Whether you are experiencing muscle soreness from a workout, have a muscle strain from an injury, or have chronic pain and can't sleep at night, topical ointments are an excellent tool in your toolbox to relieve pain temporarily. Topicals for pain relief can be a helpful addition to acupuncture and movement therapy. They can be used on any muscle or joint from pain associated with sprains, strains, bruises, arthritis, swelling, workout soreness, and chronic pain. How do they

Neck pain, or cervicalgia, is something we all experience at some point in our lives. Most of us work 8+ hours a day at a desk, and our bodies are not made for this sedentary lifestyle. We spend more time being inactive than active. We also spend much more time looking down at our phones. Luckily, the body is incredible at adapting to its environment, but it comes at a cost to our musculoskeletal system. Sitting for long periods of the day can weaken and tighten the muscles

Low back pain is one of the most common reasons people seek acupuncture. Whther caused by muscle strain, prolonged sitting, chronic tension, or muscle imbalances, acupuncture for low back pain may help reduce discomfort, improve mobility, and support long-term healing. 80% of people will experience low back pain at some point. So why is it so common? It concerns the spine's shape, especially the lower lumbar spine. The spine is made of vertebrae bones stacked on each other, s

More than half of women who have a period experience pain. There are two types of dysmenorrhea (painful periods); primary dysmenorrhea is the most common without known pelvic pathology. Secondary dysmenorrhea is due to pelvic pathologies such as endometriosis, uterine fibroids, adenomyosis, or ovarian cysts. The solution for dysmenorrhea is birth control in Western medicine, which is good as a bandaid to alleviate pain, but it doesn't help figure out why you have pain in the

For centuries, acupuncture has been a popular way to help martial arts fighters manage the physical effects of their rigorous training regimes. Nowadays, even high-profile athletes like Tom Brady, Aaron Rodgers, and David Beckham use acupuncture to improve their performance, endurance, and mental clarity during post-exercise recovery. But it's not just athletes who can benefit from acupuncture - whether you're a yoga enthusiast, a cyclist, a hiker, a swimmer, a dancer, or jus

What is sports acupuncture, and how can it help my pain? Sports acupuncture often combines trigger points, motor points, neurofunctional acupuncture, and instrument-assisted soft tissue mobilization techniques (IASTM) to restore mobility and range of motion to the affected tissues and joints. This article will explain trigger points, motor points, and neurofunctional acupuncture. For more information on IASTM techniques, check out my recent blog post, where I go into more det