About Sharon Rose

Acupuncturist, medical massage specialist, scientist, roadtripper, historian, cat herder, gamer, belly-laugher.

CBD salve – New solutions for pain relief!

GREAT NEWS! At the office, in addition to my usual high-potency arnica for bruises, and anti-inflammatory spray (great for arthritis, sunburn, etc) I will have CBD salve! I did a lot of research and gave samples to patients before deciding on a brand, and I really like this one, from Frogsong. It’s CBD from hemp, no THC, so you won’t get high and it won’t show up on drug tests. It’s completely legal in all 50 states, so you can take it on road trips. I’ve been getting strongly positive responses from my test cases, especially for nerve pain (neuropathy, neuralgia, shingles, sciatic pain, etc).

The CBD oil is in a base of shea butter, coconut oil, argan oil (a Moroccan nut), sweet almond oil, beeswax, and essential oils. Ingredients are sustainably grown, non-GMO, preservative free, gluten free, cruelty free and packaged in BPA-free containers.

Come on by the clinic if you want to try it!

UPDATE: I now carry two salves. The one listed above is minty and highly moisturizing – great for feet – the other is light and lemony, in an aloe vera gel, and penetrates quickly. I also have their CBD Drops, an oral supplement you can use to help reduce anxiety, etc.

Before and After: A/C Separation

Anterior view of shoulder joint with muscles. SOURCE: Based on AMuscsk_20131017_v0_001.

This 40 year old gentleman separated his acromioclavicular joint 2 years ago, in the April of 2016. Since then, he’s had shoulder pain and a lot of crunching noise with movement.

I treated him with acupuncture and medical massage. The goal was to break up fascial adhesions (scar tissue) and his muscles working properly again.

These pictures were taken on 4/3/18 and 4/25/18. He received 4 sessions of care.

First, look at the outside curves of the shoulders. He is much more symmetrical in the after pic. His deltoid (“shoulder cap” muscle”) has filled out now that he’s using it. Secondly, the shoulder girdle is no longer being held

forward. See the difference in the shadow at Arrow 2? And the A/C joint isn’t sticking out as sharply.

Here in the side view, you can see how the shoulder has rotated back to its normal position. In the Before pic you can’t see his chest at all at the top. His scapula (shoulder blade) is also sticking out in the Before shot.

Most importantly, the patient reports less pain, less crunching, better range of motion, and generally better performance. :)

Tinnitus

Tinnitus (ringing or roaring in the ears) is one of the few things I can’t reliably treat with acupuncture. It can be mildly irritating or absolutely maddening, depending on the frequency, volume, and pitch.

Here’s a use-at-home method that just requires your hands. I can’t test it personally since I don’t suffer from tinnitus, but two of my friends who do reported this gave them temporary relief. I suspect it has to do with the impact affecting the vagus nerve. Anyway, here’s the video: Good luck!

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Instant Pot cooking

NOTE:  I am not getting paid by Instant Pot (or Amazon), nor do I have any other reason for this post other than to make it quicker and easier for you to cook healthy food at home. I work long hours, and sometimes I lack the energy / time to cook a traditional dinner. The Instant Pot ensures we eat out less, which saves us both cash and calories.

fast-food-collageAn Instant Pot is a digital pressure cooker. It’s well engineered to be safe and simple to use, unlike the terrifying stove pressure cooker my Mom used to make jelly when I was a kid. There are a few other brands out there that make similar machines, and if you have one of those you can use these same recipes with minimal changes in fluid amount and times.

The IP can:

  • Make hard boiled eggs* that peel like a dream, even when fresh.
  • Make bone broth / stock in an 90 minutes, not a day and half!
  • Make yogurt (some models have a specific button, others require more attention)
  • Make rice perfectly
  • Steam perfect veggies (just set it for 0 minutes!)
  • Cook tender roasts in 1.5 hours or less
  • Saute in the pot to reduce your dishwashing load
  • Caramelize onions in half an hour (make a bunch and freeze some for later!)

*Cook your eggs 5 min on high, 5 NR, 5 in an ice bath. Or for a lovely color and nutty flavor, 90 min (not a typo!) – makes incredible deviled eggs!

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Colds and Flus

How to beat a cold with acupressure:

In the past, when people called me with a cold, I told them to come in. Acupuncture is great for the immune system! In the last few years, I have changed my policy. I now prefer you stay home if you’re contagious (how long is that?). I have patients who are immune-compromised*. This means I want to prevent their exposure, and also that I can’t work if I am sick at all – and losing a week or more of income is pretty rough (despite all the kitty snuggles).

li4So – here are some handy dandy acupressure points you can use for yourself. In all cases, press firmly with a fingertip for a few seconds, on both left and right sides. Continue reading

Plantar Fasciitis

Plantar fasciitis is a painful condition that makes your feet hurt, especially with the first few steps after being off of them for a while. What’s happening here? First, we have to understand fascia. It’s a system of connective tissue that holds us together. 

Each muscle fiber has connective tissue, called fascia, surrounding it like a layer of Saran wrap.

Connective tissue (white) and muscle fibers. When fascial adhesions form, it can cause unexplained pain.

Connective tissue (white) and muscle fibers. In plantar fasciitis, those fibers get tight and brittle.

It may help to picture a muscle fiber as a new drinking straw in a paper wrapper. The straw is actually the muscle cell, while the white paper is fascia. At each end, that flap of fascia becomes our tendons. It attaches to bone – or, more precisely, to the fascia surrounding bone. These sheaths of fascia are supposed to slide past each other as muscles move. With long periods of no movement, if the muscles are tight, or if there’s an injury, they can stick together and form a fascial adhesion.

When the plantar fascia (the fascia on the bottom of the foot) doesn’t move, it gets stiff and brittle, causing plantar fasciitis. When you do move, it hurts like crazy! The immediate answer – the one most old-fashioned podiatrists give – is to stop the movement. They prescribe stiff orthotics and walking-boot-type shoes that prevent your feet from flexing. That approach does give short-term relief, but in the long run it just sets you up for more pain.

Instead, advanced podiatrists like Dr. Ray McClanahan recognize that our feet evolved to be mobile. For millennia, they were a wide, stable base for our bodies that responded to uneven ground. Most modern footwear is too stiff and constricting, which restricts both toe movement and foot flexing, and reduces us to balancing on a solid block. The best long-term fix for plantar fasciitis is to get things moving again!

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The entire bottom of the foot can hurt, although pain is usually focused in the heel.

That means:

1) Gradually changing to more minimal, flexible footwear. In some cases, toe spreaders will be useful. 

2) Strengthen the feet with exercises (more here!). The muscles that create the arch of your foot are actually in your lower legs (they have long tendons down to the bones in the foot). Myofascial release for your legs will be helpful, too. With a little work, your legs and feet will support you as nature intended.

3) Break up the adhesions in the feet, using any combo of myofascial massage, acupuncture, rolling with small balls, etc. You have to do this a little bit at a time. Some people like to get in and dig the adhesions apart, deep-tissue massage style. That works well in the short term, but it also causes inflammation… which causes scar tissue and fascial adhesions to form… putting you back where you started. Myofascial release uses a more subtle massage approach to slide the layers apart. I love doing this type of work because the result is immediate freedom of movement and no boomerang side-effects.

The bad news: This is the only treatment I do that hurts.

The good news: It stops hurting immediately, and the relief is powerful and swift.

NOTE: This is how to treat the underlying problem – stiff fascia. If you are in a painful flare right now, we need to treat the “hot” injury first. That means (just as with any tendonitis) rest, ice, acupuncture and anti-inflammatory help via the diet or a topical medication.

Come see me and let me treat your plantar fasciitis. Won’t it be nice to go for a walk without pain again? I’ll be happy to help you assess your current shoes (sometimes there are tweaks we can make to give you more space in them) or pics of those you are considering on the internet!

 

 

 

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Cupping

You may have seen the news coverage of Michael Phelps and other Olympic athletes getting cupping. What the heck is it and how does it work?

cupping therapyDespite what that ridiculous article says, it IS ancient Chinese traditional medicine. The Chinese have been using heated cups for millennia. Practitioners warm the air inside the cup, then place it on the skin. A seal is formed. As the air cools, a vacuum is created. Standing cups are left in place. Another technique, moving cupping, involves sliding the cups around without breaking the seal. In both cases, the point is for the vacuum to separate the layers of skin and muscle and break up fascial adhesions.

Yes, it absolutely works! The reason I don’t do it in my office is that the dark circles are actually bruises – they are visual proof of broken capillaries bleeding under the skin. The vacuum created in cupping is strong enough that it does a little damage along with the good. I personally prefer to use myofacial release to break up the adhesions, sticking to the rule of “First, do no harm.” I get the same great results without any blood vessel trauma.

Next time you’re in the office, ask to see the cupping equipment. I keep a few cups around because they’re great conversation starters and they are beautiful, but sometimes modern innovation can provide a better solution.

 

Acupuncture for Fertility

I’ve been using acupuncture for fertility and pregnancy support with my patients for years. My success rate is fairly high – I like to joke that “I get people pregnant like a boss!” – due in large part to a brilliant set of classes I had at OCOM, the #1 acupuncture school in the nation. We learned about all the different ways bodies can slip out of balance, and how to correct them. In the OB/GYN focused classes, we looked at how to coax the menstrual cycle back to regularity. We studied methods to encourage uterine wellness, and increase both sperm count and motility.* We learned how to support a pregnant body, and treat any pain she might have, without using the moving** points that could bring on a miscarriage. Of course, we learned the points we shouldn’t use with a pregnancy, and the one to bring on a “Precocious Baby” – that one you needle at the change of each trimester. As the due date approaches, we can turn a breech baby. We can even evict an overdue one – something that’s helped a few of my patients avoid a medical inducement.

Acupuncture for fertility is less expensive and less invasive than IVF and IUI!

Acupuncture for fertility is less expensive and less invasive than IVF or hormonal drugs like Clomid, and highly successful.

But before we can worry about maintaining the health of a pregnancy, sometimes we have to use acupuncture for fertility to get us there. My patients have ranged from young, healthy folks who were just eager to start their families, to older people who had endured unsuccessful IVF.

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One of my more difficult cases had PCOS and some other metabolic issues. Look at this cute baby bear she made!

Part of being a good practitioner is constant learning. I am taking a Continuing Education class now on acupuncture for fertility, and one of the big takeaways for me is how early you should start. I generally like a few months to even out the hormones and regulate the cycle, but this latest class pointed out something interesting about our eggs. They start to stir from their life-long slumber about 5 months before they are released. To truly give them the best blood flow and hormonal support, treatments should be ongoing during this ramp-up period.

“The dormant follicle is awakened from it’s primordial state of rest about 5 months before it will be selected for ovulation. It is at this time that the egg will start reacting with its environment. […] Hormone regulating factors in the ovary start to influence the content of the follicular fluid. Blood flow, nourishment and hormonal cues within the body influence the state of follicular fluid. Regulatory proteins, hormones and growth factors begin to appear about the time the egg starts to undergo division 3 months before it is released. If nourishment is poor, hormonal cues have been interrupted, or if the blood flow has been compromised the egg has less chance of being healthy. The egg’s health is determined during the growth phase when protein synthesis occurs.” Treatment of IVF and IUI with Acupuncture & Herbs, Sophie Butcher, LAc, FABORM

I’ve also learned a fantastic massage technique to shunt more bloodflow to the reproductive system. I can teach you this, so your partner can do it for you every day.

So… if you are looking to make a new human, think ahead. Stop smoking and drinking (yes, BOTH parents) a little earlier than expected. Clean up your diet so that egg gets all the vitamins and minerals it needs. And of course, if you need some help, acupuncture for fertility is a great option. It’s both less expensive and less invasive than IVF and IUI, and works beautifully to support those procedures if you do acupuncture with them.

I’d love to help you grow your family!

* The good news is that these points aren’t close to the genitalia. Men are often especially relieved to hear I only need access to the lower back, ankles, and ears.

**Chinese medicine considers most pain to be a form of energy (Qi) and/or blood stagnation. Points that move Qi and blood to clear that stagnation are extremely useful – but can be dangerous while carrying a child.

Minimal shoes on sale at Soft Star

Hey all you heathy feet fans – Soft Star (a soft leather shoe company in Corvallis) is having their annual clearance sale! Check their sizing charts and read carefully – no returns on these!AdultCategoryLanding

I am not associated with Soft Star in any way. I just like their style. :)

Update: I bought these two! The moccasins are fleece-lined. :)

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The “Dash”

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The “Moccasin”

 

I’ll grant you that they aren’t the most professional looking, but they ARE comfy (after about 20 min of breaking them in) and good for your feet. The brown ones have the advantage for me of sort-of working for my historic habit. My persona is a Roman matron in 50 BC, and her clothes are supposed to cover most of her feet. The toes peeking out are exactly like a period Roman shoe!