Medical Acupuncture

Doctors use this ancient healing technique to relieve pain and other symptoms

Rebecca Bell, 27, of Klecknersville was on her honeymoon in Paris last summer when the pain started in her foot. The more she walked, the more it hurt.

Soon after she returned home, she needed crutches to walk and had to give up most of her favorite activities. “The pain was constant, and my foot was discolored and swollen unless it was elevated,” she says. Bell wasn’t the only one affected. “My husband and parents took on a great burden, driving me around and not knowing if I would ever be able to walk unassisted again,” she says.

Anesthesiologist Robert Corba, D.O., of Lehigh Valley Hospital and Health Network diagnosed her with a pain disorder called complex regional pain syndrome. When medication and injections into the spinal nerves didn’t work to stem the pain, Corba referred her to his colleague at the hospital’s Center for Pain Management, medical acupuncturist Eric Goldman, D.O.

“I don’t like taking medication, so I wanted to try acupuncture,” says Bell, who was reassured by Goldman’s combined background and his willingness to have her family in the treatment room. “That was a great comfort,” she says. “By the third treatment, I felt a difference. Acupuncture was the only thing that helped.”

Goldman is one of a growing number of physicians who also are specially educated in acupuncture, a healing technique that began in China about 2,000 years ago. “Many of the techniques we use in medical acupuncture are the same as in traditional Chinese medicine,” Goldman says. “But as physicians, we rely less on herbal medication. And our medical training gives us an advantage in complex situations.”

Acupuncturists insert fine needles into certain points on the body and leave them in place for 20-45 minutes. The number of needles varies depending on placement and the patient’s condition. Most people don’t find the procedure uncomfortable.

Each needle stimulates the body’s natural pain relievers and anti-inflammatory response. Needles can be inserted directly into areas where the pain exists or into other acupuncture points that reach paths in the body called channels. “These channels carry signals to the brain to relieve pain or decrease inflammation,” Goldman says. “It works for most people who try it.”

Acupuncture can relieve most types of pain, including headaches, back pain, foot and leg pain, and the pain and inflammation of arthritis, Goldman says. It also can ease dizziness, bowel problems, muscle spasms and other conditions.

A series of treatments usually is required, and insurance does not cover acupuncture in Pennsylvania. But for those like Rebecca Bell who suffer from chronic pain, paying an average of $100 a treatment is well worth it. “It was a decision between saving my money or walking again,” Bell says. “I’m a very active person, so I was really suffering. But I was able to return to yoga, hiking, biking, running and snowboarding. I’m living again.”

Want to Know More about how acupuncture works? See at right.

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