Acupuncture for Elbow Pain
Elbow and/or forearm pain is often caused by overuse and repetitive movements. A broken arm, bursitis, fractures or sprains, golfer's or tennis elbow, arthritis, nerve impingement or tendinitis are all reasons why the elbow or lower arm may hurt.
Repetitive movements like gripping, painting, hammering, sawing, cutting, or chopping can injure or inflame the elbow and lower arm.
Symptoms include pain that can be worse with gripping, stiffness, a burning sensation, swelling, tingling, and/or weak or reduced grip strength.
The anterior elbow and forearm involve muscles that mostly assist with mostly flexion of the wrist (flexor carpi ulnaris and flexor carpi radialis for example). There are also pronator muscles that assist with pronation of the forearm.
The muscles are innervated by either the median or ulnar nerve.
Channels involved with the anterior elbow and forearm include the Heart channel, Pericardium channel, and Lung channel.
On the transverse cubital crease is Shaohai, HT-3 on the medial side of the crease.
Quze, PC-3, is in the depression immediately to the ulnar side of the aponeurosis of the biceps brachii muscle.
Chize, LU-5, is on the cubital crease in a depression at the radial side of the tendon of biceps brachii.
Other points on the pericardium channel include Ximen PC-4 and Neiguan PC-6.
On the Lung channel Kongzui LU-6 can also be used for forearm pain.
Of these points, probably the most commonly used is Neiguan, PC-6.
The superficial posterior elbow and back of the arm muscles include brachioradialis and the extensor muscles. Deeper muscles include the supinator, abuctor pollicis longus, and a couple of extensor muscles. Most of these muscles work with supination of the forearm or extension of the fingers.
Channels involved with the posterior elbow and back of the forearm are the San Jiao channel, Small Intestine channel, and Large Intestine channel.
Points on the San Jiao channel include Waiguan SJ-5, Zhigou SJ-6, Huizong SJ-7, Sanyangluo SJ-8, Sidu SJ-9 and Tianjing SJ-10.
Points on the Small intestine channel include Zhizeng SI-7 and Xiaohai SI-8.
Points on the Large Intestine channel include Pianli LI-6, Wenliu LI-7, Xialian LI-8, Shanglian LI-9, Shouwuli LI-10 and Quchi LI-11.
Quchi, L.I.-11 is one of the more commonly used points and is at the lateral end of the cubital crease. This is an important point for clearing Excess Heat. Because pain is often an Excess condition, using Quchi L.I.-11 for upper arm and shoulder pain is doubly warranted for this reason and also because of its location.
In a multi-center international study of acupuncture for lateral elbow pain (aka “Tennis Elbow”), the treatment group received acupuncture at pts LI-10 and LI-11 and the control group received sham laser acupuncture at the same points.
After 3 weeks, there was a significant difference in DASH (disabilities of the arm, shoulder, and hand) questionnaire scores (-50.83 to 23.33 for the treatment group and -36.67 to 29.10 for the control group) suggesting that acupuncture has a moderate efficacy in treating lateral elbow pain (Gadau et. Al 2020).
For topical relief, liniments like Dit Da Jao, Tieh Tao Gao, and Zheng Gu Shui are excellent external herbal remedies to help facilitate healing of the tendons and invigorate circulation to alleviate pain.
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine are wonderful modalities to use for elbow pain!
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Reference: https://www.healthcmi.com/Acupuncture-Continuing-Education-News/1329-acupuncture-proven-to-heal-tennis-elbow
