Warm Up & Cool Down

No, that's not a clever way to discuss the current weather patterns in Portland. Warming up prior to you work out or exercise routine and cooling down after are just as important as your activity. 

Warming up increases the temperature of your muscles for increased flexibility and mobility. It also dilates your blood vessels to increase oxygen flow throughout the body. A warm up slowly raises your heart rate and reduces stress on your heart. When you include a stretch in your warm up you increase range of motion and mobility in your joints preventing injury. Warm up for at least 5-10 minutes doing a similar activity to the one you have planned (walk before a run). 

Cooling down allows your heart rate to come down gradually and your blood vessels to contract so you don't pass out or feel sick. Including a stretch in your cool down will help the build up of lactic acid (known for soreness and stiffness) in your muscles. Hold each stretch for 15-30 seconds and don't bounce. 

Including these in your summer activities will help improve your overall health. 

The Benefits of Integrative Medicine

The Mayo Clinic recently released a study about the health benefits of adding massage and acupuncture to your healing plan. The study found that not only is massage beneficial for pain relief, but with the therapist's hands on approach, they may be able to feel areas of pain not otherwise recognized. It also found that acupuncture can have similar benefits. When the acupuncturist is palpating to find sensitive areas, they may be able to find additional areas of soreness or other abnormalities and discuss them with the patient's physician. 

Read the full article here.

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Holiday Travel

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Traveling can be rough on your body; especially around the holidays. Here are some quick tips to try and an article by the ACA. 

1.) Warm up and cool down. Sitting for prolonged periods can be hard on your body so just like exercise, stretch before and after. 

2.) Adjust the lumbar support in your car or, if on a plane, roll up pillows to create a lumbar support that follows the natural "S" curve of your spine

3.) Walk up and down the aisles of the plane and stretch. If traveling in a car, take frequent rest stops and stretch. 

Read the full article here.

Add Movement to Your Winter

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This time of year can be rough for those of us that like to get our movement in outdoors. Here are some good ways to add movement into your day when it’s cold and wet outside:

1. Make your meetings walking or standing meetings. Take a stroll with your colleagues around the office while you talk or just stand around the conference table while you meet.

2. Take stretch breaks. Spend 5-10 minutes twice a day stretching out your back, neck, hips, and shoulders. You can bend forward to touch your toes then grab the opposite elbow and gently sway side to side.

3. Foam Roll in the evenings while watching your favorite shows. Even just a few minutes on the foam roller every day will help loosen up tight, stiff muscles.

4. Add incidental movement to your day by taking the stairs instead of the elevator or parking your car at the far end of the parking lot.

5. Stand at a counter while you eat your lunch instead of sitting.

6. Walk around while you take your phone calls.

 

Acupuncture Relieves Neck Pain and Numbness

 

25 SEPTEMBER 2015
Healthcare Medicine Institute

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Acupuncture relieves neck pain and numbness and reduces levels of proinflammatory blood cytokines. Researchers conclude that warm needle acupuncture has a 92.05% total effective rate for the treatment of pain, numbness, and radiating discomfort due to cervical spondylosis with radiculopathy. This is a condition wherein there is spinal and soft tissue degeneration in the neck causing nerve impingement with subsequent pain or numbness. The symptoms often radiate from the neck to the shoulders, chest, back, and limbs. In addition, acupuncture successfully reduces blood levels of tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) and the proinflammatory cytokines interleukin-1 beta (IL1β) and interleukin 6 (IL6).

A total of 169 patients participated in the hospital study. Most of the patients experienced pain upon stretching and all patients had a limited range of motion of the neck. Patients demonstrated significant reductions in neck, shoulder, and limb pain as a result of acupuncture treatments. Acupuncture also significantly relieved numbness in these areas.

Two groups were compared. One group received conventional acupuncture and the other group received warm needle acupuncture. The warm needle acupuncture group received a combination of moxibustion with acupuncture and had a 92.05% total effective rate. The conventional acupuncture group had an 81.48% total effective rate.

The acupuncture with moxibustion group received needling at the following acupuncture points and moxibustion at the acupoints and surrounding areas:

  • Jingjiaji, Jiaji points on the neck
  • Jianjing, GB21
  • Fengchi, GB20
  • Shousanli, LI10
  • Dazhui, DU14
  • Yanglingquan, GB34
  • Feishu, BL13

The conventional acupuncture group was needled at the following acupuncture points:

  • Dazhui (Bailao), DU14
  • Jianzhongshu, SI15
  • Zhongzhu, SJ3
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One course of care comprised one treatment per day for six days. All patients received two courses of care. Both groups demonstrated a high effective rate with significant reductions in pain and numbness. In addition, both groups demonstrated significant improvements in range of motion.

A related study finds acupuncture more effective than Meloxicam, a nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drug, for the treatment of neck disc herniations. A total of 420 patients were investigated in a randomized controlled study. Acupuncture was applied to acupoints:

  • DU14, (Dazhui)
  • BL11, (Dazhu)
  • SI3, (Houxi)

Electroacupuncture connected DU14 and BL11 with a continuous 40 Hz, 2 mA stimulation for 20 minutes. Acupuncture was administered once per day and 10 acupuncture treatments consisted of one treatment course. A day off was taken following the first course. This was followed by another treatment course. The drug group received a 7.5 mg tablet of Meloxicam at a rate of once per day. The oral tablet was taken in the evening for a total of 20 days.

Of the 207 electroacupuncture patients, 145 patients recovered in the short-term. Of the 208 drug patients, 93 recovered in the short-term. Improvements also occurred in an additional 53 acupuncture patients and 90 medication patients. The electroacupuncture group had 9 poor responses and the drug group had 25 poor responses to treatment in the short-term.

Electroacupuncture produced significantly greater positive patient outcomes than the medication group for 95% recovery and significant levels of improvement groups. Of the 207 electroacupuncture patients, a total of 180 patients had a 95% recovery in the long-term. Of the 208 drug patients, 142 patients had a long-term 95% recovery. Electroacupuncture caused 25 patients to improve significantly. The medication caused 52 medication patients to improve significantly.

Poor results for electroacupuncture were limited to 2 patients and 14 medication patients had poor results in the long-term. The researchers note, “With a randomized controlled multi-centered large-sampled method, this study has shown that the EA (electroacupuncture) group was better than the medication group in comparing both short-term and long-term therapeutic efficacies.”


References:
Ye, Y. X., Xu, L. & Yao, J. (2015). The Clinical Observation on Acupuncture Thermal Moxibustion Combined with Convention Acupuncture in Treatment of Acute Cervical Spondylotic Radiculopathy. Journal of Emergency in Traditional Chinese Medicine. 24(6).

Wang WJ,Lu J,Niu CS,et a1.Effects of electroacupuncture of unilateral and bilateral “zusanli”(ST 36) Oil seixlm TNF— alpha.IL—l and IL一4 levels in rats with chronic inflammatory pain[J].ZhenCiYan Jiu,2010,35(6):429—432.

Pei J,Wei H,Liu ZD.Effects of moxibustion on the expression of IL—lbeta.IL一2,IL一6 mRNA and protein in the cerebral cortex in tumor beating mice [J] .ZhenCiYahJiu,2010,35(4):243—249.

Wu, Yao-chi, Jun-feng Zhang, Yi-jun Sun, Cheng-fei Huang, Ping Shao, and Gui-zhen Liu. “Clinical study on electroacupuncture for cervical intervertebral disc herniation.” Journal of Acupuncture and Tuina Science 11, no. 6 (2013): 371-374.

Sun SC, Sun ZG. Clinical Orthopaedics and Traumatology. Beijing: People’s Medical Publishing House, 2006: 750.

Xu LB, He YY. The effect of Du Meridian-regulating therapy on immunoglobulins in cervical intervertebral disc herniation. Shanghai Zhenjiu Zazhi, 2011, 30(9): 615-616.