| Neuropathic Myofascial Pain Syndromes
The term "myofascial pain syndrome" is presently used in a vague and indiscriminate way to denote any regional musculoskeletal pain syndrome without regard to cause or source. Careful examination of these syndromes often reveals them to be a product of neuropathy. Clinical diagnosis and effective treatment is explained.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Neuropathic Myofascial Pain Syndromes (HTML)
| Prespondylosis and some Pain Syndromes following Denervation Supersensitivity
Doctors now recognize that pain need not follow injury but can be caused by abnormal sensitivity in the nervous system. The important concept of pain following neuropathy ("neuropathic pain") was first presented in this paper.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Prespondylosis and some Pain Syndromes following Denervation Supersensitivity (HTML)
| What is Pain?
Pain not only follows injury, but also can originate from Misperceptions in Neuropathways. If you are in chronic pain, you should read this paper, written in plain language.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: What is Pain? (PDF)
| Acupuncture and the Peripheral Nervous System: A Radiculopathy Model
It is generally believed that acupuncture is affected primarily through endorphins. This paper explains how the spine and peripheral nervous system are critically involved. Integrated functioning of the body depends on good neural connections. Without appreciating this, one cannot begin to understand acupuncture.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Acupuncture and the Peripheral Nervous System: A Radiculopathy Model (HTML)
| Intramuscular Stimulation: The Technique
"Intramuscular Stimulation" is a term introduced by Dr. Gunn to describe his total system for the diagnosis and treatment of chronic myofascial pain syndromes.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Intramuscular Stimulation: The Technique (PDF)
| Radiculopathic Pain: Diagnosis and Treatment of Segmental Irritation or Desensitization
"Medical diagnosis traditionally presumes that pain is a signal of tissue injury conveyed to the central nervous system via a healthy nervous system, but. . ."
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Radiculopathic Pain: Diagnosis and Treatment of Segmental Irritation or Desensitization (HTML)
| Muscle Shortening in Paraspinal Muscles Must Be Treated
Treatment, when only limited to painful peripheral muscles, can fail if shortening in paraspinal muscles are not released.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Muscle Shortening in Paraspinal Muscles Must Be Treated (PDF)
| Tennis Elbow and the Cervical Spine
The upper limb is anatomically part of the neck. Therefore, pain in the shoulder, elbow, arm, wrist and hand are almost always derived from the neck. The neck is also always tender. When this paper was first published, it was not known if all tennis elbows originate from the neck, but two decades later we now know it for a fact.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Tennis Elbow and the Cervical Spine (HTML)
| Dry Needling of Muscle Motor Points for Low Back Pain
This important study was done before we developed the capability to diagnose, treat and determine the effects of IMS by examination for physical signs of neuropathy.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Dry Needling of Muscle Motor Points for Low Back Pain. (HTML)
| ‘Fibromyalgia’- “What have we created?”
`Fibromyalgia' has recently become a popular diagnosis, and many doctors now apply the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1990 criteria for the classification of fibromyalgia (Wolfe et al. 1990). Regrettably, this has brought hopeless despair to countless individuals. I have witnessed many patients who suffer from chronic musculoskeletal pain, designated and treated as `fibromyalgia'. However, when their pain failed to respond to popular fibromyalgia treatment (such as tricyclic medications), they were abruptly abandoned, as the condition is commonly viewed as a life-time disorder, even worthy of life-long compensation (Wolfe 1993).
READ MEDICAL PAPER: ‘Fibromyalgia’- “What have we created?” (PDF)
| Tenderness at Motor Points
It is often difficult, if not impossible, to establish the cause of disability and to assess its degree in patients with low-back pain. While in some patients the diagnosis can be made with no difficulty on the basis of the clinical history and physical examination, in others additional diagnostic tests including myelography and electromyography may be required. As a general rule, however, such tests are reserved for patients whose diagnosis is not clinically apparent or who are expected to require surgery. There remain, therefore, many patients with no localizing physical findings for whom ancillary tests are not considered necessary. The injuries in these patients are conveniently labeled "low-back sprain.”
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Tenderness at Motor Points (PDF)
| Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Successfully Treated with Low Level
Laser Therapy
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a medical emergency, which may be precipitated by an acute injury to the lung. The injury can also follow direct chest trauma from aspiration of gastric contents or inhalation of toxic gasses. ARDS is not itself a specific disease but a syndrome - a group of symptoms and signs that make up one of the most important forms of respiratory failure.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Acute Respiratory Distress Syndrome Successfully Treated with Low Level Laser Therapy
| Treatment of Neuropathic Pain by Intra-Muscular Stimulation
Neural injury or malformation causes NP. The population prevalence in the US is approximately 2.4%, increasing with age to 8%. NP responds poorly to opioids and non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. Drugs such as amitriptyline, carbamazepine and gabapentin have been used with some success but the outcome of treatment is unpredictable while relapses are frequent and side effects are common.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Treatment of Neuropathic Pain by Intra-Muscular Stimulation
I Neuroanatomical Basis of Acupuncture Treatment for Some Common Illnesses
Dr Cheng is to be commended for his article on the Neuroanatomical Basis of Acupuncture (Acupuncture in Medicine, June 2009, Volume 27, Number 2). However, Cheng has based his conclusions on the analysis of acupuncture formulae for common illnesses, as prescribed by five acupuncture academies.
READ MEDICAL PAPER: Neuroanatomical Basis of Acupuncture Treatment for Some Common Illnesses -
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