Hello. I hope someone can help me. My wife has terrible acute chronic lower back pain, for 8 months now. All conventional medical treatment has thus far failed her. What HAS worked was some acupuncture WITHOUT needles that she had down in Puerto Rico a month ago. It worked wonders. It not only took away her pain for a while, it allowed her to skip her powerful narcotic pain medicine at times. We live in Maryland though, and haven't found yet any doctor/acupuncturist who does the same kind of acupuncture. It was using the Accu-O-Matic SP Series machine wherein the doctor would use a wand and apply pressure to various points on my wife's hands, legs, and feet, while my wife held a metal cylinder in one hand. He also used a Pointoselect Digital handheld device on her ears and head.
Does anyone know of someone in Maryland, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Delaware, or Virginia who performs this kind of acupuncture/acupressure?
HI, I did some research for you trying to find someone who uses this machine. Unfortunately I found nobody in the U.S. that did. I did find some distributors who sell them but they are rather expensive at $4,000 and above.
I also found some rather serious letters of warning and action from the FDA to the makers of the Device for various Quality System Regulation and Medical Device Reporting Infractions and Violations.
So, at this point I"m not even sure if the company even still makes these machines.
I'm curious of whether you all lived in Puerto Rico and then moved here? Or did you all find this place during some vacation visit?
There is a reason why things need to go through the FDA and if it's not widely used here in the US...then it's because of the things Kat mentioned of it having serious issues.
My PM Dr. uses traditional Acupuncture or along with the Electrostimulator.
Maybe it's me....but anything with the words "O-Matic" sounds like a cheesy infomercial So I would be very careful and do your research.
I don't know about what your wife experienced, but if you need the name of a good accupuncturist in Maryland, I I used a lady for a year that helped me considerably with my back issues.
I have also used magnets that are used for accupressure. I feel that I had mixed results with them, but then perhaps it bears further investigation. The lady that works with them lives in the Dulles area of VA.
I certainly hope that your wife can find some other relief...
Hi genesis, Ive had traditional acupuncture from several practitioners, some were absolutely useles and some were very helpful. I also have had treatment called TINS where they basically insert acupuncture needles and run a small amount of current through the needles, it's kind of like the theory of a spinal cord stim. The needles are used to get the electricity deepeer than a tens unit. You can either look for PM docs, physcial medicine docs or people simply certified in acupuncture. Like any hands on method, I think some people have the touch and some simply follow a map their given in school or one that's pasted to the wall. You may find a great acupuncturist that uses needles. It sounds like this was a therapy that isn't aproved in the US although it may have provided relief it doesn't sound as if it's FDA aproved and therfore you wont find it in use in the US. You also may be discounting the theraputic environment you were in. I certainly felt better and slept better while on vaction in mexico.
The good thing is you found something other than meds that works so now it's a matter of finding some other adjunct therapies that work, whether it's acupuncture, nerve blocks, TENS, TINS, or a relaxation technique like bio feedback, self hypnosis or guided imagry. You can really only scratch the surface of all the different treatments that can be used for treating chronic back pain in less than a year. I've been living with debilitating back pain for 19 years and I cant honestly say I have tried everything although I have tried many many things including surgery. Some of the modalities have been tried by more than one doc and I have gotten different resulsts from different docs. It's much like trigger point injections, some docs have the touch and some dont.
What's causing your wifes back pain? Has she had all the diagnostics and have they ruled out perhaps a simple impingement that could be corectted with micro surgery or minimally invasive surgery. It may not be what she wants but if there is an obvious problem a doc believes he can fix why not look for a cure rather than simply treating the symptoms. Until everything has been tried you can't really say it's intractable meaning it can't be cured.
Good luck, Dave
Last edited by Shoreline; 10-11-2012 at 09:04 PM.
Reason: grammer
looking for acupuncture without needles 
So I would be very careful and do your research.
