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Pinned Articles:

03/09 - Women and the Scriptures by Sandra Ostapowich, 3 comments.

12/07 - Baby, It's Cold Inside... by Sandra Ostapowich, 15 comments.

08/23 - Don't hate me because I'm beautiful... by Sandra Ostapowich, 4 comments.

05/19 - (Even) The Law as Gift Received by Sandra Ostapowich, 20 comments.

04/06 - Former Contender for the World's First Female Lutheran Pope?? by Sandra Ostapowich, 17 comments.

November 29th, 2006

On Pins and Needles

Posted At: 10:51am by Sandra Ostapowich

Since breaking my back in a car accident my senior year of high school, my body frequently goes out of whack - and sometimes stays there. I've learned to just deal with it as much as possible. A little Advil or muscle relaxers and some rest with carefully placed pillows would usually do the trick.

A couple of weeks ago, I got a recommendation to a Loveland chiropractor from the mom of one of my girls. I love going to the chiropractor. It always made me feel better. But it doesn't really last more than a few hours.

Yesterday afternoon, I went in for an adjustment and he recommended acupuncture since my back is no longer out of whack but the muscles are pretty much in constant spasm. Sure, I'll try anything. I figure if it works, it works.

The needles didn't hurt, they're no thicker than a strand of hair. I felt them being placed from my ankles to my hands. The hand ones "hurt" more, but no more than getting a tiny sliver. Then he hooked up electrodes to a few of the needles in my back. I didn't feel much right away, but over the course of the next hour, I could feel the effects. It's hard to describe - kind of a warm and relaxed feeling, but only in small areas where the needles were placed.

I suppose that means that my "Qi" is now flowing better and my "yin" and "yang" are in "harmony". Some Christians would get on my case for managing the pain in such a non-Christian way. I don't know what I think about that, I just know that my back is less tight and painful today - even with a major snowstorm this morning which would usually make it worse.

Western medicine has explained the workings of acupuncture in terms of serotonin production and other neurological processes. While eastern medicine may explain the same things in more spiritual terms, does that mean we shouldn't make use of them?

Edited on: November 29th, 2006 10:53 am

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Comments

Re: On Pins and Needles

Posted On: November 29th, 2006 at 12:31pm by dtp [ + ]

Of course you should make use of them, it is called stewardship. One of the problems at my new church - is that the nearest good chiropracter is 85 miles away, where my old church was.

With my scholiosis, it is one of the few ways to relieve pain without becoming a rush limbaugh ditted head. ( I still contend that dante was wrong, the lowest level of hell is listenign to limbaugh)

But equally sure, be careful about buying into the philosophies that ecplain the unexplainable. I would of course, be as sceptical about "Western" docs and their explanation.

The best chiropractor I have known, used both regular and chiropractic in his practice. He had a MD and a DC, and had 4 of each in his office. But he was often challenged by both, because of his being a traitor.

So enjoy the reduction in pain, and thank God for the body He created, and the docs who occaisonally do things right!

Re: On Pins and Needles

Posted On: November 29th, 2006 at 9:24pm by Dan at Necessary Roughness [ + ]

How fearfully and wonderfullly we are made, indeed.

My autistic daughter goes for treatments at a clinic that uses alternative, almost-eastern, therapies. I'm not quite convinced they work from an analytical perspective yet. I figure as long as they don't require that I believe in their religion, and the results are near what we are looking for, I don't see why not. They could be right about "how" to do a therapy and clueless as to "why" it works. Blogger Smiley

Re: On Pins and Needles

Posted On: November 29th, 2006 at 10:40pm by luvable lutheran

Hi Madre-

With any "medical" care, you need to ask the question is this permissable or in conflict with Scripture in any way. (Not saying what you did is in conflict, but in previous posts on Reiki healing and Shamanism on Rachel E's blog, medical practices that conflict with Scripture are mentioned.) I say this since "alternative medicine programs" frequently feature not only some of the Eastern medical techniques you mention, but also others such as Shamanism and other practices that can go against Scripture.

The second question to ask is are medical treatments gong to be beneficial to me and make sense from a medical point of view? It seems from your description that accupuncture has benefitted you in accordance with medicine's theme of "Do No Harm." It also has been shown to work in studies. However, many flock to Mexico for alternative cancer treatments that are more often than not scams of vulnerable people. In fact, some physicians recommend researching such scams and fads on www.quackwatch.com or quackwatch.org before spending time and effort on "quick fixes" or frauds.

Again I realize Madre hasn't mentioned these points in her post, but I'm sharing the above info in case it helps prevent harm to my neighbor in the future.

FWIW

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