Acupuncture Without Needles: Cold Laser Successfully Relieves Pain - and Needle Anxiety

Acupuncture Without Needles: Cold Laser Successfully Relieves Pain - and
Needle Anxiety

NEW YORK, Oct. 22 /PRNewswire/ -- Acupuncture is widely acclaimed for
relieving pain. However, many people would rather endure the crushing pain of
migraine headaches than face their fear of needles. Nicholas C. Steadman,
L.Ac., who practices acupuncture in New York City, claims to have erased that
barrier with the use of cold laser acupuncture.

"Regular acupuncture is virtually painless, but there is still a needle,"
Steadman, who uses it on his patients with pain and anxiety, said of the new
method. "But with laser acupuncture, the patient doesn't feel a thing."

Cold laser, or low-level laser, is a promising new technology already widely
used by elite athletic teams and militaries such as the US Olympic team and
the British Army for pain relief and accelerated healing of muscle injuries.
In 2002 the FDA approved a cold laser device for the treatment of carpal
tunnel syndrome, and there are currently several companies cleared by the FDA
to market cold lasers in the US for the treatment of pain and muscle spasm.

Does cold laser really stimulate acupuncture points?

Austrian and German scientists, reporting in the journal Medical Acupuncture
asked this question, using fMRI on 231 healthy volunteers to compare the
cerebral effects of both forms of acupuncture. Almost identical brain
stimulation patterns and physiological responses were observed for both needle
and laser acupuncture for the points tested.

Has laser acupuncture been proven effective?

"In some ways, the evidence may be even better than for regular acupuncture,"
Steadman said, "The greatest thing about cold laser acupuncture research is
that the patient can't tell if the laser is on or not, which allows for clean
double-blind placebo controlled studies." Controlling for placebo is a
notoriously difficult problem with needle acupuncture because "sham
acupuncture" still involves the insertion of needles, causing physiological
effects beyond mere placebo.

A double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial concluded that "laser
acupuncture can provide a significant benefit for children with headaches with
active laser treatment being clearly more effective than placebo laser
treatment" -Pain, July 2008

Bottom line: There can be gain - without pain.

SOURCE Steadman Acupuncture

Nicholas C. Steadman, L.Ac., of Steadman Acupuncture, +1-646-509-8963, or
Info@SteadmanClinic.com