Pain at the Jewish Community Center
At the JCCA in St. Louis (where I grew up) every old man suffered from some type of pain. Back, shoulders, knees, hips – you get the idea. Every ailment was discussed in excruciating detail while standing naked in the men’s locker room. These men were far from super models – no Christie Brinkley, Miranda Kerr or Elle Macpherson at the JCCA. That said, my time at the JCCA taught me a lot about the ailments of old men and I saw firsthand (DON’T LOOK! DON’T LOOK! EYES ABOVE WAIST! EYES ABOVE WAIST!) how certain organs sag over time. My generation doesn’t usually discuss their health issues while naked in public, but these old Russian Jews were not fazed at all. My father, who was always with me on my outings to the JCCA once said to me, “If you have a job that involves treating people in pain you will always be busy.”
As I get older I get it. I spend the first 15 minutes of my morning doing yoga to ease the tightness in my back, stretch out my hamstrings and be present in my body. When I was in college and through my twenties (and maybe my thirties) I never once remember waking up and thinking, “Oy my body is so tight I definitely need to spend more time stretching.” If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my 20 plus years of practicing acupuncture it’s that the older we get the more we have to focus on taking care of our bodies.
When I see a new patient at the Sher Acupuncture Center, the first thing I tell them is that acupuncture works like a highway system. Think river and dam or traffic in Times Square during non-Covid times. When there is a lack of movement in your blood and Qi stagnation occurs, which leads to pain and disease. Acupuncture literally breaks open the dam and lets the blood and Qi flow.
In China, acupuncturists use either local or distal points to treat the affected area. I prefer to needle both locally where the pain is most intense in order to decrease inflammation, and distally to stimulate Qi and blood flow.
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, we are sitting more than ever. Some of us are watching YouTube videos of other people playing video games. A lot of us are sitting at computers in bad chairs while our kids are asking us if we will buy them some machine gun/samurai sword so they can kill everyone and rob banks in Roblox. It’s not an easy situation as those Uzis are very important and those kids definitely need to play those games for 8 hours every day or they will spontaneously combust.
With all of the sitting and Uzi buying, we have to remember to stay focused on our health. We need to make sure we are dealing with our aches and pains and not letting them get worse. The pain ailments I am seeing the most in my practice are back pain, neck and shoulder pain and carpal tunnel syndrome. Acupuncture has an amazing ability to relieve pain and tightness and decrease inflammation. Movement is key and making sure your body is in a more fluid state will decrease your pain. Acute pain issues need quick and frequent treatment. I usually recommend 3 to 5 sessions within a two-week period. For more chronic ailments I recommend acupuncture sessions once a week for 6-8 weeks.
Some of my go-to points for lower back pain are UB-23 (in the picture below) and UB-40 (not the group).
UB-23 is a point in the lower back that helps open up a tight lower back and relieves pressure from constant sitting. It also strengthens the Qi. UB-40 is great distal point for back pain that opens up the back by increasing blood flow and decreasing stagnation in the lower back.
SJ-5 is a great point for carpal tunnel syndrome. A point in between the ulna and radius, it increases circulation, decreases inflammation and increases of the flow of Qi to the arm and wrist.
Chinese medicine has so many great tools for decreasing pain and inflammation. If you’re in pain and looking for some relief reach out to me at gabriel@gabrielsher.com or call me at 212-473-3750 to schedule an appointment.
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