Blog Posts - BRIBIE ACUPUNCTURE

BRIBIE ACUPUNCTURE

New to acupuncture?

30/8/2022

We treat a wide range of conditions and clients at our clinic - so far the youngest client we’ve had was 4 years old and our oldest was 91! For many, acupuncture is their go-to treatment but we also see many new clients each week that have never had acupuncture before but are keen for a different approach for their health.

So what happens at your first acupuncture appointment? During your first appointment we like to get a thorough understanding of your condition, the severity, how long you’ve had it, and how it impacts your quality of life.

Peripheral Neuropathy

18/7/2022

Peripheral neuropathy is a disorder of the peripheral nervous system, the vehicle that allows communication from the brain and spinal cord to the rest of the body (arms, legs, face). It often causes weakness, numbness, and pain - usually in the hands or feet. Peripheral neuropathy can result from traumatic injuries, infections, metabolic problems, inherited causes, and exposure to toxins (including medications). Common conditions that lead to peripheral neuropathy include diabetes and chemotherapy. Regardless of the cause, poor blood circulation and inflammation are factors in all cases of peripheral neuropathy.

The symptoms often reported by our peripheral neuropathy clients include burning sensations, feeling of pins and needles, and numbness - particularly in the feet. Those with numbness often describe the feeling to be like wearing a thick pair of socks or walking on sponges. The symptoms alone however are usually not what prompts sufferers to come to our clinic for treatment; they’re typically more concerned about the impact neuropathy has on their quality of life, including:

Difficulty sleeping or engaging in activities due to pain and restlessness
Fear of losing balance or falling due to numbness
Reduced confidence while driving (inability to feel the pedals)
Wanting to dance again

Acupuncture for Trigeminal Neuralgia

3/7/2022

Trigeminal neuralgia is a painful condition that affects the trigeminal facial nerve which starts near the top of the ear and splits into three branches - toward the eye, cheek, and jaw - and tends to only affect one side. The pain of trigeminal neuralgia is often described as stabbing, burning, and excruciatingly painful - some describe the pain like a sudden electric shock.

Trigeminal neuralgia tends to affect women more than men, and those over 50 years old. It is most commonly the result of pressure on the nerve, but could also be due to damage to the protective outer layer of the nerve, called the myelin sheath. The condition often appears spontaneously but can also be the result of trauma, such as following a dental procedure. The pain can be triggered by simple things such as change in temperature, wind blowing against the face, brushing teeth, eating, and drinking.

Fertility acupuncture

11/4/2022

For many, the journey to parenthood isn’t a straightforward one - in fact 1 in 6 couples in Australia have difficulties conceiving - and the number is going up, not down. Of these cases, approximately 30% are attributed to female factor infertility, 30% to male factor, and another 30% due to a combination of female and male factors. The remaining 10% are classed as “unexplained infertility” by conventional medicine.

There are sometimes complex medical issues that can impact fertility, but there are also a number of everyday actions that you can take that can improve your chances. Importantly, these things can not only help your chances of getting pregnant – they can also help your chances of having a healthy baby.

Acupuncture for sciatica

14/3/2022

One of the main nerves in our legs is called the sciatic nerve which traverses from the lower back, through the buttock and down the leg. When the nerve is inflamed, pain, numbness, and/or weakness is often felt in the buttock and upper thigh - in some cases the pain can travel down to the feet, down the back or side of the leg. Sciatica can literally be a big pain in the butt!

There has been an increase in the number of clients that have come to my clinic in recent weeks due to back pain and sciatica - many of them have been spending more time in their gardens, lifting heavy objects, and sitting in the car for long periods of time. It has been estimated that up to 40% of people experience sciatica at some time during their lives, most commonly in people in their 40’s or 50’s, and more commonly men than women.

Chinese medicine for immunity

14/2/2022

After a period of being unwell it can be difficult to shake off the fatigue that can continue for weeks on end after other symptoms have subsided. This is known as post infection fatigue and is often a reflection of a weakened immune system. Sometimes when symptoms such as muscle aches and heaviness, joint pain, sore throat, headache, cough, and fever seem to have abated and recovery is on the horizon, we can easily be knocked back down with extreme fatigue or exhaustion – a sign that the immune system needs some TLC.

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine can be powerful yet natural methods in strengthening the body’s immune defences.

Sports acupuncture

13/12/2021

Though acupuncture is well known for its effectiveness in treating pain conditions, what prompts people to come to us at Bribie Acupuncture for treatment is often not the pain itself but the impact the pain has on their quality of life. Pain can stop you from enjoying your morning walks, keep you off the golf course, or prevent you from running your best time in the next race. We see many clients seeking treatment to heal from injuries, speed up recovery between competitions, and to improve their sport performance.

Though the source of pain can sometimes be obvious, it is often due to more subtle dysfunctions in the nervous system resulting in neuropathic pain which cannot be seen on x-rays or ultrasound scans. Oftentimes this neuropathic pain involves the nerve to muscle connection where affected muscles that have become shortened/ tightened or overstretched/ loosened, physically compounding pain due to reduced blood flow. A classic example is someone who suffers back pain after long periods of sitting: though their back muscles may of course be affected, often the muscles in their buttocks become overstretched and the muscles at the top of their thigh become overly tight (simply due to the body position while seated), and the muscles become inhibited or “switch off”, referring pain to the back. If these muscles aren’t addressed, the back pain may not resolve completely or may become recurring.

Pregnancy acupuncture

15/11/2021

Prior to setting up Bribie Acupuncture last year, I worked in two fabulous acupuncture clinics in Brisbane specialising in fertility and pregnancy, and have been fortunate enough to be part of hundreds of journeys that started out with hope and open minds and have resulted in bouncing babies. Though my clinic in Bribie is often filled with the usual suspects, such as back and knee pain, I’ve had the privilege of assisting many Bribie locals with:

Preconception health and natural fertility
IVF and IUI support
Pregnancy care
Labour preparation and natural labour induction
Postpartum care

ACUPUNCTURE FOR PREGNANCY SUPPORT
Chinese medicine has promoted specialised treatment for women during pregnancy and postpartum for over 3000 years. Today this care is becoming increasingly popular and used by acupuncturists and specially trained midwives all over the world. Pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal recovery are viewed in Chinese medicine as ideal times to nurture a woman’s wellbeing to promote foetal and maternal health. Acupuncture is used to assist with a range of pregnancy related conditions, alleviating the discomfort that is often part of many pregnancies, and offering women an alternative to medication. Many integrative doctors, particularly those with a special focus on women’s health, fertility, and pregnancy, in fact recommend their clients to incorporate acupuncture as part of their pregnancy journeys.

Acupuncture for chronic pain

17/5/2021

We all experience pain at some point in our lives. Pain is nature telling us, "Your body is being injured - take action to stop damage and prevent it from happening again." Reaching for medication is a common choice for some, however it’s worth considering whether it’s a suitable approach. If pain is our body’s way of warning us of harm, temporarily masking it with drugs means we’re ignoring the warning and allowing injury to continue. It also means that the root cause of the problem isn’t being addressed and potentially becoming worse.

There are two main types of pain: acute and chronic. Acute pain warns you that you’ve been hurt - it starts suddenly, and when the injury heals, the pain stops. Chronic pain, on the other hand, continues after the injury has healed, lasting for weeks, months, even years. According to the National Centre for Health Statistics, the most common sources of chronic pain include low back pain, neck pain, and headache or migraine pain.

Chinese medicine for menopause & hot flushes

15/2/2021

Chinese medicine views menopause as a time of new beginnings, calling it a ‘Second Spring’. For many women however, menopause is often no cause for celebration due to a range of symptoms that can sometimes dramatically affect their quality of life for several years. Though every woman has a different experience when going through menopause, many experience symptoms such as hot flushes and night sweats, while others experience feelings of uncertainty about moving to a new stage of life. Some may have seen their friends suffer during menopause and worry they too might face a rocky road.

Menopause typically starts between the ages 45 and 55 - on average at age 51, with perimenopause starting several years prior as hormones start to decline or become imbalanced.