You've seen a physio. You've tried acupuncture. Here's why you're still in pain.
Physio and acupuncture each treat half the problem. Physio changes how you move. Acupuncture settles a nervous system that keeps your muscles braced. Get only one, or two practitioners who never talk to each other, and the pain tends to come back.
A patient sat in my room a few weeks ago and listed everything she had tried. Four physio appointments. A green resistance band. Acupuncture at another clinic. A massage every few weeks when her neck got bad.
She really felt like she had done the work, spent the money, and she was committed to getting better. But, her neck still hurt.
I hear some version of this story every week, and it can seem like it's a practitioner problem, when it really isn't. They will have done good work.
But in today's environment, patients are moving fast and they want...no, need...their recovery to move faster as well.
Each of her previous treatments treated one part of her, and nobody put the parts together. To get you out of pain quickly, to keep you out of pain longer, and to prevent the pain from coming back, treating the muscular body and the nervous system together is the answer.
What does physio actually fix?
When you see a physio, we look at how you move. Your joints, your muscles, your posture, the way you bend down to pick up the washing basket or lift heavy pipes.
We find what's weak, what's tight and what's compensating and then we build a plan to change it.
That work matters. I'm a physio and I believe in it completely.
Physio assumes your body is ready to change, though, and sometimes it isn't.
Why doesn't my pain stay gone after treatment?
Here's how I explain it to the tradies who walk in sceptical:
Your nervous system is wired. When it's wired, your muscles can't relax. When your muscles can't relax, you injure yourself more easily and you can't recover.
You can stretch a tight muscle all you like. If your nervous system keeps telling it to brace, it braces again as you're driving home in the car.
You might recognise this. The person who feels great walking out of every appointment and sore again by Thursday.
Stress does that. Bad sleep does that. Twenty years of running on empty does that. Your body stays on guard, and a body on guard holds on to its pain.
What does acupuncture add to physio?
I'm also a Doctor of Chinese Medicine, Acupuncture. That means a Master's in Acupuncture on top of my physio degree, and it changes what I look for. Chinese Medicine looks at your nervous system, your sleep, your digestion and your stress load, and how all of it shows up in your muscles and joints.
Most people have acupuncture on its own. The needles settle things down and their muscles feel better for a few days, perhaps even weeks. But, if nobody changes how they move, the same pattern drags them back.
So one practitioner works on your structure. Another works on your system. You end up paying two people to fix half a problem each - and neither of them are talking to each other.
What happens when one clinic does both
At Above, we do both. Here's what that looks like.
A woman came in recently who couldn't do a simple side-lying leg lift. Her whole body jumped in to help. Muscles that should have switched off did all the work, because that's how her body had learned to move for decades.
I corrected her position. She tried again. It was hard.
I pressed on the front muscles that had been overworking. She squirmed. They were that tight. I placed one needle using acupuncture, then pressed the same spot again. Noticeably softer. She tried the exercise again and felt the difference straight away.
Physio found the problem. Acupuncture allowed her body to let go of it. Then the exercise could actually do its job.
Why does my pain keep coming back?
When you bring me a scan, I read it as a record. It shows how you've moved and how much load you've carried for the last ten, twenty, thirty years. "Low to moderate osteoarthritis" tells me your movement pattern has been wearing on that joint for a long time.
That's why I talk to every patient about three phases:
Get you out of pain.
Keep you out of pain.
Change the pattern that caused it.
Most people stop after phase one, because the pain goes and life gets busy. Most clinics stop there too. Phase three decides whether you're back in my room in two years with the same problem.
If this sounds like you
We might be the right fit if:
you've had physio and felt better, but it never lasted
you've had acupuncture, liked it, and muscularly ended up back where you started
you feel wired and exhausted at the same time
a scan showed you something scary and nobody explained what to do next
a specialist told you to "manage" your pain and you're not ready to accept that
We're at 463 Underwood Road, Rochedale South. I treat with physio and acupuncture, and our physiotherapy practitioners Tanya and Lisa cover post-surgical rehab, spinal rehab and exercise, and we talk to each other about every patient we share.
Before your first appointment, someone from our team will call you. Bring your questions to that call. Bring your scans to the appointment.
Common questions
Is acupuncture the same as dry needling? No. Dry needling targets trigger points in a muscle. Chinese Medicine acupuncture is a full clinical system, and Lily holds a Master's in Acupuncture on top of her physio degree.
Do I need a referral? No. You can book directly. Bring any scans, and your GP plan or claim details if you have them.
How many sessions will I need? It depends on how long the pattern has been there. Your first appointment ends with a plan that sets out what it will take, so you know before you commit.
Book online or call us on 0479 168 936.
Lily Cheng is a physiotherapist and Doctor of Chinese Medicine (Acupuncturist) at Above Physio and Acupuncture in Rochedale South. Read more about Lily.