The Future of Medicine Builds on the Past

I have always preferred the label holistic medicine over traditional medicine to define my practice. The distinction? Traditional emphasizes a looking back into the past. I agree that incorporating our past is important, but if we are not also building, we risk becoming static. To be alive is to be dynamically evolving.

This is all to say that I welcome modern adaptions to traditional acupuncture. Electro-acupuncture entered the field less than 100 years ago, scalp acupuncture entered the fields less than fifty years ago. They extend my acupuncture scope to reach patients and conditions I could otherwise not treat.

Perineural Injection Therapy (PIT) History

A more recent addition to the field of acupuncture over the past decade or so is perineural injection. This technique – pioneered by the New Zealand physician Dr. John Lyftogt using skin injections of glucose along superficial nerve pathways to treat neuropathic pain– is again expanding the scope of acupuncture. PIT is remarkable in its efficiency and efficacy for treating longstanding neuropathic pain in the body, conditions ranging from sciatica, to tendinitis, to trigeminal neuralgia to tinnitus. I have been amazed after a treatment when a patient springs off the table astounded at their renewed mobility. Unlike steroid injections, the glucose injections nourish the irritated nerves, healing the condition instead of masking the symptoms. Unlike prolotherapy and epidural injection which utilize deep injection requiring sterilization procedures and image guidance, PIT injections are just under the skin making them safe and cost effective. Studies are emerging supporting the use of glucose injections for pain management.

PIT and Acupuncture: East meets West

The anatomical locations of the injections follow cutaneous nerve patterns. Initially, I was overwhelmed learning a new anatomy because these nerves pathways are not emphasized in a traditional medical education. How many have heard of the medial cluneal nerve? 

However, I soon noticed that these cutaneous nerve pathways are eerily similar to acupuncture channels. The lateral soral nerve runs along the gallbladder channel, while the medial sural nerve runs along the bladder channel. I already know this anatomy!

Conclusions

I wholeheartedly recommend giving this therapy of try if you are in pain.

• Results can be immediate
• High safety profile
• Treats root cause
• Cost Effective
• Treatment courses average 6 treatment