Ailments We Treat
Naturally. Drug Free. Inexpensive
Whether you are trying to quit smoking or looking for a more effective way to heal stiff, achy joints.
We are proud to offer affordable, professional, and best of all, natural treatment strategies for all of these common ailments.
ARTHRITIS
Arthritis can be a crippling condition. The stiffness, swelling and
joint pain of osteo-arthritis (OA) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can
stop us from doing the things we love to do. At Fort Myers Acupuncture
and Massage we take a holistic approach to your care examining all the
various factors that contribute to your level of discomfort.
Diet, posture, body mechanics, level of exercise, asleep and work habits can all have an influence on the health of your joints. Our staff are very skilled at providing individualized care that addresses the specific needs of each patient.
BACK, NECK & SHOULDER PAIN
The Fort Myers Acupuncture and Massage team has decades of experience treating back pain, neck pain & shoulder pain by looking carefully at all the various factors affecting each patient, including posture, body mechanics, past injuries, work habits, sleep hygiene and more. Most times multiple influences are at play.
Your therapist will create a treatment plan specific to your needs so that you can feel better as soon as possible.
We commonly use these therapies to treat Back Pain, Neck Pain & Shoulder Pain:
Therapeutic & Deep Tissue Massage, Heat therapy, Orthopedic Massage, Trigger Point Therapy/Neuromuscular Therapy (NMT), Thai Massage, Passive/Resistive Stretching, Traction, Exercise Therapy, Topical Analgesics, Far Infrared Therapy, Magnetic Therapy,Herbal Anti-Inflammatory Medications, Herbal Pain Medications, Homeopathic Remedies, Paraffin Therapy, Acupuncture, Electro-Acupuncture, Acupuncture Point Injection Therapy, Cupping/Guasha, Ultrasound Therapy, Laser Therapy and much more.
Colds & Flus
Chinese Medicine’s Understanding of Colds And Flus
In some respects, Chinese medicine’s fundamental understanding is no different than Western medicine. For example, both systems agree that colds and flus occur from an external pathogen entering the body.
However, within a Chinese medicine paradigm, this must be understood within the context of the individual’s constitution. Fundamentally, there must be some weakness (e.g. immune deficiency) for a pathogen to invade. Anything that weakens one’s resistance (overwork, not sleeping, eating poorly, etc.) can weaken one’s immune system and allow a pathogen to attack and enter, causing disease. Furthermore, the patient’s constitution (underlying pattern) coupled with the nature of the pathogen that is attacking will determine what symptoms and how colds and flus will present in that given individual. We all have seen two people get the “same colds” and have completely different symptoms. This occurs precisely because of this interaction. This is fundamental to Chinese medicine’s viewpoint and plays a crucial role not only in treatment but also in prevention of colds and flus.
Prevention of Colds & Flus
Because of the complexity of each individual, there is no one supplement that can be recommended for the prevention of colds and flus. There are many single herbs, that are touted to have this effect, and to be “immune boosting.” This is not necessarily incorrect/ however there are a few problems with this type of thinking that must be understood in the context of Chinese medicine theory.
- Chinese herbs are rarely given in isolation, as a single medicinals, but rather in synergistic combinations.
- more importantly, even if an herb is given in isolation, and is known to be a great “immune booster” it may be completely inappropriate for one person and extremely appropriate for another person (for example, many people will develop problems, and hence weaken their immune system, if Astragalus (huang qi) is given). Understanding this is the art and hallmark of Chinese medicine.
HEADACHES & MIGRAINES
There are a variety of different types of headaches, both primary and secondary. These include the following:
Tension Headaches
Tension headaches, which occasionally affect most people, are the most common type of headache. They are recurrent headaches, and can last anywhere from minutes to days. These headaches are experienced as a dull pressure, mild or moderate in severity.
Migraines
Migraine headaches are usually one-sided, pulsating or throbbing, and moderate or severe in intensity. They can be worsened with activity and may be associated with nausea and/or vomiting, as well as sensitivity to light or noise. Some patients also experience auras, a neurological symptom that develops gradually over 5-20 minutes. The patient may see brief flashes or waves of light, or changes in their vision. Other common features of auras include vertigo, imbalance, confusion and numbness.
Chronic Headache
Headaches occurring every day or almost every day are referred to as chronic daily headaches or rebound headaches. Sometimes they resemble tension headaches, and at other times, migraines. The overuse of pain medications can result in aggravating headache patterns.
Cervicogenic Headaches
These are the most recently diagnosed type of headache and are musculoskeletal in nature. They may be caused by pain in the neck or spine that is transferred to the head. Many times, cervicogenic headaches go undiagnosed because of their recent classification.
Dangerous Headaches
Some headaches may be signs of a serious medical condition.
SCIATICA
Did you know that there are three different syndromes that all cause sciatic pain? Which type of sciatica do you have? At Fort Myers Acupuncture and Massage, the first thing we do when treating a patient with sciatica is to determine which syndrome is responsible for the pain.
Is it coming from a pinched nerve the spine,a spasm in the piriformis muscle of the buttock or from angry trigger points in the lower back muscles, buttock, and leg muscles?
Massage therapy can relieve most cases of sciatica but in cases where there is nerve involvement or when massage therapy doesn’t provide total relief, acupuncture treatment is indicated and can be highly effective at relieving the pain, neuropathy and muscle spasms commonly associated with sciatica.
STRESS RELIEF
Stress is a way of life for many people these days. Some of the signs and symptoms of an overactive response to stress include anger, anxiety, asthma, depression, depressed immune system, digestive disorders, headaches, heart disease, high blood pressure, joint pain, and weight problems.
When we experience a thought or event that we perceive as stressful, our bodies begin producing hormones and neurotransmitters designed to help us respond to the stressful situation
by engaging in a conflict or fleeing.
The body secretes an assortment of hormones secreted by the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the adrenal gland (together these are known as the hypothalamus pituitary adrenal (HPA) axis) into the bloodstream as a reaction to stress that rev up the anxiety meter. Once activated, the system causes the heart to beat faster and the senses to go on alert. These hormones also divert the body’s energy away from background operations such as digestion to prime and fuel the muscles into a state of readiness. Electronic acupuncture blocks the chronic, stress-induced elevations of the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland and the adrenal gland hormones, which helps reduce stress.
smoking addiction
Acupuncture as an alternative approach to help stop smoking has a growing number of converts. In fact, acupuncture is often a court-mandated treatment for drug addicts because of its ability to reduce cravings and alleviate withdrawal symptoms such as irritability, anxiety and difficulty concentrating.
Among current U.S. adult smokers, 70% report that they want to stop smoking and millions try to quit every year.
If you have attempted to quit smoking, you know how difficult it can be. Nicotine is a powerful addiction. In fact, research suggests that nicotine is as addictive as heroin, cocaine, or alcohol. It is estimated that most smokers will attempt to quit two or three times, or more, before finally kicking the habit. When conventional methods to quit smoking have failed, smokers often look outside mainstream approaches and turn to alternative medicine.
