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PAIN THERAPIES

Pain relief is Mark's personal specialty.  Western medicine, as practiced by medical doctors, usually treats pain with either drugs (often with nasty side effects), nerve blocks, or occasionally surgery.  While these approaches can work for some types of pain, patients often experience considerable pain that is poorly treated with these methods.

In Mark's practice, He utilizes many techniques, herbs, and therapies unknown or unavailable to medical doctors.  The best known of these is acupuncture.  Acupuncture uses tiny stainless steel needles inserted into the skin to send a signal to the brain to release pain.  Although the idea of trying acupuncture is a bit scary to many people, but be assured that once you have given it a try you will be pleasantly surprised at how well it works.  In Mark's entire career treating hundreds of patients with acupuncture, only one patient who could not tolerate the needles.  All the rest said that they would happily try acupuncture again if their situation called for it.

 Another excellent technique for easing pain involves the use of ‘cupping’.  In cupping, small glass cups are heated briefly and applied to the skin just above the sore area.  The cups generate a powerful vacuum that helps improve blood circulation in the local area.  Although this seems like a strange therapy at first, it has been used successfully many times to alleviate pain that refused to come out any other way.  Cupping is quick, painless, safe, and highly effective.

The most common therapies Mark uses to treat pain are various forms of medical massage and bodywork.  These include traditional Swedish massage, full body reflexology, Reiki, spasm release therapy, and the use of topical medicinal herbs and hydrotherapy.   Thanks to the good fortune of having trained with Ron Spilker, Mark  now considers himself the best reflexologist in North America.  (As always, if you have any questions about any of the above therapies, please feel free to contact Mark at (501) 664-4886 or e-mail me at: pih2008@yahoo.com)

 Mark uses medicinal substances, principally Chinese herbs to good effect when treating many different forms of pain.  Of course, he always checks to make sure that there will never be any side effects or drug/herb interactions before using any medicinal products.

Examples of some of the many types of pain conditions treated include: headaches (18 different kinds are described in Chinese medicine), shingles (post herpetic neuralgia), fibromyalgia, peripheral neuropathy, PMS and cramps (dysmenorrhea), pain during intercourse (a common highly treatable problem few women complain of to their doctors) carpal tunnel syndrome, muscle spasms of any kind, frozen shoulder, ‘mystery pain’ (pain that western medicine doesn’t know how to classify), rheumatoid arthritis, pain from surgery or trauma (sprains, bruises, etc.), and referred pain.  There are some forms of pain that don’t treat very well, such as burns, severed nerves, and pain caused by the absence or destruction tissue such as can happen in joints when cartilage or vertebral discs are destroyed.  Even in these cases, Mark can often help ease pain significantly at least temporarily.

In general, the longer that someone has had a condition, the longer it will take to treat effectively.  This is particularly true of neuropathies and when tissue has been destroyed.  Other problems can often be treated rapidly no matter how long they have been present.  Don’t think that you can’t be helped just because others have failed or have told you that your condition is incurable.  Often they just don’t know what treatments are available.  When in doubt, just ask!