No1 chronic pain compromise the quality of life so much. No2 It makes you tense. Chronic pain indicates there is chronic inflammation and it irritates the nerve and creates muscle tension. No3 It can make you have fatigue. All the inflammation from the chronic pain makes you feel tired all the time. No4 It can disturb your sleep. Chronic pain always irritates...