It is my belief that a patient’s health and potential ability to recover fully is best served by early intervention with acupuncture and should be part of the therapy of anyone who might otherwise be prescribed a drug injection for pain relief.

More importantly, people need not to feel obligated to suffer with long term pain. Pain is not merely an uncomfortable feeling, it is your body telling you something is wrong and if it is not treated by self- or professional therapy, you may find yourself with a more serious condition. Herein lays the key problem with a pain blocker: the patient may be deceiving himself into thinking he is cured when in reality he just had his feedback mechanism turned off.

Imagine driving through the desert without a temperature gauge, wouldn’t you want to know if your engine coolant temperature was getting to high before the radiator explodes? Or rather, wouldn’t you want your fire alarm on in case of a fire?

People literally suffer decades with painful conditions that might easily be helped with the appropriate medical intervention, thereby reducing the possibility of expensive surgery or the use of progressively powerful pain blocking drugs. Some consider sustained pain longer than 3 months a chronic condition. Therefore, people might mistakenly wait to get medical attention after they have been experiencing sustained pain for over 3 months! Naturally, it is advisable NOT to wait three months before getting an acupuncture treatment or to deal with a painful condition! It is recommended to consult with your doctor promptly you have a concern. Ask your doctor about acupuncture or ask an acupuncturist.

Conclusion

When will acupuncture be integrated into the current American health system? Patients suffering from chronic pain can easily be provided prompt treatment before the application of cortisone or other potentially detrimental drug that may only treat the symptoms and not be effective in rectifying the underlying problem. With the increasing availability of acupuncture clinics with licensed acupuncturists, an MD who is willing to take the initiative to work together with a local acupuncturist can easily make this visionary integrative medicine a reality for his or her patients.

Draft version #1 06.23.08