My Experience with Acupuncture for Nerve Pain

The Problem: Elbow Pain

Several years ago I got in a car crash. It wasn’t that bad, thankfully. It was the kind of crash where you spin around, with beams from your headlights bouncing around the dark road and darker trees. The kind of crash where you sit there in shock after you’ve stopped spinning, trying to make sense of what just happened. 

I didn’t feel anything out of the ordinary, as I stood in the light drizzle outside my muddy car. That came the next day. Apparently, in all the twirling and dancing my car had done, I had hit my elbow on the door. 

My arm started to ache. Worse than the pain was as the pins and needles I felt heavily in the last two fingers of my left hand. 

Thankfully, my mum had been going to an acupuncturist and TCM practitioner for about a year when this happened, so she was able to recommend an alternative to a traditional physician. 

The Diagnosis: Nerve Injury

A few days later, I sat in a comfortable office, awaiting the doctor. In some ways, it felt like a normal physician’s office. The paper covering the bed was the same, though the bed looked more like a massage table than an examination chair. The essential oil diffuser and warm lighting were a little different than a normal clinic. 

The acupuncturist was a young, reserved man with a soft voice. I felt right at home immediately. He examined my arm and asked several questions before reaching a conclusion. 

When I hit my arm, I injured the nerve that runs along the outside of the elbow, which was why my forearm ached and my fingers were numb and tingly. 

The Solution: Acupuncture 

He recommended acupuncture, not just because that was something he practiced, but because that was the best way to encourage the nerve to heal on its own. With my mum’s testimonial on my mind, I agreed to a series of acupuncture sessions to heal this elbow injury. 

At first, I was quite nervous. You see, despite my numerous tattoos, I’m not a fan of being stuck with needles. I almost cry every time they have to draw blood. 

However, the acupuncture needles were almost completely painless. In fact, I didn’t even notice most of them. Admittedly, the ones he placed on the outside edge of my hand, right below the little finger hurt like the dickens! The rest? Easy. 

The Results: No more pain!

The acupuncturist reminded me that acupuncture does not always yield immediate results, especially when treating nerve pain. Acupuncture doesn’t really heal the injury as much as it encourages the body to focus its efforts on that particular spot to heal itself. You can think of it like coaxing it to heal. 

Nevertheless, after 2 or 3 sessions, the tingling sensation started to fade. After 4 or 5 rounds of acupuncture, I had no more aches, tingles, or numbness whatsoever. 

My first experience with acupuncture was a success. I am grateful for a relatively quick fix to an injury that could have lingered a lot longer. I think it is important to find the right acupuncturist who works well with you and responds to your body in the best way. Now that I have an acupuncturist to see, I know that I can go to him for all sorts of problems. 

Now let me tell you about my migraines…