Experts extol natural or new ways to ease the pain

METRO DETROIT — The human body is intricately designed, and researchers are just beginning to grasp some of its complexities.

But just as there are many ailments the body can experience, there are also numerous ways to manage the pain that accompanies them.

 

‘Really, it was one of the original medicines’
The issue of pain is as old as time, and some techniques developed hundreds of years ago remain prevalent today. In fact, many people are turning to ancient Chinese medicine for relief through acupuncture.

“I’m not anti-Western medicine. I just like people to have options,” said Dr. Ruth Lehmann, a doctor of acupuncture and Chinese medicine, a licensed acupuncturist and the owner of Alleviate Acupuncture Wellness Clinic in Livonia.

After nearly two decades working as a nurse in an oncology unit, administering chemotherapy, Lehmann decided to go back to school to become an acupuncturist in 2017 and completed her doctorate in 2020.

“Really, it was one of the original medicines,” Lehmann said of acupuncture.

She said she saw the side effects patients endured from the oncology treatments and that she always had an interest in “complimentary/alternative medicine.”

Acupuncture is a technique that utilizes flexible needles to address issues within the body by targeting specific points in the fascia layer.

“Fascia is connective tissue that covers your whole entire body. We have skin, fascia, then muscle. Facia is where we believe the channels of the meridians lie, these communication highways. When we tap into the fascia, it sends a message up to the brain for the brain to release down your body’s own drugs,” Lehmann said.

She said acupuncture can be used to address everything from physical pain to mental distress, including stress and grief. It can also aid with weight loss and cosmetic issues.

According to Lehmann, acupuncture is very good for aiding people with the pain of neuropathy that is associated with cancer treatment.

“I don’t want to gatekeep this medicine, and I feel like it’s so important that people have a chance to feel safe, to heal, to have options, all the things,” she said.

Lehmann said that many people are unaware that Henry Ford Health System offers acupuncture treatments and has done so for at least 20 years. She said that when she first came to Michigan and began her career as an acupuncturist, that is where she got her start.

Angela Thompson is a patient who also works for Lehmann. She started receiving treatments for groin and neck pain while Lehmann was still working at the hospital and then followed her when she became an independent practitioner.

Thompson said that she had been undergoing physical therapy for six months for neck pain that limited the mobility of her head. It was suggested that she try acupuncture.

“It took a couple treatments, but what it does is just those certain pinpoints open up, I guess you would say, blocked pathways throughout the body that kind of prevent you from being able to do something,” Thompson said.

“Yeah, it took a couple of visits to get full mobility back, but after the first visit I was like, more relaxed,” she said. “Some people may get one treatment and get better, but honestly, it may take several treatments to get to where you are at 100%.”

 

‘We make space so bodies can fix themselves’
James Tremblay, owner of Rolfing Michigan in Farmington, stumbled upon Rolfing while searching for a cure for his unexplainable chronic pain.

The technique was developed by Ida Rolf and became popularized in the 1950s and 1960s. It was originally called structural integration.

Like acupuncture, Rolfing focuses on the fascia, which Rolf, a biochemist, thought was being overlooked, according to Tremblay.

“The idea with Rolfing is to help (with) moving and decompressing the joints and muscles and nerves and all that through working with the fascia,” Tremblay said.

He said it is known for deeper pressure, but he said that many Rolfers have some gentler techniques as well.

Tremblay said it differs from a massage in that it is deep pressure in smaller areas, and that his clients are essentially fully clothed.

“I never work on an entire body in a session,” Tremblay said.

He said the idea is to create space in the fascia, which helps the body to “organize itself.”

“There’s a great quote from Ida Rolf that says, ‘We don’t fix bodies, we make space so bodies can fix themselves,’” Tremblay said. “So that’s the idea, is that you’re working with the connective tissue to open all that up.

He said Rolfing can help with any type of musculoskeletal pain, such as low back pain and sciatica, as well as neck and shoulder pain. He said he has also been able to help women with pain from menopause or perimenopausal issues.

Rolfing is a trademarked technique and to practice it you have to be certified through the Rolf Institute in Colorado. He said that drives many would-be practitioners away and that he is one of only a few Rolfers in Michigan.

According to Tremblay, people generally talk about feeling taller and/or having better posture and range of motion after treatment.

“In general, the more time something has been going on, the longer it takes to get out of it,” he said.

 

‘Nobody wants to get injections, nobody wants to take pills’

Other modern pain management techniques include red light and robotics therapies.

Businessman Armen Nazarian offers red light therapy with the Aspen Laser System at Pain Away Centers in West Bloomfield.

“They are the most innovative, most advanced Class 4 laser for pain relief and management,” he said.

Nazarian said the lasers reduce inflammation immediately, which in turn causes instant pain relief.

“It feeds oxygen in the tissue for tissue repair and damaged cell growth,” he said. “You’ve got to remember, nobody wants to get injections, nobody wants to take pills. Injections and pills, what do they do, they pretty much mask the pain. Surgery is irreversible, so this is noninvasive, so you’ve got absolutely nothing to lose.

“We’ve never had someone say that it hurts or they’re getting uncomfortable. It’s just a warm, soothing feeling that you’re getting,” Nazarian said.

Although some lasers are available over the counter, the ones offered at Pain Away Centers are 10 times more powerful. He said it is great for joint pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic muscle pain, and other ailments.

“You name it, it will work,” he said.

Fatemeh Moosavi, CEO at Macomb Pain Management, said one of the techniques they offer is muscle skeleton regenerative therapy, which uses the patient’s own blood and/or bone marrow to address their pain.

She said there are components in the blood and bone marrow that people are born with that are not used but have healing properties.

“Basically, a patient comes in with a joint or spine problem. We draw their own blood and spin it in the lab and reinject the processed blood into their joint and their spine. We use the component of the blood that has a healing property to them and that will send a signal to the brain and say, ‘Hey, we have to heal this area, we have to repair this area, we have to regenerate this area,” she said.