Tag: holistic

Chronic back pain and tennis elbow – Marianne’s story

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Marianne had a handful of sessions of western acupuncture for her chronic  back pain a few years before that hadn’t been effective. After suffering from tennis elbow for 18 months as well, she felt that standard western medical approaches were not going to solve her issues as they didn’t look at root causes.

 

She worked at a desk on a computer every day which exacerbated her symptoms. Because her musculoskeletal issues were long standing, she recognised that it would take some time to resolve her chronic pain but she was willing to commit to treatment.

 

Following several initial sessions of acupuncture/electro-acupuncture, TuiNa remedial massage and cupping, Marianne continued to come for maintenance until recently when she moved countries!  Her general health had also improved immeasurably and she feels more in control of her health.

 

Marianne’s story:

 

My treatments have made a huge difference! Rita was also able to relieve acute pain of tennis elbow within one session and the problem was totally resolved in a few months (it took months or maybe even years to appear so I knew it would take a while to get better). It taught me that acupuncture can treat both on the short and long terms. The treatment has shown me that self-care is a constant, not ad hoc.

 

I also had regular Vitamin B, C and D injections.

 

Rita is an amazing practitioner: personable, very friendly, passionate about her work and loves to explain how things work in the body (and I love to know more), highly professional and knowledgeable. She tailors the treatment to each person very precisely and will always focus her session on what my current issues/pain points are. She is also very punctual; a feat no western medicine professional has ever achieved! Her positive and energetic attitude is always appreciated.

 

I also had several sessions of Thai oil massage with Kung. She is simply fantastic. Her massages are softer than a Tuina massage, and yet she works deep enough into the tissue for you to feel completely loose and limp (in a good way!) and utterly relaxed after a session with her.

 

The clinic is great, a cosy, clean and welcoming place in a private surrounding.

 

Marianne, N4

 

Hypothyroidism, Clinical Anxiety, Insomnia and…. Fertility

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Many patients come to acupuncture with more than one health issue, and as treatment continues, other priorities come to light. Health, as in life, is rarely a linear process and recovery is often a journey that can take a somewhat circuitous route to its destination.

 

Phillippa came to see me a couple of years ago. She’d been diagnosed with hypothyroidism a couple of months before and had started taking Thyroxine to control it. It was the first time she’d ever really been ill and this had a profound effect on her mental as well as physical wellbeing.

 

Despite taking medication, her hormones were all over the place, the anxiety became so severe she had to stop work and the stress meant she carried a lot of tension in her muscles. She also developed insomnia which understandably made everything more challenging.

 

A clinical diagnosis requiring ongoing medication can be difficult to accept, and this then may elicit other distressing symptoms. So using Chinese medicine to complement the Western approach helps to manage not just the initial problem but all the other symptoms around it. This may also lead to a reduction in medication (under medical supervision) which can only be a good thing.

 

After Phillippa’s initial health issues were brought under control, she continued having acupuncture, TuiNa, cupping and moxibustion on a maintenance programme. Once she was fully recovered and back at work, we concentrated on improving her fertility.

 

Phillippa’s story:

 

I came to Rita with a number of health problems that had culminated in severe anxiety. It took everything I had to attend that first consultation, but it was the best thing I ever did. This was the first time I’d experienced clinical anxiety and I was really scared of it.

 

Having acupuncture treatment has made a complete difference. My anxiety has receded, and I am perhaps better than ever before. My thyroid hormone levels (which were a big driver behind fluctuating emotions) have remained in the normal range for nearly a year, with minimal drug intervention. 

 

What can I say about Rita? Whenever I visit, I feel her energy, her care and her genuine love for what she does. She’s become a master of her craft. But it’s everything she does on top of this that really makes her special. She gave me some great advice during my recovery and would always go beyond the call of duty. She became a friend and confidante to me, and I’ll forever be grateful for that.

 

My husband and I finally fell pregnant after several years of trying and Poppy was born in May 2020.

 

Phillippa, Crouch End

Repetitive strain and musculoskeletal injuries: Carpal Tunnel, Tennis/golfing elbow, neck pain

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Much of my work is helping to relieve pain: whether it’s migraine, arthritis or frozen shoulder. But there are a number of injuries predominantly due to overuse: carpal tunnel and lateral and medial epicondylitis (tennis/golfers elbow), are the most common but no less painful.

 

I used to see this mainly in office workers who spend most of their time in front of a computer and use a mouse. Poor posture, neck strain, stress and repetitive movements were often the cause. But now I’m increasingly seeing people who do a lot of yoga (including yoga teachers), or go to the gym. Positions such as downward facing dog put a lot of strain on shoulders and wrists, headstands compress the neck and repetitive lifting of weights can cause elbow pain. Technique and repetition is usually the underlying reason, but the root issue is actually neck position and tension.

 

Tamsin was recommended to come and see me by her Yoga teacher suffering from a long term carpal tunnel issue in both wrists, and more recently, tennis elbow. Although she really enjoyed yoga, it was exacerbating her symptoms.  She also suffered from neck pain. I recommended she paused doing yoga or computer work until we were able to get her symptoms under control.

 

I saw Tamsin twice using electro-acupuncture, tuina massage and fire cupping, and Kung, our Thai oil masseuse treated her too. We concentrated on releasing her neck and reinstituting good movement, and treating her upper back, arms and wrists.  But then we went into lockdown – so sadly had to close the clinic. She recently contacted me to let me know how much better she was.

 

Tamsin’s Story

 

I had been suffering from carpal tunnel syndrome for approximately seven years on and off and more recently tennis elbow. I really wanted to avoid a steroid injection or surgery, as my doctor had suggested.

 

My yoga teacher recommend Rita at Peachy. Rita was very knowledgeable about her subject and she instilled absolute confidence right from the off, and I knew I was in good hands

 

Symptoms for both have all but vanished after two intensive treatments and one massage, all from Peachy therapists. My carpal tunnel used to flare up on a nightly basis, but I have hardly had it at all since visiting Peachy. My symptoms are 95% reduced. 

 

Kung’s massage was incredible: relaxing but also she has this ability to tune into my pain and my tension which alleviated it in perfect tandem with the treatments from Rita. All of the treatments from Peachy have been effective as they all feel very holistic and joined-up in their approach to treating my condition(s). 

 

Thank you so much, you have not only improved conditions which have been giving me extreme discomfort for a number of years, you have shown me that there is a far better, natural approach to resolving  such matters which do not require surgery or injections of drugs. I look forward to continuing my relationship with Peachy on an ongoing, long term preventative approach to my physical health.

 

Tamsin, N8 

Anxiety and IBS. The Terrible Twins

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Vicky first came to see me feeling uncharacteristically anxious. As a news editor, she did a stressful job but now she was finding things she would normally take in her stride had become anxiety inducing.  She started worrying about everything. Much of it was related to travelling; for example, whether she’d be able to go to the loo if she was out, but also having meetings with her peers which she had done a hundred times before without incident. She would work herself up to whatever the event was that she was concerned about, until she really felt quite bad. It was rarely how she imagined it, but this is the nature of anxiety and it’s not easy then to talk yourself down. As she was peri-menopausal, I wasn’t surprised by her symptoms and felt I could help her.

 

In addition to this she developed what could be termed as irritable bowel syndrome. She regularly experienced  diarrhoea which only added to her anxiety. 

 

Acupuncture is very effective at calming the mind and helping the gut to process food properly and transport that energy around the body. And with the anxiety in check, life is just much more manageable.  In Chinese medicine, worry and overthinking are linked to same meridian as gut issues, so as acupuncturists we often see them together. The terrible twins…

 

I think it’s always useful to take a fully holistic approach and in this case, that meant Vicky acquiring the tools to deal with the cycle of negative thinking. I therefore advised Vicky to get CBT (cognitive behavioural therapy) alongside acupuncture. 

 

Vicky’s story 

I had been suffering from anxiety and stomach problems and a couple of friends had mentioned that acupuncture might help. I had only tried acupuncture once before to induce labour and I was quite sceptical about the whole thing.

 

I have quite a stressful job, probably don’t look after myself as much as I should, drink a bit too much and am also approaching the menopause. I had never really had any mental health problems before and I was worried about how debilitating it was. Feeling anxious was also giving me a bad stomach, I would often have diarrhoea or worried about needing a wee when I was out, and all this seemed to be getting into a cycle where the anxiety was making my stomach worse and then having a bad stomach was making me anxious!! The problems had been building up for at least a couple of months before seeing Rita,

 

Since I’ve been having acupuncture, I feel it has really helped, Rita really put me at my ease and she is so easy to talk to and empathetic I didn’t feel embarrassed telling her about how I was feeling. During my first session she had to take all the needles out after she’d just put them in because I suddenly needed the loo!!  I didn’t even really feel too embarrassed about that as she is such a warm and understanding person. 

 

Both my stomach and my anxiety are much improved, I worry much less about travelling and am having far fewer incidences where my stomach is bad. I actually look forward to acupuncture now and feel much less ragged and calmer after a session.

 

I’m so grateful and happy to have found Rita and she has given me really good advice even outside acupuncture about dealing with my anxiety, and for instance about CBT.

 

I have also already recommended her to a friend who is suffering with insomnia.

 

Fit over 40 – Men and Sports Injuries

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Something changed for me at 40 that I couldn’t quite put my finger on. Finally the light bulb moment occurred and I realised I needed to change the way I related to my body. After not thinking much at all about it, I needed to give it a bit more respect and time to recover from life’s small (or large) knocks.

 

As we age our bodies grow and mature but this slows to its peak at between 25-30 years old and in hindsight the thing that I couldn’t put my finger on was a change in my physicality. At around 40 our bones start to lose mass quicker than we can build it which means that we are more susceptible to stress and fractures. Muscles lose mass too especially if you work in an office and don’t move much. Smaller weaker muscles are more likely to injure as the larger muscles take priority of the circulating blood. Cartilage and tendons become drier and are prone to wear and tear. Ligaments are less elastic and this sort of connective tissue becomes less flexible. All this points to the fact that things are slowly…. drying out.

 

So the most frequent injuries once you hit 40 are tennis elbow, stress fractures, lower back problem, sciatica, rotator cuff, hamstring tears, ACL, meniscus tears and knee problems, plantar fasciitis etc. The possibilities are endless! Working at a desk, overtraining, poor posture and age are what drive these injuries. I’ve had a few of them

 

And we see them at the Peachy Clinic all the time. Some are relatively easy to fix, others if they’ve been allowed to become chronic take more time, there are conditions that we can support while you’re going the medical route, or improve the quality of life for those living with multiple or complex conditions. You don’t need to live with it.

 

How does Chinese Medicine help? Acupuncture is seen to stimulate points close to nerves, muscles, and connective tissue. The stimulation increases blood flow, while at the same time triggering the activity of the body’s natural painkillers. TuiNa is a dynamic remedial massage ideal for musculo-skeletal injuries. It is also useful in reducing stress, encouraging relaxation, and deepening sleep. Chinese medicine has quite a toolbox and your practitioner may include fire cupping and guasha. These oriental therapies increase blood flow, move lymph and reduce pain, tightness and inflammation. Athletes, tennis players and Olympians are increasingly turning to these therapies to keep them injury free.

 

• The key is to remember that you need to pace or alter your exercise regime and recognise that the older you are, the more susceptible you are to injuries.

• Keep on top of small injuries before they escalate into larger ones by seeking remedial treatments. We often see someone who started with a bit of lower back pain, who later develops sciatica or knee problems because they’ve not addressed it early enough.

• Remember you’ll take longer to recover, so don’t go straight back to running 10k after an Achilles injury.

• Drink lots of water

• Get regular maintenance treatments, say every month or six weeks to iron out any issues and keep you well.

 

My go to is obviously acupuncture, TuiNa medical massage and cupping. I am regularly treated with Chinese medicine and I treat people with it. It’s a wonderfully diverse and effective holistic health system – particularly for musculo-skeletal issues.

 

I’m keen to get men thinking more about their health. Look at alternative ways of staying healthy and keeping injuries to a minimum. Whether you’re a regular gym goer or a marathon runner, work hunched over a computer, or would like to start a maintenance programme to stay well, then I’m always happy to chat about how acupuncture can help.

 

Andy Levy BSc Hons, MBAcC, LicTuiNa, MRTCM

Andy is Associate Acupuncturist at Peachy Acupuncture