Pain

Pain is one of the most common reasons people come to Flourish, and treating it is one of the most widely accepted uses of acupuncture and Chinese / East Asian medicine.

If you’re wondering how acupuncture treats pain, it works by inserting fine needles into specific points on the skin to release endorphins, reduce inflammation, improve blood flow, and help the nervous system and brain modulate pain signals. Whether your pain is acute after an injury or illness, or chronic pain lasting longer than 3 months, we help people across Sonoma County make sense of their symptoms and find lasting pain relief without relying solely on pharmaceuticals.

Whether you’re dealing with chronic low back pain, headaches, fibromyalgia, post-injury pain, or persistent pain that lingers long after tissue damage has healed, pain may be nociceptive, neuropathic, or nociplastic, and those differences affect how it feels, how much you’re suffering, and which therapies are most helpful. That’s why our approach looks at the whole picture, including medical history, symptoms, stress, psychological factors, and anything your doctor or physical exam has already identified, so treatment supports both immediate relief and longer-term healing.

There are a few different ways we approach pain.

Sometimes we place fine needles into specific acupuncture points right where it hurts; other times we needle points elsewhere on the body to address the pain energetically. The needles prompt your body to release endorphins, its own natural painkillers, calm inflammation, and bring blood flow to sore muscles and trigger points, and we may add gentle electrical stimulation for deeper muscle pain. Alongside easing the pain itself, we look for its root cause: injury, scar tissue, nutritional deficiency, stress, emotional trauma, or underlying disease, because the benefits of treatment are stronger when we address more than pain alone.

Your care with Flourish goes beyond the needles. We add nutritional recommendations, herbs and supplements to treat the pain and its causes, gentle massage and bodywork, and simple tools for the stress, anxiety, and sleep problems that so often make pain worse. Acupuncture sits comfortably alongside physical therapy and other medical care you already use, including pain medicine when needed, so you get integrative support tailored to the cause of your pain.

If you have questions about care with Flourish, book a free 15-minute consultation with one of our providers, or book an appointment to get started; acupuncture has very few serious adverse effects when performed by a qualified practitioner. Let’s get you feeling better!