The foot is a highly complex machine, with 26 bones, 33 joints, and over 100 tendons that are called on to function without being noticed, and with only limited rest, every day of our lives. With such complexity and demands, it is no wonder that there are many causes of foot pain, foot aches, soreness and tenderness.
Causes of Foot Pain
Foot pain is the body’s warning that there is a condition that needs treatment. These may be physical or structural, such as bunions, hammertoes, or arthritic joints. They may be caused by persistent irritations, as with ill-fitting shoes. Accidents causing a severe bruise, a stubbed toe or stress fracture can produce foot pain. Foot pain may be the result of medical conditions such as edema or diabetes.
Problems with Western medicine’s approach to pain treatment
Soft tissue tears and bone breaks often require immobilization of the foot with a cast to prevent further injury during healing. Other conditions will heal in time with no treatment. In too many cases the accompanying pain is unsuccessfully addressed. NSAIDs often are suggested for severe injuries as well as for what are diagnosed as minor foot conditions that are expected to heal quickly, but these can have severe side effects, such as ulcers and internal bleeding. Western medicine may prescribe powerful drugs for the pain of diabetic neuropathy. These drugs include the commonly prescribed anticonvulsant gabapentin (Neurontin) and the antiseizure medication pregabalin (Lyrica), both of which treat only the symptom of pain while having a long list of potentially dangerous side effects, including severe allergic reactions and depression.
Acupuncture treats pain safely
A number of studies have found acupuncture to be effective in relieving many types of foot pain. A 1996 study published in “Acupuncture in Medicine” reported that chronic foot pain often responded to acupuncture treatments where Western medical treatments had failed. As reported in “Medical Acupuncture”, in a study on plantar fasciitis (pain on the bottom of the foot radiating from the heal toward the toes), electroacupuncture, where a minute electric current is passed through the acupuncture needles placed at the appropriate acupuncture points, achieved a 50 percent or more improvement in pain reduction in 82 percent of patients.
Our advice
Never let foot pain continue for an extended period without having it attended to. Whether the cause of your foot pain is from trauma, arthritis, Morton’s neuroma, gout, ankle pain, shin splints, heel spur and bone spur, Achilles tendinitis, or whatever the diagnosed condition, to relieve your foot pain during healing please consider the recognized safety and effectiveness of acupuncture treatments before accepting a potentially hazardous prescribed drug.
Sources
“Acupuncture in Medicine”; Medically Unresponsive Foot Pain Treated Successfully with Acupuncture; Erickson, R.J. and Edwards, B.; November 1996
“Medical Acupuncture”; Low-Frequency Electroacupuncture in the Management of Refractory Plantar Fasciitis: A Case Series; Perez-Millan, R., M.D. and Foster, L., D.O.; January 2001
http://acupuncturetoday.com/abc/footpain.php
http://www.livestrong.com/article/151719-acupuncture-foot-pain/
http://www.ehow.com/facts_5484623_acupuncture-foot-pain.html
http://www.acupuncturemedicine.com/plantarfascitis
http://dylansteinacupuncture.com/acupuncture-pain-management/ankle-and-foot-pain/