Carry-out Acucare comes to Cook

Our delivery menu of acu-therapies at Cook County's Stroger Hospital Pain Clinic is expanding. It started primarily with the use of needling body points,and where appropriate, adding electro-stimulation to key points. The next evolution was the employment of the Ear, Scalp and Hand micro-systems either on a stand-alone or auxiliary basis. This addition appeared to both accelerate the treatment's analgesic effect and in some cases reduce treatment time. There is another advantage, in that some of these Micro-system somatotopes can, with instruction, be self-stimulated by the patient, lengthening their salubrious effect. This expands the role of the acupuncturist even more in the area of teacher, as well as "treater". Moving even more progressively in this direction, modalities such as Medical Qigong and Sotai Corrective Exercises can be taught, complete with take-home handouts, to both enlist the patient in their participation in self-healing, as well as expanding both the scope and effect of natural therapeutics. Common herbal supplements can be added to the follow-on instructions. Such is the case with an acute prostatitis case where one point on the Liver Meridian mediated the pain to zero, and the proven over-the-counter herbal remedy combination of Saw Palmetto,Stinging Nettle, Pygium and Zinc was recommended. Evidence such as pain, urine flow, ease of urination and completeness of emptying will monitor effectiveness. With this shift in focus, with time spent having the patient employ carry-out therapies between shorter duration, in-clinic therapies, better outcomes are anticipated in terms of both rapidity and resolution of recoveries.