Articles

Everything we have written, grouped by what you might be looking for. All of it is written by the practice rather than bought in, and where the evidence for something is weak we say so.

If you would rather just ask, get in touch or call 978.524.4888. Our frequently asked questions cover the practical points about rates, insurance and finding us.

This page groups everything by subject. If you would rather see it in the order it was written, the full archive in date order lists the same articles newest first.

Back, hip and leg

The complaints people most often book a first appointment for.

• Acupuncture for back pain
  What the evidence supports for ongoing low back pain, and how to tell within six sessions whether it is working.
• Acupuncture for sciatica
  Radiating leg pain is not simply back pain further down. Where treatment is aimed, and the red flags that need a doctor first.
• Pain on the outside of the hip
  Usually gluteal tendinopathy rather than arthritis or bursitis – and that changes what helps.
• Acupuncture for knee and joint pain
  Conditionally recommended for knee, hip and hand osteoarthritis in US guidelines. What that actually means.
• Acupuncture for plantar fasciitis
  Stubborn heel pain, what the trials found, and the two free things that help more than any treatment.
• Achilles tendinopathy
  The standard heel-drop protocol suits one type and makes the other worse. Knowing which you have is most of it.
• Runner’s knee (patellofemoral pain)
  Pain around the kneecap in an otherwise healthy knee. The evidence points at the hip as firmly as at the knee.
• Shin splints: load management, not rest
  How to tell it from a stress fracture, and why six weeks off reliably brings it straight back.
• Morton’s neuroma
  Burning pain in the ball of the foot with numb toes. The shoe is the treatment, not a supporting measure.
• IT band syndrome
  Outer knee pain that arrives at the same mile every run, and why rolling the band is not the answer.
• Ankle sprain recovery
  Why the second sprain is the real problem, and the two minutes a day that prevent it.
• Meniscal tears: what the trials found
  For degenerative tears without locking, surgery did not beat exercise. Including against placebo surgery.
• High hamstring pain
  Deep pain at the sit bone, mistaken for sciatica, and made worse by the obvious response.
• Hip osteoarthritis
  The hip joint hurts in the groin, not at the side. One sentence that saves people months.
• Spinal stenosis
  Leg pain on walking that eases when you lean forward. Why a cart makes such a difference.
• Leg pain that stops when you stop running
  Tightness that arrives at a predictable distance and vanishes minutes after you stop.
• A stiff big toe
  The third big toe article, and the one where a stiff sole helps rather than a wide one.
• Jumper’s knee
  Pinpoint pain below the kneecap that warms up and hurts tomorrow. Why rest is the wrong answer.
• Piriformis syndrome
  Deep buttock pain, worse sitting, and the four-way differential that finally makes it nameable.
• Gout and foot pain
  The emergency to rule out first, and why urate treatment beats avoiding shellfish.
• Bunions: what actually helps
  Correctors do not straighten them. What does help, and why not every bunion needs anything.

Neck, shoulder and arm

Where posture, injury and repetitive load show up.

• Massage for neck and shoulder pain
  Which style of massage suits which problem, how often to go, and what is usually driving it.
• Whiplash: what helps first
  Why movement beats rest after a collision, and where hands-on treatment genuinely fits.
• Frozen shoulder: what actually helps
  The three phases, why acupuncture works best combined with exercise, and how long it really takes.
• Acupuncture for tennis elbow
  The thinnest evidence base on this site, stated plainly – and what matters considerably more.
• Acupuncture for carpal tunnel syndrome
  An adjunct rather than a cure, and why the timing of assessment matters more here than elsewhere.
• Acupuncture for TMJ and jaw pain
  Better supported than most people expect for muscle-origin jaw pain – after a dental assessment.
• Rotator cuff shoulder pain
  Constantly confused with frozen shoulder, and it needs the opposite handling. How to tell them apart.
• A pinched nerve in the neck
  Arm pain and tingling that comes from the neck. Which fingers are involved narrows it considerably.
• Hand and thumb arthritis
  Pain at the base of the thumb when you grip. The splint does more than anything in our treatment room.
• De Quervain’s: thumb-side wrist pain
  A self-test that takes ten seconds, and the three problems people confuse it with.
• Golfer’s elbow
  Inner elbow pain, usually not from golf. Including the nerve problem it is most often mistaken for.
• Trigger finger
  A finger that catches or locks. What settles it, and an honest note on where we do not fit.
• Woke up with a stiff neck?
  What to do today, what the fortnight usually looks like, and the one pattern that needs urgent care.
• Costochondritis and rib pain
  Chest wall pain, after the heart has been ruled out. Written for people who have already been assessed.
• Thoracic outlet syndrome
  Arm heaviness worse with the arms overhead, and the four-way differential for arm symptoms.
• Neck arthritis explained
  What “degenerative changes” on a report actually describes, and the one red flag that matters.
• Pain on the little finger side of the wrist
  Turning a key, pushing up from a chair. The last gap in the wrist, and why scans mislead.
• AC joint pain, right on top of the shoulder
  Pain you can cover with a fingertip, and a cross-body test you can do while reading.

Head, sleep and stress

Where the evidence is often strongest, and occasionally weakest.

• Acupuncture for migraines and tension headaches
  Migraine prevention is where acupuncture has its best evidence. How to measure whether it is working.
• Acupuncture for anxiety and everyday stress
  What changes first, what it sits alongside, and why it is not a replacement for therapy or medication.
• Acupuncture for sleep and insomnia
  Subjective sleep quality improves; total sleep time does not. What that difference means for you.
• Acupuncture for fibromyalgia
  A careful answer rather than an enthusiastic one, including where the evidence does not support the claim.
• Acupuncture for tinnitus
  An honest answer: the evidence is inconclusive. What the research supports instead, and the one exception.
• Headache that starts in the neck
  Side-locked, neck-provoked, and routinely confused with migraine. How to tell which you have.
• Vertigo and dizziness: what to do first
  The commonest cause is fixed by a manoeuvre we do not perform. Which kind you have, and the red flags.
• Restless legs syndrome
  One blood test explains a meaningful share of cases, and most people have never had it done.

Whole-body and seasonal

Conditions the practice sees regularly that get less attention.

• Acupuncture for digestive discomfort
  Functional dyspepsia and IBS, the gut-brain connection, and what must be ruled out first.
• Acupuncture for menopause symptoms
  An honest look, including where the evidence does not support the claims commonly made.
• Acupuncture for seasonal allergies
  One of the few uses that appears in mainstream ENT clinical guidance. Start before the season, not during it.
• Massage and recovery for active people
  What massage does for soreness and flexibility – and what it does not do for strength or endurance.
• Acupuncture for nausea
  The strongest evidence on this site: Cochrane-level support, and it is in anaesthesia guidelines.
• Peripheral neuropathy
  Numbness and burning in the feet. Why finding the cause comes first, and the free advice that matters most.
• Period pain: what is normal and what is not
  The most useful part is not the treatment section. It is knowing when to stop putting up with it.
• Sinus pressure and congestion
  Most of it is viral. The cheapest measure that works, and why it might be migraine instead.

Before you book

The practical questions, answered without sales copy.

• Does acupuncture hurt?
  What the needles actually feel like, what happens at a first appointment, and how to prepare.
• Your first massage: what to expect
  How draping works, what you can keep on, and how to ask for the pressure you want.
• Acupuncture or massage: which do you need?
  A straight comparison by complaint, including when the answer is neither.
• Reflexology: what to expect
  What a session involves, and a plain account of what the evidence does and does not support.
• How does acupuncture actually work?
  Two explanations – the traditional one and the neuroscience – with the gaps left visible.
• What does acupuncture cost in Massachusetts?
  Real numbers, what Medicare and MassHealth cover, and how to work out a course total before starting.
• Acupuncture side effects and aftercare
  What is normal in the day afterwards, what is not, and what to mention before a first session.
• Dry needling vs acupuncture
  Same needle, different tradition, and a training gap most people are never told about.
• Deep tissue vs Swedish massage
  The difference is purpose, not pressure. Which style suits what you actually want, and how to ask for it.
• How many acupuncture sessions will I need?
  A straight answer by condition, how to set a review point, and when stopping is the right call.
• Desk setup and neck pain
  Movement beats posture, and the research is clearer about that than the usual advice suggests.
• Why pain persists after healing
  What changes in the nervous system when pain outlasts the injury, and what actually shifts it.
• Does cold weather make joint pain worse?
  The belief is near-universal and the evidence is not. What does change in winter, and what to do about it.
• Acupuncture for weight loss?
  We are going to talk you out of it. What the reviews found, and an ear acupuncture safety note.
• Why rehab exercises get abandoned in week four
  Thirty articles here end by saying the exercises are the treatment. This is the one about doing them.

On the North Shore

Getting here, and what to look for in a practitioner.

• Acupuncture on the North Shore
  What the Massachusetts Lic.Ac. licence requires, and five questions worth asking any practice.
• Acupuncture for Danvers, MA
  Ten minutes across the town line, and why Danvers residents nearly always drive.
• Acupuncture for Salem, MA
  One stop up the commuter line, which makes a weekly course genuinely practical without a car.
• Acupuncture for Peabody, MA
  The largest city on the North Shore has plenty of options. The honest case for travelling anyway.
• Acupuncture for Ipswich, MA
  Two stops down the Newburyport branch. How to plan a course when you are travelling in.
• Acupuncture for Marblehead, MA
  No rail, one road off the neck, and a drive through Salem. Why when you book matters more than where.
• Acupuncture for Gloucester, MA
  Beverly Depot is where the Rockport branch divides. Cape Ann already passes through on the way to Boston.
• Acupuncture for Hamilton and Wenham, MA
  The nearest stop up the line, and the one town where a weekly course is genuinely easy to keep up.
• Acupuncture for Manchester-by-the-Sea, MA
  Fifteen minutes down the coast road, and the stops in between are Beverly neighbourhoods.
• Acupuncture for Beverly Farms and Prides Crossing
  The one local page with no journey to argue about, and where the city’s five rail stations get explained.

Everything here is general information, not medical advice. Please speak to a clinician about any new, severe or changing symptom.