Pain Relief
We provide various treatment options to treat and alleviate your pain, including medication.
Trigger Point Injections
This is a treatment specific to relieving muscle tension or “knots” in muscles. It also improves blood flow and can help to remove pain. Trigger points are irritated, often painful nodules or spots located in taut bands of muscles. When compressed these “trigger points” cause a “jump-like” sensation and/or referred pain to another part of the body. For instance, you may have a knot in a muscle around your neck, that when compressed, causes pain into your face or down your arm. Trigger Points are not the same as tender points, which do not produce pain or cause referred pain. Tender points can often be treated with massage, stretching, yoga, Gua Sha, etc.
Trigger Points are uniquely treated at our office with very fine acupuncture needles and procain (local anesthetics) to “deactivate” the painful nodules. Trigger point injections are helpful for Scar Tissue, Chronic Neck and Back Pain, TMJ, Shoulder Pain, Hip, Knee, Ankle, and Foot Pain.
Acupuncture
Due to its low side-effects, acupuncture has become a popular alternative to pain medication for treatment of pain. By having very fine needles placed lightly into acupuncture points or into groups of muscles, it can reduce the pain response, decrease inflammation, and improve blood flow to speed up healing. Specific techniques, similar to dry needling in modern medicine, can release muscular restrictions to restore range of motion and functional balance. Conditions that have been found to respond well to acupuncture include:
Pain/Musculoskeletal/Neurological
- Headaches/migraines
- Neck pain & stiffness
- Shoulder pain
- TMJ (Temporomandibular Joint Dysfunction)
- Facial spasm & pain
- Dental pain
- Back & hip pain
- Knee pain
- Sciatica
- Carpel tunnel
- Carpel tunnel
- Tennis elbow
- Golf elbow
- Rotator cuff syndrome
- Radiculopathy
- Sprains & strains
- Post-surgery
- Post-trauma
- Auto-accidents
- Idiopathic pain disorders
- Arthritis pain
- Labor pain
- Muscular dystrophy
- Costochondritis
- Bell’s Palsy
- Numbness & tingling
- Neuromas
- Post-stroke recovery
- Shingles
- Meniere’s disease
Women's Health
- Infertility
- Menstrual symptoms (hot flashes, night sweats, dry mouth)
- Premenstrual syndrome
- Menopausal (hot flashes, night sweats, dry mouth)
- Pregnancy care
Digestive & Immune
- Abdominal pain
- Poor digestion
- Acid reflux
- Constipation
- Diarrhea
- Cholecystitis
- Gallstone pain
- IBS (irritable bowel syndrome)
- Chronic gastritis
- Cravings
- Hyperlipidemia
- Biliary colic
- Allergies
- Allergic rhinitis
- Bronchial asthma
- Sinus congestions
- Ear infections
- Strengthen immune function
- Sore throat
- Skin disorders
- Post-chemotherapy/post-radiation
Genitourinary
- Urinary retention
- Urinary urgency
- Incontinence
- Prostatitis, sexual dysfunction (erectile dysfunction, low libido, infertility)
- Water retention
Detox
- Smoking cessation
- Alcohol dependence
- Withdrawal symptoms
- Opium/cocaine/heroin/drug dependence
- Cravings
- Improving liver function & elimination
Stress disorder/ Anxiety/ Insomnia/ Depression
Side effects from chemotherapy & radiation
Hypertension/Hyperglycemia/Diabetes Mellitus/Obesity
Fatigue/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Raynaud’s syndrome
Sjogren Syndrome
CranioSacral Therapy
Craniosacral Therapy(CST) is a noninvasive, mindfulness-based treatment approach using gentle manual palpation techniques to release fascial restrictions between the cranium and the sacrum. The craniosacral system anatomically encompasses the structures of the central nervous system including the skull, the cranial sutures, the cerebrospinal fluid, and the membranes of the brain and the spinal cord. It is influenced by and linked to the musculoskeletal system, and presumably to the vascular and endocrine system as well as to the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous system. In the craniosacral theory, fascial restrictions within the craniosacral system lead to abnormal, arrhythmic motion of the cerebrospinal fluid. This craniosacral rhythm is assessable by palpation and quantifiable by encephalogram, myelogram, and magnetic resonance imaging. There is also growing evidence for fascial involvement in pain chronification. Studies have shown increased activity of fascial nociceptors within restricted connective tissue, which can contribute to remodeling processes of inflammation and fibrosis, increased tissue stiffness, muscle tension, and chronic pain.
Reference:
Craniosacral Therapy for the Treatment of Chronic Neck Pain, Clin J Pain. 2016 May; 32(5): 441–449.)
Naturopahtic Adjustment / Manual Therapy
Naturopathic adjustment is a very similar therapeutic technique, as you would get when you visit a chiropractor. You would receive soft tissue massage followed by an adjustment, which is low amplitude, hard velocity forces put into the stuck joint, commonly resulted from stress, injuries, and misalignment (or called subluxation). You may hear noises like cracking sounds as compressed gas such as oxygen and nitrogen released from the joint into the surrounding fluid.
Conditions for this treatment includes:
Muscle spasm or pain, back pain, joint pain or dysfunction, nerve pain, tingling or numbness, or limited range of motion.
Low Level Laser Therapy
Infra-red laser beams can decrease pain by desensitizing local pain receptors, increasing blood flow, and decreasing inflammation.
Conditions treated include:
- Peripheral neuropathy caused by diabetes and chemotherapy
- Fibromyalgia
- Sprain and strains and swelling
- Inflammation (including arthritis, some autoimmune diseases, and dermatitis)
- Wound healing such as for mouth sores, ulcers, etc.
- Neurorehabilitation
- Many others
References:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3065857/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4639677/
Neural Therapy
A treatment to address pain, scars and nervous system disruption. This therapy can help bring a state of balance back to the body.
Ultrasound Therapy
Ultrasound therapy is used to increase cell metabolism and enhance soft-tissue healing. It alters cell membrane activity to promote soft-tissue healing by creating ultrasonic waves that penetrate different different densities of tissue layers. The transmission of the ultrasonic waves decreases the inflammatory response and helps to decrease pain.
Nutritional Support, Herbal Remedies and many other modalities
OFFICE HOURS
| By appointment only | |
Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday | 8 AM – 4 PM |
| Wednesday | 10 AM - 2 PM |
| Saturday | By appointments only |
| Phone: | (425) 326-1668 |
| Fax: | (425) 502-7169 |
| Email: | info@raphafamilyclinic.com |
| Our Address: | 1603 116th Ave. NE, STE. 111 Bellevue WA 98004 |
CONTACT US
Contact us to schedule an appointment or to get more information.