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Several years ago when I was living in Sacramento I injured my shoulder. I spent hundreds of dollars going to doctors over and over again and nothing seemed to work or help. Finally on the recommendation of a friend, I went to see an acupuncturist. I was literally at the end of my rope. I would wake up in the middle of the night in pain, and I was losing strength in the muscle. It was to the point where when I used the muscle at times the muscle would fail. So I figured I had nothing to lose. I went to the acupuncturist my friend recommended, paid my $75 for the treatment. When I left the doctor told me I would need several treatments and I didn't feel any better, so figured what a scam. But the funny thing was, two mornings later I woke up and my shoulder wasn't hurting anymore. I never went back for further treatments and I've never had any further problems with the muscle.
But the key is finding a great acupuncturist. I quack will really mess you up.
Acupuncture works on the concept of "general tonic" (overall health) & meridians (the energy pathways in the body - down the middle of the body & down each limb). If you have pain, there's either too much or not enough energy into that area, regardless of why the pain is there - disorder, accident, improper diet. The metal in the needles helps to draw energy down a median & away from or to an area.
For example, when I first began having acup 25-yrs ago, I had debilitating low back pain from a car accident. My acup told me I had a kidney-yang imbalance (each organ has yin-yang balance), but my general tonic wasn't strong, so he first had to treat that. Not knowing anything about it & therefore having little faith, I was nonetheless at my wit's end with pain, so this was a last resort & I had nothing to loose. He would concentrate needles in my stomach, legs, hands, feet & hairline when I was on my back & when I turned over to my stomach, I was surprised that there were only few needles in my low back. It made no sense to me at the time, but I always left feeling either a decrease in pain or no pain. It does have an accumulative effect, so don't be discouraged if it wears off in hours/days/weeks. For me, due to the severity of my injury (7 herniated disks), when I sat down in my car to drive 25-mi home in lots of traffic, I was in pain by the time I arrived home. The time that my pain was gone increased each time I was treated.
The nice benefit is it also treats "general tonic", the entire body's health, in essence. The improvement I saw first & what inspired me to stick with it for example, is that within 6-wks, seasonal allergies were gone. I went through a box of Kleenex each week & took alergy pills 2/day for 4-yrs until then. Now this is what's amazing. Within 6-mos, my asthma was gone & I was able to discontinue 3 meds I took each day. The allergies/asthma only returned recently, 25-yrs later, so I will soon be returning for treatment again.
It never did completely "cure" my back pain, but I did have another car accident & several other back injuries, which worsened pain & had to begin all over again. At times when I moved away, I sometimes couldn't find an acup I liked. With subsequent injuries, my general tonic was stronger, so my allergies/asthma didn't return. I'd recommend it to anyone to try.
As far as insurance, every company is different. Mine doesn't cover it. Also, each state differs as far as licensure. 15-yrs ago, GA only allowed MD's to perform acup. MA used to allow for licensure after 6-mo of school, but that changed about 20-yrs ago & it's now 3.5-yrs of school. You should call your carrier to check on ins coverage. I'd go by word of mouth to find a good practitioner. If that's not possible, try someone once. If you feel confident, return. If not, move on to someone else.
Re: cost - even in Boston, where everything is expensive, a treatment is $45 without insurance. Alot to some, but if you're in pain, you have to decide what you can afford. Lastly, it can work for hand pain, again for all the above reasons. It treats the whole body & not just the particular site. But, don't be discouraged if your dr places needles only in the hand, thinking he may not be treating the whole you. There are hundreds of acup points on the body (google a chart for acup meridians & you'll be amazed), so perhaps your general tonic points happen to be the same as where your hand hurts. I never had hand pain but everytime had needles in the webs in-between my fingers.
For anyone wondering if they should try it, give yourself a limit, say 6 visits, & if you don't see an improvement, stop. I'd mention this to your acup when you begin, so perhaps s/he can explain what s/he is doing, treating you for & why.
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