Brain Injury - Trauma and Stroke
It has long been realized that sufficient force applied to the head can kill or result in very significant impairment of function. This injury to the brain not only impairs bodily functions like moving the limbs but head injury can result in profound changes in behavior to the point that the injured person’s loved ones say that they do not know them anymore. Medical care of soldiers injured on the battlefield in Afghanistan and Iraq have improved to save the lives of many soldiers who would have died of their injuries. These service members have their lives saved but the care of head injuries is not as advanced as care of gunshot wounds to the trunk or extremities. Richard Niemtzow, MD, PhD and Joseph Helms, MD have considerable experience treating injured service members. They have developed protocols that treat not only the pain and dysfunction of body parts blasted by a roadside bomb but also the attendant brain injury. In my practice there have been many patients who were not able to function as executives or managers after a motor vehicle accident. It has been particularly striking when a person who never had a problem with eyesight has constant blurry vision that cannot be corrected with glasses because the lens of the eye is still normal. The injury is specific to the visual cortex in the back of the brain. Using scalp acupuncture to stimulate the visual cortex can immediately clear the blurry vision. Repeated consistent treatment is necessary for these improvements in the blurry vision to be present for a long time. The function improves immediately because the blood flow in increased. Persistent improvement should occur when the brain actually improves.
The range of what clinicians consider to be significant head trauma has been expanded in recent years. It has been proven that the cumulative effect of the small head dings that are part of sports like martial arts, football, and even heading a soccer ball seem to add up. The concept that repeated trauma to the head can cause the functional impairments as serious as the damage of a car accident or roadside bomb. the serious nature of of repeated head has been demonstrated in the cases of many or our football heroes who functioned in their 40’s and 50’s like they were 80 year old dementia patients. Imaging of the brains demonstrates that something bad has happened to the brains of these professional athletes. The worry about the consequences of any head trauma has lead to the very cautious recommendation for some high sschool students stay out of school, maximally avoid any stimulation by remaining in a dark room and not use computers or cell phones. That is like solitary confinement for a teenager who is diagnosed with a concussion. The recommendation is based on the principal of not stressing injured brain tissue to keep the amount of damage as low as possible.
Dr. Jason Hao has extensive experience with treating concussion and head injury with his special expertise of scalp acupuncture. He recommends beginning treatment soon after the injury. The scalp acupuncture works to bring increased blood flow to the brain. At the 2016 yearly Symposium of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture a paper was presented by acupuncture practitioners from Boston Children’s Hospital which also had successful results treating young patients with concussion using acupuncture soon after the trauma.
Patients who have suffered from a cerebrovascular accident or other forms of non-traumatic brain injury have been treated successfully with acupuncture for many years. Various investigators have presented successful treatment series clearly documenting improved quality of life and function after the stroke. It has long been taught in allopathic medicine that the patient who suffers a cerebrovascular accident can be treated by physical therapy. Any therapy performed a year after the event will not make a significant difference. Published acupuncture treatment studies have contradicted that principal. In my own experience one lady who had a nonfunctional hand that seemed to be permanently contracted 5 years after her stroke was able to move her fingers after a few treatments.
There is a video called “9000 needles.” It follows a patient who suffered a brain stem stroke which changed his life from being a successful CEO and former champion bodybuilder to not being able to talk or walk. He had to be wheeled around in a wheel chair. He still could not walk independently or talk after the maximum amount of therapy that he could afford and his insurance company would pay for. His brother who was the filmmaker, learned about treatment by Dr. Shi in Tien Jian who had developed a comprehensive program for treating severe brain injury. The treatment was financed by contributions from his church members. Both brothers went to China for the months of therapy. The title “9000 Needles” comes from the fact that the patient’s brother, the film maker counted every needle that went into his injured brother during the treatments. The treatment also included herbal medication and physical therapy. The treatment did not produce a complete reversal of his profound impairments but when he returned home, He walked down the center aisle of his church by himself. He was planning to return to China for further treatments and he may have made more progress by this time.
There are many different protocols for treatment of brain injury by acupuncture. They usually involve acupuncture on strong body points using strong electrical stimulation, scalp acupuncture or the combination of both body and scalp acupuncture. The scalp acupuncture directly increases the blood flow to the area brain influenced by the specific acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture can greatly improve the sometimes profound impairments secondary to brain injury. I have had patients return to work as a designer and as a business executive after treatment of their brain injury with acupuncture,.
The range of what clinicians consider to be significant head trauma has been expanded in recent years. It has been proven that the cumulative effect of the small head dings that are part of sports like martial arts, football, and even heading a soccer ball seem to add up. The concept that repeated trauma to the head can cause the functional impairments as serious as the damage of a car accident or roadside bomb. the serious nature of of repeated head has been demonstrated in the cases of many or our football heroes who functioned in their 40’s and 50’s like they were 80 year old dementia patients. Imaging of the brains demonstrates that something bad has happened to the brains of these professional athletes. The worry about the consequences of any head trauma has lead to the very cautious recommendation for some high sschool students stay out of school, maximally avoid any stimulation by remaining in a dark room and not use computers or cell phones. That is like solitary confinement for a teenager who is diagnosed with a concussion. The recommendation is based on the principal of not stressing injured brain tissue to keep the amount of damage as low as possible.
Dr. Jason Hao has extensive experience with treating concussion and head injury with his special expertise of scalp acupuncture. He recommends beginning treatment soon after the injury. The scalp acupuncture works to bring increased blood flow to the brain. At the 2016 yearly Symposium of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture a paper was presented by acupuncture practitioners from Boston Children’s Hospital which also had successful results treating young patients with concussion using acupuncture soon after the trauma.
Patients who have suffered from a cerebrovascular accident or other forms of non-traumatic brain injury have been treated successfully with acupuncture for many years. Various investigators have presented successful treatment series clearly documenting improved quality of life and function after the stroke. It has long been taught in allopathic medicine that the patient who suffers a cerebrovascular accident can be treated by physical therapy. Any therapy performed a year after the event will not make a significant difference. Published acupuncture treatment studies have contradicted that principal. In my own experience one lady who had a nonfunctional hand that seemed to be permanently contracted 5 years after her stroke was able to move her fingers after a few treatments.
There is a video called “9000 needles.” It follows a patient who suffered a brain stem stroke which changed his life from being a successful CEO and former champion bodybuilder to not being able to talk or walk. He had to be wheeled around in a wheel chair. He still could not walk independently or talk after the maximum amount of therapy that he could afford and his insurance company would pay for. His brother who was the filmmaker, learned about treatment by Dr. Shi in Tien Jian who had developed a comprehensive program for treating severe brain injury. The treatment was financed by contributions from his church members. Both brothers went to China for the months of therapy. The title “9000 Needles” comes from the fact that the patient’s brother, the film maker counted every needle that went into his injured brother during the treatments. The treatment also included herbal medication and physical therapy. The treatment did not produce a complete reversal of his profound impairments but when he returned home, He walked down the center aisle of his church by himself. He was planning to return to China for further treatments and he may have made more progress by this time.
There are many different protocols for treatment of brain injury by acupuncture. They usually involve acupuncture on strong body points using strong electrical stimulation, scalp acupuncture or the combination of both body and scalp acupuncture. The scalp acupuncture directly increases the blood flow to the area brain influenced by the specific acupuncture treatment. Acupuncture can greatly improve the sometimes profound impairments secondary to brain injury. I have had patients return to work as a designer and as a business executive after treatment of their brain injury with acupuncture,.
