What Do Acupuncture and Neuromuscular Tests Have in Common?

An injury can impact your client’s life for months, years — even for the rest of their life. This is why it’s important to have options for both the diagnosis and long-term treatment of the chronic pain that may result from the original injury.

Ultra-thin needles, first introduced thousands of years ago as a technique in Chinese medicine, have become an essential tool in both evaluating how neuromuscular functions may have been impacted by an injury and in restoring a patient’s quality of life by relieving chronic pain.

Neurologists and their teams use small needles electrodes to perform Electromyography (EMG) and Nerve Conduction Velocity (NCV) assessments to diagnose possible nerve and muscle damage. An EMG measures a muscle’s response to nerve stimulation, while the NCV measures the health of the nerves themselves. Performed in tandem, the overall accuracy of the tests can be multiplied and may be used along with other important health information to make a  neuromuscular diagnosis.

Common symptoms for muscle and nerve damage include difficulty moving or increased pain with movement, along with weakness, soreness, numbness, bruising, prickling or tingling sensations, twitching and paralysis. It is often recommended that accident victims with these symptoms obtain an EMG and NCV as soon as possible.

For patients experiencing chronic pain, specialists have found acupuncture to be effective in reducing inflammation, speeding recovery and alleviating pain, thus improving the patient’s quality of life in the aftermath of an injury.

Practitioners of acupuncture insert tiny, solid filament needles into the skin at strategic points to help the body heal naturally without drugs, surgery or side effects. It is a tool of Chinese medicine, which is used to naturally treat conditions from headaches to fibromyalgia to diabetes.

A specialized skill known as Die-Da or “hit-fall” medicine, originated in Ancient China to treat injuries sustained from martial arts. It quickly and effectively addresses trauma to any part of the body and has since been recognized by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) as a safe and effective medical therapy. Here are just some of its benefits:

Pain Relief

Acupuncture needles can be placed in the muscle or tissue in and around the site of the injury.  This minor trauma to the skin stimulates the production of pain-relieving endorphins and natural opioids. Pain feedback channels from the pain source to the brain are blocked so that the level of pain perceived by the brain is reduced.

Inflammation Reduction

The microtrauma of needle insertion also stimulates a natural anti-inflammatory response by releasing chemicals that dilates blood vessels and increases the flow of chemicals through the body. These physiological responses allow the removal of inflammatory mediators from the injury site, and enhance healing mediators in the area.

Trigger Point Release

In addition to promoting anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving mechanisms, acupuncture can also be used to resolve regions of tightened muscle called trigger points. Trigger points of muscle knots occur when there is an over-contraction of a small number of muscle fibers. Inserting a needle directly into the trigger point disrupts the muscle contractions to encourage relaxation. It also stimulates blood flow and the delivery of oxygen and nutrients through vasodilation, and reduces the elevated electrical activity in the muscle, allowing them to relax.

Although acupuncture should most often be pursued under the guidance or recommendation of a medical doctor, the practice remains a relatively inexpensive, holistic, benign therapy that works well independently or in conjunction with more traditional medical treatments.

Finding amazing acupuncturists or a convenient means of obtaining an EMG and NCV on personal injury medical liens for your clients may have seemed difficult, but Power Liens has both! Please see below for some of the quality acupuncturists in our network located all over California, as well as a mobile EMG and NCV testing company that performs their tests all over the state: