Seattle Community Acupuncture
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis is one of the oldest and most common forms of arthritis. Known as the “wear-and-tear” kind of arthritis, Osteoarthritis is a chronic condition characterized by the breakdown of the joint’s cartilage. Cartilage is the part of the joint that cushions the ends of the bones and allows easy movement of joints. The breakdown of cartilage causes the bones to rub against each other, causing stiffness, pain and loss of movement in the joint.
Medical experiment has proved that in patients with chronic pain due to osteoarthritis of the knee or hip who were receiving routing primary care, addition of acupuncture to the treatment regimen resulted in a clinically relevant and persistent benefit.
Stephen Straus, the director of NCCAM, said: “For the first time a clinical trial with sufficient rigour, size, and duration has shown that acupuncture reduces the pain and functional impairment of osteoarthritis of the knee. These results also indicate that acupuncture can serve as an effective addition to a standard regimen of care and improve quality of life for knee osteoarthritis sufferers.”
According to Chinese medicine osteoarthritis is caused by obstruction of Qi and blood in the meridians and collaterals due to invasion of pathogenic factors or deficiency.
Osteoarthritis may be calssified into five types according to etiology and manifestations:
Wandering type. Wandering pain in the joints, especially the wrists, elbows, knees and ankles, limitition of movement. It is caused chiefly by pathogenic wind, which is charcaterized by constant movement and changes.
Painful type. Severe stabbing pain in the joints, alleviated by warmth and aggravated by cold, with fixed localization but no local redness and hotness. It is due to pathogenic cold, which is characterized by contraction and stagnation. Cold is a Yin pathogenic factor which consumes the Yang Qi of the body.
Fixed type. Numbness and heavy sensation of the limbs, soreness and fixed pain of the joints, aggravated on cloudy and rainy days. It is caused by pathogenic damp, which is characterized by viscosity and stgnation.
Heat type. Arthralgia involving one or several joints, local redness, swelling and excruciation pain with limitation of movement, accompanied by fever and thirst. It is caused by pathogenic fire, which is characterized by burning and upward direction.
Deficiency type. Muscular flaccidity of the lower limbs with motor impariment, combined with soreness and weakness of the lmber region, seminal emission, prospermia, leukorrhoea, dizziness, blurring of vision. In Chinese medicine the liver stores blood and controls the tendons, and kidney stores essence and dominate the bones. Prolonged illness or indulgent sexual activity causes loss of essence and blood. So muscular flaccidity with motor impairment occurs due to poorly nourished tendons and bones.
Patients with osteoarthritis will get traditional Chinese acupuncture treatment at Green Point Acupuncture L.L.C.. The mission of our acupuncturists is to improve the quality of a patient’s life by providing natural health care that focuses on the whole person. The patients will get healing benefits of acupuncture treatment from experienced Chinese acupuncturists at Green Point Acupuncture L.L.C..
Green Point Acupuncture L.L.C.