what are the benefits of adding auricular acupuncture to your practice?

• Who is best served by acupuncture?

  Acupuncture fills a tremendous gap for people

  • with acute pain, chronic pain, withdrawal symptoms or distress.
  • who are taking opiates, but have incomplete or inadequate pain relief. 
  • not wanting opiate medications, due to side effects or personal preference.
  • not able to take opiates due to career requirements.
  • who are not candidates for these medications due to risk of respiratory depression, addiction or overdose.
  • whose pain returns after coming off of opiates/ methadone/suboxone.  
  • who are experiencing cravings and withdrawal while coming off of opiates/ methadone/suboxone. 
  • who are "triggered" and emotionally distraught or anxious, helping them enter a much calmer state nearly immediately. 
  • who have unspeakable traumas- due to the nature of the trauma or that the trauma was pre-verbal.
  • who are stressed and unable to "settle" or feel grounded.
  • who seek healing for themselves and leverage "the zone" for wellness and wellbeing... this likely will be the largest group you will see.

• What does it really do for pain?

  The ear has a map of the entire body.  Remember the homunculus?  Stimulating the ear with pressure or a needle activates the corresponding brain area and increases blood flow and reduces muscle tension in that area.  There is also an activation of endogenous opiods- which is why the pain relieving effects of acupuncture are blocked by naltrexone (!) 

• How does it benefit stress and anxiety?

  Stress kills.  The chronic "fight or flight" and "fawn or freeze" state so many people are in is aggravating disease and shortening lives. Patients consistently report feeling relaxed with auricular acupuncture, and you will see it in their body language and their breathing.  It's great to watch someone enter "the zone".   Help people feel safer by de-activating the adrenalized sympathetic state of hyperarousal or vagal shutdown.   

• What about people with trauma?

  When we are distressed, triggered or emotionally dysregulated we seek safety by utilizing the lower, more primitive brain areas which are faster.  It takes more time to process and ponder something at the cortical level, so we switch to reflexive (and reactive) mode.  Many people stay in this brain state even after the danger has passed but this limits accessing and processing  in the higher order parts of the brain. 

  Some traumas are unspeakable and difficult to access or recount verbally: protocols to heal trauma through breathwork, movement and targeted acupucncture will become the norm.  

  Acupuncuture facilatates deep relaxation to help people spend more time in a relaxed, safe, parasympathetically regulated state that promotes health and healing.  Generally, auricular acupuncture is calming and specifically there are protocols to target the brain areas involved in trauma processing and integration.

• How will it fit in my practice?

  Providing auricular acupuncture during patient visits is managable and very well received.  Ears are always accessable and you only need needles, alcohol wipes, a sharps container.   Risks are minimal.  It takes very little time to put needles in and patients can sit for 5 or 10 minutes.  Many people are grateful to have options beyond benzodiazepines and opiates.  

What is the position of the Medical Board?

• Safety

  Of course the main concern of the medical board is safety.  Check with the medical board in your state to see if acupuncture is considered reasonable and within scope with the right amount of training.