BEST SHOULDER EXERCISES USING RESISTANCE BANDS RUBBER BAND (1)

Study: Electroacupuncture Helps With Depression

A recent research study out of Hong Kong shows electroacupuncture stimulation can quickly reduce the severity of depressive symptoms to help patients dealing with depression recover faster using alternative methods.
Researchers at the School of Chinese Medicine at The University of Hong Kong, Li Ka Shing Faculty of Medicine and the Department of Psychiatry in Kowloon Hospital conducted a study of a randomized controlled trial using dense cranial electroacupuncture stimulation (DCEAS) on patients with major depressive disorder (MDD).

DCEAS is a novel acupuncture treatment, which was developed by Dr. Zhang Zhang-jin, associate professor of the HKU School of Chinese Medicine. In DCEAS, Zhang believes that stimulating Bai Hui and Yin Tang, as well as other acupoints including Si Shen Cong, Tou Lin Qi, Tai Yang, Shuai Gu and Tou Wei, triggers the release of serotonin (5-HT) and other chemicals in the brain more efficiently, resulting in better treatment outcomes.
For the study, 73 participants, ages 25 to 65 years, had been diagnosed with MDD and had suffered with the disorder from several months to several years.
The volunteers continued taking their prescribed antidepressant medications (fluoxetine), and were randomly selected to be in the DCEAS group or the control group. Participants in the DCEAS group received dense cranial electroacupuncture stimulation, while the control group received noninvasive electroacupuncture (placebo acupuncture) for 9 sessions in 3 weeks. Each session lasted 45 minutes.
Assessments given by both physicians and the patients themselves revealed that the DCEAS group had greater improvement in depressive symptoms, according to researchers.
On the 21st day after receiving treatment, the DCEAS group had a greater improvement in both the clinical depression assessment and the self-rating depression scale. Furthermore, strong improvements were observed in the DCEAS patients as early as at day 3, and this continued until the end of the treatment.
The findings suggest that DCEAS may be considered as an additional treatment for depressed individuals to achieve better clinical effects.

The Dangerous Hype of Antioxidants

By Marlene Merritt, DOM, LAc, ACN

Returning to the theme I've had in past articles of things that we "know" for a certain to be true (and then often are not), let's look at antioxidants. We all seem to know that free radicals are bad, and that antioxidants mop them up and prevent damage to us, slowing down the aging process, reducing the incidence of cancer and other major illnesses like heart disease.

There are just a couple of problems with this theory, the biggest one being that the research shows the complete opposite. Let's look at some basics first. Free radicals are generated by normal metabolism and yes, they can damage proteins, fats, carbohydrates, DNA and other biological material. The research started after World War II, when scientists saw the damaging effects of the ionizing radiation from atomic weapons, and came to the (correct) conclusion that the damage from radiation and the damage seen in normal tissue can have the same source — free radicals. We have built-in mechanisms to deal with free radicals, but some free radicals always make it through the defenses, and consequently, damage slowly builds (aging) until the body breaks down and we die. Basically, the researchers saw damage, and free radicals were in the area. Knowing that free radicals damage macromolecules, the conclusion was drawn that free radicals caused the damage and sped up the aging process.
This was a really convenient theory, because the logical jump would then say that if you reduce free radicals, then you must reduce the damage caused from them — the aging process, cancer, heart disease, and the like.
The problems started with the research — the initial studies were done adding large amounts of free radicals to petri dishes, seeing the damage to the macromolecules, and then concluding that the same thing happened in the human body. The next, and very large problem with this free radicals equals aging theory is that free radicals actually perform a function in the body and it's a vital one: fighting pathogens like bacteria, increasing apoptosis, and fighting cancer (white blood cells churn out tons of free radicals to bolster the immune response). Taking antioxidants blunts and neutralizes this response. Do you really want that?
Another problem is this: there are no clinical studies conclusively showing that production of free radicals leads to chronic disease and aging. It's mainly on the strength of studies on worms, fruit flies and rats that we have all the hype generated for resveratrol supplements, 1,000 mg of ascorbic acid fizzy drink packets, and the constant recommendation to take alpha-tocopherol (also known as vitamin E).
Unfortunately, not only are there no clinical studies showing that free radicals cause the problems mentioned, but taking antioxidants, especially as supplements, can actually harm you. In 2008, the Cochrane Collaboration (which is a group of independent scientists who scrutinize the legitimacy and accuracy of studies) looked at 67 different studies with nearly 400,000 participants and came to the conclusion that there was "No evidence to support antioxidant supplements to prevent mortality in healthy people or patients with various diseases."¹  In fact, it also said "Antioxidant supplements need to be considered medicinal products and should undergo sufficient evaluation before marketing." How many multi-level marketing companies do you think are doing that? Or over-the-counter supplement companies? Why should they? We all keep repeating the mantra that antioxidants must be healthy and keep buying them — the estimates are that in high-income countries, approximately one-third of the population takes antioxidant supplements!
Not only does taking antioxidants seem to make no difference for cardiovascular disease², but it also has been linked to increased rates of lung cancer^3,4, gastrointestinal cancer⁵, prostate cancer⁶, reduced apoptosis⁷ and increased mortality⁸. Adding antioxidants can also impair ovulation⁹. The American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association both state that "the scientific data do not justify the use of antioxidant vitamin supplements for CVD risk reduction." The HDL-Atherosclerosis Treatment 2001 study showed that the addition of antioxidant vitamins blunted the rise of protective HDL. The Alpha-Tocopherol Beta-Carotene Cancer Prevention study reported an increase in cerebral hemorrage for patients taking merely 50mg of alpha-tocopherol daily (July, 2003). Most damning, in 2007, JAMA reported on the largest ever meta-analysis of antioxidant peer-reviewed studies (47 low-bias trials with over 180,000 participants) and stated in conclusion that, "Treatment with beta carotene, vitamin A, and vitamin E may increase mortality." Yikes.
The reason so many studies are being done is because there was first the observation that people who smoked a lot and had large amounts of vitamin E from food in their diet seemed to have lower rates of cancer. Hence, the attempt to see if alpha-tocopherol could lower rates of cancer.
So what's going on? The first problem is with the assumption that free radicals are bad for you. As I stated before, your immune system relies on the release of free radicals from phagocytes (as an example) to destroy the engulfed pathogens of macrophages and granulocytes. They are also involved in cell signaling (redox signaling) and the crucial function of apoptosis. The black-and-white thinking of good/bad is an oversimplification of life in general and is inevitably an erroneous road to start down.
The second problem is the reductionist theory that we have about nutrition. Let's use alpha-tocopherol as an example. This is what's known as vitamin E, but in actuality, the full E complex contains multiple tocopherols, tocotrienols, (8 antioxidant levels in total to protect the vitamin complex), selenium, xanthine, and lipositol, plus other compounds. Yet some researcher decided that alpha-tocopherol was the active ingredient in this entire complex, named that vitamin E and now alpha-tocopherol is made in a lab which puts 1000 percent of the RDA into gel caps, and you actually think that's vitamin E as it's found in nature. It's not — you would never find alpha-tocopherol isolated and in large amounts like that in food.
Ascorbic acid has the same story. Vitamin C is a full complex, including not just ascorbic acid, but also bioflavenoids, rutin, and multiple other compounds. But in naming ascorbic acid "Vitamin C," you can now manufacture it in a lab, and make pills with 1,000 mg of ascorbic acid in them, labeling them as vitamin C. When was the last time you saw a gram of ascorbic acid in nature? Right, never.
The third problem comes from the thought process of "If some works, more must be better." Like it says above, we are now manufacturing these isolates in amounts way beyond how they would be found in nature, and without any of the other compounds that would come with them if they were in a food source. Do you think that could possibly be contributing to the negative results being seen in those studies? There's also the observation about the transition time for some of these antioxidant isolates. Alpha lipoic acid stays in the body for approximately 24 minutes. Ascorbic acid is also known for quickly flushing out through the urine — people trying to take high doses have to keep ingesting it all day. If these antioxidants were so vital and the body needed so much of it, why would it allow this to happen?
I'm not saying that we don't need antioxidants, but I am saying that taking synthetic, high-dose isolates has the very real potential of harming us. I tell my patients again and again that what has gotten us into trouble is when we mess with our food. We take cows off of grass and feed them corn (losing the Omega-3s), we take the fat out of food, we don't process grains properly, we insist soy is healthy, even when it has been consistently shown that it's not (fermented soy excluded), we overeat fructose because we don't eat seasonally and think that agave nectar must be healthy because it's sold in health food stores, we eat carbs in insane amounts, and we think we know enough about nutrition that we can isolate fractions out of food and think that's better than nature.
It's like we've lost all common sense about food. Then we think some marketing term like "nutraceuticals" must mean that the extra-strength "pharmaceutical" dose of nutrition is even more helpful to our malnourished bodies. But it's clearly being shown, especially in this field of antioxidants, that that's not true. Yes, eat the fresh fruits and vegetables, with their full complement of vitamin complexes. Buy organic if you can for more nutrient density. If you take supplements, or sell supplements, make sure they're actually food concentrates, not just large amounts of synthetics with some food added. If you need suggestions as to where to find those, let me know.
Don't believe the marketing hype — for your long-term health, avoid mega doses of synthetic vitamin isolates.
References

1. Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Gluud LL, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Antioxidant supplements for prevention of mortality in healthy participants and patients with various diseases. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews 2008, Issue 2. Art. No.: CD007176
2. Vivekananthan DP, Penn MS, Sapp SK, Hsu A, Topol EJ. Use of antioxidant vitamins for the prevention of cardiovascular disease: meta-analysis of randomised trials. Lancet 2003;361:2017-23
3. Omenn GS, Goodman GE, Thornquist MD, Balmes J, Cullen MR, Glass A, Keogh JP, Meyskens FL Jr, Valanis B, Williams JH Jr, Barnhart S, Cherniack MG, Brodkin CA, Hammar S: Risk factors for lung cancer and for intervention effects in CARET, the Beta-Carotene and Retinol Efficacy Trial. J Natl Cancer Inst 1996, 88(21):1550-1559
4. The effect of vitamin E and beta carotene on the incidence of lung cancer and other cancers in male smokers. The Alpha-Tocopherol, Beta Carotene Cancer Prevention Study Group. N Engl J Med. 1994 Apr 14;330(15):1029-35.
5. Bjelakovic G, Nikolova D, Simonetti RG, Gluud C. Antioxidant supplements for preventing gastrointestinal cancers. Cochrane Database Syst Rev 2004;(4):CD004183
6. Lawson KA, Wright ME, Subar A, Mouw T, Schatzkin A, Leitzmann MF. Multivitamin use and risk of prostate cancer in the National Institutes of Health–AARP Diet and Health Study. J Natl Cancer Inst 2007;99:754-64
7. Zeisel, S. J. Nutr. November 1, 2004 vol. 134 no. 11 3179S-3180S
8. Miller ER 3d, Pastor-Barriuso R, Dalal D, Riemersma RA, Appel LJ, Guallar E. Meta-analysis: high-dosage vitamin E supplementation may increase all-cause mortality. Ann Intern Med 2005;142:37-46
9. Shkolnik, K., Tadmor, A., Ben-Dor, S., Nevo N., Galiani, D., and Dekel, N. Reactive oxygen species are indispensable in ovulation, Proceedings from the National Academy of Sciences, January 10, 2011

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Acupuncture Good for Fibromyalgia?

Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) affects an estimated 2 percent of the population. Conventional therapies are limited in the success of treating this complex and unexplained condition. Current treatment is largely comprised of prescribing different medications for the varying symptoms in a trial and error approach. Research shows that as many as 90 percent of people with fibromyalgia have turned to complementary and alternative medicine to manage their symptoms. Acupuncture, in particular, has become a popular treatment choice and has shown to be an effective treatment for FMS.

What is Fibromyalgia Syndrome?

Fibromyalgia is a medically unexplained syndrome characterized by chronic widespread pain, a heightened and painful response to pressure, insomnia, fatigue, and depression. While not all affected persons experience all associated symptoms, the following symptoms commonly occur together:

• chronic pain
• debilitating fatigue
• difficulty sleeping
• anxiety and depression
• joint stiffness
• chronic headaches and jaw pain
• difficulty swallowing
• dryness in mouth, nose, and eyes
• hypersensitivity to odors, bright lights, and loud noises
• inability to concentrate (called "fibro fog")
• incontinence
• irritable bowel syndrome
• numbness or tingling in the fingers and feet
• painful menstrual cramps
• poor circulation in hands and feet (called Raynaud's phenomenon)
• restless legs syndrome

Fibromyalgia is diagnosed when there is a history of widespread pain in all four quadrants of the body for a minimum duration of three months and pain when pressure is applied to at least 11 of 18 designated tender points on the body. This condition does not result in any physical damage to the body or its tissues and there are no laboratory tests which can confirm this diagnosis.

Symptoms often begin after a physical or emotional trauma, but in many cases there appears to be no triggering event. Women are more prone to develop the disorder than are men, and the risk of fibromyalgia increases with age.

From an Eastern Perspective

The Oriental medicine theory of pain is expressed in this famous Chinese saying: "Bu tong ze tong, tong ze bu tong" which means "free flow: no pain, no free flow: pain."

Pain is seen as a disruption of the flow of Qi within the body. The disruption of Qi that results in fibromyalgia is usually associated with disharmonies of the Liver, Spleen, Kidney and Heart Systems.

The Acupuncture Treatment

Oriental Medicine does not recognize fibromyalgia as one particular disease pattern. Instead, it aims to treat the specific symptoms that are unique to each individual depending on their constitution, emotional state, intensity and location of their pain, digestive health, sleeping patterns and an array of other signs and symptoms. Therefore, if 10 people are treated with Oriental medicine for fibromyalgia, each of these 10 people will receive a unique, customized treatment with different acupuncture points, different herbs and different lifestyle and dietary recommendations.

Because the symptoms of fibromyalgia are highly variable form one person to another, a wide array of traditional and alternative treatments has been shown to be the most effective way of treating this difficult syndrome. A treatment program may include a combination of psychological or behavioral therapies, medications, exercise, acupuncture, herbal medicine and bodywork.

If you have fibromyalgia, acupuncture and Oriental medicine may be what you’ve been looking for to ease your symptoms and reclaim your health and vitality. Please call for a consultation today.

Acupuncture for back pain?

Answer

from J. D. Bartleson, M.D. Mayo Clinic back pain specialist

When performed properly by trained practitioners, acupuncture has proved to be an effective therapy for back pain. Several studies have found that acupuncture can help reduce chronic back pain and improve daily function.
Acupuncture for back pain involves inserting very thin needles to various depths into strategic points on your body. This is thought to balance the flow of energy or life force — known as qi or chi (pronounced chee) — believed to flow through pathways (meridians) in your body.
Scientists don't fully understand how or why acupuncture affects the amount of pain you feel. Several studies have found that acupuncture causes the same effects as sham (minimal or simulated) acupuncture used in some studies for comparison. Sham acupuncture involves tapping the skin with a toothpick at the same strategic points used in acupuncture to simulate the insertion of a needle. Sham acupuncture may not be an accurate way of studying the benefits of acupuncture, however, because it's possible that acupuncture points can be stimulated by even surface pressure. Both acupuncture and sham acupuncture showed improvement over usual medical treatments.
Acupuncture is generally recognized as safe if done by a competent, certified acupuncture practitioner. Possible side effects and complications can occur, which include soreness, bleeding, infection or bruising at the needle sites.

Acupuncture Stops Shoulder Pain?

Acupuncture Stops Shoulder Pain? New Research.

05 June 2011

There has been a great deal of controversy over the effectiveness of acupuncture for pain related conditions. Can acupuncture stop shoulder pain? A randomized, blinded, patient-blinded, multi-center research report published its conclusions. Researchers at Ruhr-University Bochum (Orthopedic Surgery and Research) conclude that acupuncture is an effective alternative to conventional orthopedic treatments for chronic shoulder pain. The specifics of the results draw clear demarcations.
A total of 424 patients were studied in 31 orthopedist offices. Each received 15 treatments over a period of 6 weeks. The orthopedists were trained in acupuncture and administered the acupuncture treatments. Three groups were compared. The first group of patients received textbook acupuncture (verum acupuncture). The next group received non-relevant needle puncture (sham acupuncture). The final group received conventional orthopedic care.
Results showed greater range of motion including abduction and arm-above-head-test for the acupuncture group over the sham and orthopedic groups. Pain level reductions were also assessed.
Three Month Follow-Up
The verum acupuncture group had a 65 percent recovery rate. The sham acupuncture group had a 24 percent recovery rate, and the orthopedic group had a 37 percent recovery rate measured three months following the cessation of acupuncture care.
Immediate Follow-Up
The verum acupuncture group had a 68 percent recovery rate. The sham acupuncture group had a 40 percent recovery rate, and the orthopedic group had a 28 percent recovery rate measured immediately following the cessation of acupuncture care. In both cases, the patients receiving acupuncture demonstrated the most clinically significant recovery rates.



Reference:
Pain. 2010 Oct;151(1):146-54. Epub 2010 Jul 23. German Randomized Acupuncture Trial for chronic shoulder pain (GRASP) - a pragmatic, controlled, patient-blinded, multi-centre trial in an outpatient care environment. Molsberger AF, Schneider T, Gotthardt H, Drabik A.

Acupuncture has been reported to be effective for the treatment of frozen shoulder or shoulder arthritis.

 In traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), it is termed ‘shoulder at the age of 50 years’.
Frozen shoulder is used to denote a limitation of shoulder motion, without abnormalities of the joint surface, fracture, or dislocation. The onset of frozen shoulder is usually gradual and idiopathic, but it may be acute and associated with a previous history of minor injury to the shoulder joint. The disease occurs mainly in middle-aged individuals and is usually self-limiting, but the duration and severity may vary greatly.



 Acupuncture has been used for the treatment of clinical disorders in Asia for more than 5000 years.
 It is now also valued in modern medical practice as a therapy for many medical problems, particularly where current western medicine is either ineffective or contraindicated. Acupuncture has gained increasing attention with respect to the treatment of chronic pain. Lewith and Machin’s review of the efficacy of acupuncture therapy for chronic pain concluded that ‘real’ acupuncture treatment was significantly better than both ‘sham’ acupuncture and placebo.

Moreover, acupuncture has been shown to cause fewer adverse reactions than the use of opioid analgesics and antiinflammatory medications. Richardson and Vincent found good evidence from controlled studies that acupuncture provided effective, short-term pain relief, for both acute and chronic pain.


 Classical acupuncture prescriptions for frozen shoulder are designed—by selection of local, distal, and tender (ashi) points according to the course of the meridians—to relax the muscles, disperse pathogenic factors such as excess wind, cold, and dampness,
remove obstruction in the affected meridians and their collaterals, and to regulate the Qi and blood.
 A combination of local and distal classical Chinese acupoints are commonly used for the treatment of frozen shoulder.45 Local points include GB 21 (jianjing), LI 15 (jianyu), LI 14 (Binao), TE 14 (jianliao), and SI 9 (jianzhen). Distal points utilised are LI 4 (hegu), LI 11
(Quchi), St 38 (Tiaokou),37,46 GB 34 (Yanglingquan),39 and Zhongping.36 Zhongping is an extra acupoint lying along the stomach meridian, the so-called Yang Ming Meridian.

 The stomach meridian has its Qi running across the shoulder. It is a Yang meridian
in balance with its Yin counterpart, an imbalance of which can cause the Bi syndrome.

 Acupuncture applied to this acupoint can relax the tendon and remove obstruction in the meridians to relieve pain. Contralateral needling, characterised by the contralateral selection of points is very effective in the treatment of shoulder pain. The mechanism of
action is possibly the stimulation of Shu points, and hence the meridians and collaterals, on the healthy side. This, in turn, is thought to excite the meridians and collaterals on the affected side, which have been in a state of stagnation of Qi and blood, thus, to an extent, clearing and activating the meridians and collaterals, and relieving pain.


 According to TCM, if a part of the body is not moved, then the Qi will not circulate through it, leading to stagnation. If this occurs in the shoulder joint, the joint becomes stiff and painful. Physical exercise is important in harmonising the body (Yin) and the spirit (Yang), as well as the Qi, helping to clear and activate the meridians and collaterals. This is essential for internal harmony between various organ systems, as well as between the body and the natural environment.