Acupuncture for Chronic Pain in Bondi Junction, Sydney

Have you been in pain for a long time? Feeling frustrated with lack of relief? Find out if acupuncture can help

Meet Your Acupuncturist

Hi, I'm Gavin from Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Junction, Sydney.

For anyone experiencing chronic pain, you know that it has a wide reaching impact on your quality of life, affecting not only your physical strength and movement, but also can impact on your sleep, mood, energy, weight and ultimately the relationships with those around you.

If this sounds like you, it might be time to try acupuncture. Start your journey to recovery today and book your initial consultation.

Book Consultation

Gavin Martin-Rentz

Chinese Medicine Practitioner and Acupuncturist

What are some Types of Chronic Pain?

Chronic pain can come in many different forms, such as:

Back pain

Sciatica

Neck pain

Headaches & migraine

Radiculopathy

Shoulder pain

Frozen shoulder

Tendinopathy

Knee pain

Osteoarthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis

Peripheral neuropathy

And that’s just to name a few main categories.

Pain is only meant to be our body’s signal that something needs attention, but often in chronic pain cases, that signal has become stuck in a loop, even after an initial injury has been recovered. This prolonged pain signal reduces blood flow, causes contraction and guarding, impacts our sleep quality (which is our number one healing and recovery time), drains our energy, heightens our sympathetic fight or flight response, increases inflammation, and makes us more irritable and anxious. All of this creates an internal environment that traps us in pain.

Before coming to acupuncture, most people have already tried multiple treatments, seen various specialists and taken different medications, but still feel stuck in an endless loop of pain. If that sounds like you, then it might be time to try acupuncture for a natural, wholistic treatment option.

Book Now

How do we use Acupuncture for Chronic Pain?

Restoring the Balance

First of all, you are not meant to be in chronic pain and your body has an amazing ability to heal, repair and adapt. An acupuncturist's job is to identify where your body’s natural healthy circulation and movement has been impaired, and work to restore proper flow and function.

We do not view your painful area as something bad or broken that needs to be “fixed” or attacked and defeated. Rather, it’s better to think of it as an area that has lost its way, like a kid lost in a supermarket crying and making a scene, and we need to get it back in touch with healthy normal circulation, or bring the kid back to his mum.

Sounds like a nice idea right, but how do we actually do that?

Well it will be different for everyone depending on what type of pain, where it is, how long it’s been around for, your age, lifestyle and diet, how much it’s impacting your sleep, digestion, energy and mood, plus other complicating factors like inflammatory conditions and structural issues. We must always look at you as a whole person as well as assessing the specific areas associated with the pain.

Often the area of pain is not the main area to be treated as it is just the tip of an iceberg of imbalances that are keeping you trapped in chronic pain. You’ve probably already tried treatments focused on the area of pain without longstanding relief anyway, so maybe it’s not the key to your recovery.

If you would like to find out more about the different acupuncture techniques we specialise in, you can check out our dedicated acupuncture page.

At Acupuncture Grove in Bondi Junction Sydney, we use acupuncture for chronic pain tailored specifically to you. Typically if it’s going to be helpful for you, we will know very early on within the first 4-6 treatments (often earlier). That doesn’t mean that it will be completely better in that time, usually chronic conditions will take some time to unravel and may need ongoing maintenance, but you should feel some early signs of relief or improvement from the acupuncture if it’s going to help.

Once we know how you’re responding to the acupuncture, we’ll then work out a treatment plan for you. The ultimate goal would be to get you to a place where you don’t need acupuncture anymore, or it’s just something you do for maintenance.

Tailored Treatment for Each Individual

Chinese herbal medicine may also be a useful adjunct when working with injuries. It’s the same idea as acupuncture, we use it for a period to help address certain imbalances, but as you improve, we aim to get to a point where it’s no longer necessary. If it’s something that we feel will help you along, we’ll discuss it as part of the treatment plan.

Chinese herbal medicine may also be a useful adjunct when working with chronic pain. It’s the same idea as acupuncture, we use it for a period to help address certain imbalances, but as you improve, we aim to get to a point where it’s no longer necessary. If it’s something that we feel will help you along, we’ll discuss it as part of the treatment plan.

If you would like to try acupuncture for chronic pain in Sydney’s Bondi Junction, then go ahead and book your initial consultation, or reach out with any questions below.

Chinese Herbal Medicine

Book Now

Frequently Asked Questions

Individual results will vary depending on many different factors, however, there is research to support the benefits of acupuncture for chronic pain beyond what is explicable by placebo effect and that it also has sustained effects after cessation of a course of treatment. See more here.
The different unique presentations of chronic pain are endless. The most reliable way to find out if acupuncture will work for your pain, is to consult with an experienced acupuncturist and try a course of treatment. If it is going to help you, there will be signs of you responding favourably within 6-12 sessions. Having said that, there is research to support the use of acupuncture for a range of different types of common chronic pain issues such as lower back, neck, shoulder, and knee pain, as well as headaches and migraines. See here.
While individual responses vary, people who respond favourably tend to feel improvements within 6–12 sessions of acupuncture. From there, it may be recommended to continue with sessions to get the full benefits and to see how much improvement or recovery is possible. For chronic conditions, especially those that have evaded other therapies and treatments, it is realistic to think in terms of months, rather than days or weeks for noticeable improvements.
Your safety and experience at Acupuncture Grove is of always priority. When performed by a trained, qualified practitioner using sterile, single-use needles, possible side effects of acupuncture are generally mild (e.g. temporary soreness, minor bruising), and serious complications are very rare.
Individual outcomes will vary, depending on many factors, but there are studies to indicate that benefits from a course of acupuncture treatment can persist after sessions end. See more here.
Acupuncture works well alongside many other therapies and approaches, so if you are already undergoing certain treatments it is okay to combine acupuncture. Just be sure to notify your practitioner what else you’re doing.