Do you know what diseases rapidly increase among women after menopause?
 
The diseases are stroke and heart attack which are life-threatening blood vessel diseases. The cause is menopause. After menopause, the secretion of female hormone (estrogen) which protects women’s body decreases, causing not only wrinkles and sagging but also hardening of blood vessels, and makes it easier to have lifestyle-related diseases.
 
The decrease of female hormone happens to all the women with age and it is not avoidable. That has been the common sense of medicine.
 
However, it has tuned out that a substance protects the body instead of female hormone.
 
The substance is Equol.
 
If you can get Equol, the blood vessels that arteriosclerosis progressed with age can be rejuvenated. The prevention of stroke and heart attack also can be expected. Another good news is that it can be expected that wrinkles will disappear and you look younger, and the prevention of cancer also can be expected.
 
Equol is not only effective for women but also effective for men and the same effect such as rejuvenation of blood vessels can be expected.
 
What kind of substance is Equol?
 
Equol can be extracted from urine of pregnant horses.
 
Why does Equol protect the body instead of female hormone?
 
Because the chemical structure of Equol is very similar to female hormone, so Equol has the same function as female hormone.
 
There is a research result that administration of Equol makes age of blood vessels younger, and Equol prevents breast cancer for women and prostate cancer for men.
 
In fact, you can create Equol in your body without depending on urine of horses.
 
How can Equol be created in the body?
 
Equol protects blood vessels like female hormone (estrogen).
Equol improves wrinkles, shallowing the depth of wrinkles and shrinking the area of wrinkles.
 
There are people who can create Equol and who can’t create Equol, and among people who can create Equol, there are people who can create Equol a lot and people who can’t create Equol very much.
 
The secret to create Equol is Soy Products (Fig. 1).
 
Equol is created in the intestine. When Soy products come to the intestine, the intestinal bacteria break down soy products and create Equol.
 
If you regularly eat soy products for a long time, the number of the intestinal bacteria creating Equol increases and more Equol is created.
 
How much soy products have been eaten until now decides whether you can create Equol or not.
 
The foodstuff helping increase Equol if you eat with are burdock and onion.
 
Burdock and onion contains Fructooligosaccharides which are food of the intestinal bacteria. Fructooligosaccharides increase good bacteria in the intestine, making better environment to create Equol. Other foodstuff containing Fructooligosaccharides are tomato, banana, garlic and asparagus.
 
Even if you can’t create Equol, if you continue to eat soy products for a long time, there is a possibility that you can become a person who can create Equol.
 

 Acute Sciatica (Self-treatment)
 
I have a kind of chronic low back pain, so after a long flight, I had acute low back pain a few times.
 
This time when I woke up, I felt pain in my left low back to left buttock. That made me difficult to bend forward and make posture to wash my face in the sink. When I stood up and bent forward a little, I felt achy in my right SI joint and squeezing pain around right greater trochanter (left hip and buttock). I could walk, though the sacrum area felt achy.
 
Day 1

It is difficult to treat your own low back because the access is limited. That means it is difficult to bring both hands to the low back to find a point and insert a needle.
 
First I decided that I would attach a press tack needle, which was a very short needle (1 mm) with sticker, at a tight point in my left low back (around left Bladder 25) and spent a day.
 
Unfortunately it didn’t improve the condition. I think that is because it is very difficult to insert the tip of the needle on an accurate point where improves the energy flow of the low back on your own.
 
Day 2

I didn’t do anything, expecting my low back would get better naturally, though it wouldn’t happen.
 
Day 3

​Despite expecting my low back would get better, when I got up in the morning, it got worse and the pain was also radiating to the back of my thigh. It became so-called sciatica.
 
Actually I was a little scared, thinking I would need to ask another acupuncturist for a treatment, but instead I decided to treat my back seriously.
 
Obviously it is difficult to treat my low back lying down, so I treated myself sitting down and standing up.
 
I gave up treating my low back and buttocks directly and I couldn’t use points on my legs because I couldn’t bend forward, so I decided to use points on my head to treat low back.
 
I put my left hand on left SI joint where I felt achy and tried to find a good point which released the achiness in the back of my head using my right hand. To confirm whether the point I found was releasing the pain or not, I sit down and stood up repeatedly and once I found a good point to release the pain, I inserted a needle at the point.
 
I repeated the same method for pain in the left buttock, around grater trochanter and in the back of thigh. Then I retained 4 needles on my head. That made it much easier to stand up and sit down without pain, but I noticed that some uncomfortable feeling or achy feeling moved to somewhere I didn’t have any pain before such as the inside of my left thigh or left side of my torso.
 
At this point I realized that I hadn’t done the root treatment which harmonized whole body. After I used a point on Gall bladder (GB 40) to harmonize Spleen energy, the uncomfortable feeling disappeared.
 
After this self-treatment, there was still a little bit of achy feeling on left SI joint with a certain movement, but I was able to move more quickly without pain and bend forward or make the posture to wash my face in the sink without difficulty.

​Acute Low Back and Buttock Pain
 
A 51 year old female complained of acute low back and buttock pain. The pain suddenly started 2 days ago and was located from right low back to sacrum and right buttock. She couldn’t bend forward and had pain with rotation as well. She often woke up due to the pain. She had fractured her right transverse process of L5 4 years ago.
 
Treatment #1
 
Her pulse was fast, and her abdomen was tight overall but there were no tender spots. I diagnosed with Liver pattern and needled on her arm to slow down her pulse with a round-tip needle.
 
After I confirmed her pulse slowed down, I asked her to lie on her left side. I palpated her low back and buttocks for tender spots. Tender spots were located on her right iliac crest, buttock and upper part of IT band. I inserted some needles on her head and low back to relieve the tenderness. 20 minutes later I removed the retained needles and palpated the area of tenderness. There were still some tender spots left on her right buttock. I needled on her right foot (GB41) to release these tender spots, but 1 tender spot remained. After the treatment, I asked her to stand and move her low back a little. Since she felt better, no additional treatment was done.
 
Treatment #2 (Next day)
 
After the first treatment, she felt better, but the pain came back at night and she couldn’t sleep well.
 
I did almost the same treatment as the first treatment, but the amount of treatment might be too much in the first treatment, so I decreased the amount of treatment.
 
After the treatment, I asked her to rotate her low back. Since she felt some tightness in her right low back, I did touch-up treatment on her arm. After that, she felt a little bit of soreness, but she said she felt better, so I didn’t do additional treatment to relieve the soreness.
 
Treatment #3 (Next day)
 
She had some soreness in her right buttock but felt much better.
 
The treatment was almost the same as the last treatment. This time it was easier to relieve tender spots on her right buttock and IT band.
 
After the treatment, I asked her to stand and check her low back, but there was no pain with movements and no soreness, so the course of treatments for her acute low back pain was finished.

Related article:
[CASE] Acute Low Back Pain (Sciatica)

Presbyopia
 
Presbyopia is a condition associated with aging of the eye that results in progressively worsening ability to focus clearly on close objects.
 
Cause of presbyopia

1. The muscles which change the thickness of the lens in the eye decline and focus can’t be adjusted.
2. The lens itself becomes too hard to compress and focus can’t be adjusted.
 
Presbyopia and cataract

​Progression of presbyopia can cause cataract because lens becomes cloudy at the same time as becoming hard.
 
The occurrence ratio of cataract is 40 % at the age of 50s and almost 100 % at the age of 80s.
 
The substance which prevents cataract is Lutein. Lutein prevents lens from becoming cloudy and hard.
 
Food to suppress the progression of presbyopia
 
The food is Spinach.
Content of lutein within 100 grams of spinach is 10 mg (Broccoli: 1.9 mg, Leaf lettuce: 1.8 mg).
Lutein required for a day is 6 mg which is 2 bunches of spinach.
 
Lutein is oil soluble so if it is eaten with oil, the absorption of lutein is better.

Insomnia
 
There are 3 types of insomnia.
1. Difficulty falling asleep (hypnagogic disorder) - being unable to fall asleep for more than 2 hours after going to bed
2. Middle waking – Waking up more than 2 times before getting up in the morning
3. Early waking – waking up more than 2 hours earlier than a scheduled wake-up time
 
If you have any type of above conditions more than 2 times a week for more than 1 month, you are considered having insomnia.
 
One fourth of People aged 60 years or older wakes up during the night.
 
What kinds of diseases are caused by insomnia?
 
If you don’t sleep, ghrelin which is a type of hormone is secreted, resulting in obesity.
 
People who have insomnia have double possibility to have diabetes and high blood pressure.
 
What is a drink effective to improve the quality of sleep?
 
A drink contains theanine which increases alpha-wave in the brain according to the recent research.
Alpha-wave increases at the time of relaxation so increase of alpha-wave can improve the quality of sleep.
 
According to a research, waking-up time during the night of people intaking theanine decreased by 40 % compared to people not intaking theanine. Rested feeling in the morning was also 20 % higher.
 
The drink containing theanine and effective to improve the quality of sleep is Green tea extracted by cold water.
 
It is important to extract green tea using not hot water but cold water.
When green tea is extracted by hot water, major extracted substances are caffeine, catechin, theanine and arginine. But when green tea is extracted by cold water, only theanine and arginine are extracted. Caffeine is hardly extracted.
 
0.5 degrees C (33 degrees F) is most effective, so it is better to use iced water to extract.
 
It is important to slowly extract green tea in iced water for 2 to 3 hours. It is effective to drink a glass of the green tea 1 hour before going to bed.

​

​Acute low back pain (Sciatica)
 
Male at the age of 40s. 4 days ago during work in the construction site, he had shooting pain in his right low back with some noise. After that, It became difficult to bend forward and backward. He couldn’t sit for a long time. There was pain in the back of his right thigh as well.
 
Treatment #1
 
I asked him to lie on his back and checked his pulse, abdomen and neck to make diagnosis. I found weakness in his Kidney energy and touched a needle on a Kidney point (Kidney 10) to strengthen his Kidney energy.
 
After confirming his pulse and abdomen became softer, I asked him to lie on his left side and palpated his low back and right thigh. There were pressure-pain points at L5, right SI joint, right buttocks and on and behind right IT band. Some needles on his head and some needles on his low back were inserted. After confirming that painful points disappeared, I asked him to stand up and check his back. Since he still felt pain when he bent backward, I inserted a needle on his upper back as touch-up treatment. When he rechecked his back by bending backward, he didn’t feel any pain, so I told him to come back the next day.
 
Treatment #2
 
The low back pain got better but he still felt some tightness in his right low back area. He strained too much to eliminate stool and had hemorrhoid.
 
The treatment for his low back pain was almost the same as the last treatment. I added heat therapy (moxa) for hemorrhoid and constipation (Lung 6 and Spleen 4). After the treatment, there was no pressure-pain points, and there was neither pain nor tightness by bending forward and backward. I told him to come back if he would still feel uncomfortable in his low back and thigh, and the treatment for the low back pain was finished.

Cozy Acupuncture in Salem, MA specializes in Pain Management such as Low back pain, Sciatica, Knee pain, Shoulder pain, headache, Menstrual pain.

When you need pain relief, we're here to help! Call today to set up your appointment: 617-584-8703 or Schedule Online.

Antiaging
 
A prefecture is the highest of all the prefectures in Japan about both the average life span and the healthy life expectancy in both men and women.
 
Average life span: Men: 80.88 years old, Women: 87.18 years old
Healthy life expectancy: Men: 79.46 years old, Women: 80.04 years old
 
What kind of food are the people in the prefecture eating?
 
There are 3 factors considered to have a healthy and long life.
 
1. Reducing salt
 
High intake of salt can cause high blood pressure and can result in sudden death due to stroke.
The prefecture’s countermeasure is encouraging the people to increase vegetables when they eat soup (miso soup). Increasing vegetables reduces the amount of soup which contains salt and vegetables are rich in potassium which excretes salt from the body.
 
2. Preventing cancer by eating Mushrooms
 
Mushrooms have the effect to suppress cancer.
Enoki mushrooms, Nameko mushrooms and beech mushrooms are known to prevent cancer.
 
3. Eating Agar which is the king of dietary fiber
 
Agar which is vegetable gelatin is rich in dietary fiber. (Fig. 1)
The dietary fiber of agar is very good to absorb water. 1 gram of agar absorbs more than 100 ml of water. It is important for health to eat dietary fiber containing a lot of water.
 
Health Effects of Agar
 
(1) Prevention of Obesity
Agar jelly (Fig. 2) containing a lot of water makes you feel full, preventing over eating which leads to obesity.
 
(2) Improvement of Constipation
 
Agar jelly containing a lot of water increases the amount of stools and makes the stools softer, so it is effective to improve constipation.
 
(3) Prevention of Rapid Elevation of Blood Sugar
 
Elevation of sugar in the body ages the body. Sugar damages the blood vessel from the inside of the blood vessel, causing aging of the blood vessel. Sugar also attaches collagens in the skin and damages them, causing flaccid skin.
 
(4) Decrease of LDL Cholesterol
 
Continuous eating of agar jelly decreases LDL cholesterol which is the cause of hardening of the blood vessel.
 
How much agar should be eaten a day?
 
It is effective to eat 2 grams of dried agar stick (about one fourth of a stick) a day.

​Osteoporosis
 
Women after menopause tend to have osteoporosis due to decrease of estrogen.
But these days there are women of 20s who have osteoporosis due to excessive limitation of meals to lose weight.
 
Why does aging cause osteoporosis?
 
Aging lowers the absorption of calcium from the intestines so the shortage of calcium is supplemented by the calcium in the bone. That makes the bones weak and brittle, causing osteoporosis.
 
Bone density is peak at age of 20-40 and after that it gradually lowers down.
 
Dairy products have the best absorption ratio of calcium but the ratio is only 40%.
But a food which increases the ratio of calcium absorption and prevents osteoporosis when it is taken together has been discovered recently.
 
The bone density of 60s women usually decreases 1 % within 6 months without doing anything special. In a research, 60s women whose bone density was low took milk-based drink with the food. 3 month later their bone density increased by 2.4 % on average.
 
The food effective to increase the absorption ratio of calcium is LEMON.
 
When citric acid contained in lemon bonds to calcium, the absorption ratio of calcium from the intestines gets better.
 
Lemon contains 6000 mg of citric acid per 100 grams (Apple: 20 mg, Mandarin orange: 1000 mg).
 
Simple recipe to take lemon
 
Lemon Lassi (Fig. 1)
 
Milk: 100 cc (3.38 oz)
Drinkable yogurt: 100 cc (3.38 oz)
Lemon juice: 2 tablespoons
Honey: 1.5 tablespoons
 
Mix all the above.
​

​Knee Pain
 
A lot of knee pain is caused by aging.
It is said that 60 % of women whose age is more than 60 in Japan suffer from knee pain.
Overuse of the knee for years decreases the thickness of the cartridge.
Wearing out of the cartridge makes the bones directly rubbed each other, causing inflammation.
 
The burden on the knees when human walks is 3 times bigger than his or her weight.
 
There is a food which prevents and improves the knee pain.
This food doesn’t contain either chondroitin or glucosamine which are famous for knee problems.
The food is ginger.
 
Gingerol contained in ginger has analgesic action and anti-inflammatory action.
 
If you have knee pain, it is recommended to eat 60 grams of ginger a day.
If it is dried ginger, one tenth of amount, 6 grams per day is good to take because water in ginger is removed and the substance is concentrated. (Fig. 1)
 
Gingerol changes to shogaol when ginger is heated up, but the effect on the knee pain doesn’t change.
 
Ginger is effective for not only knee pain but also any joint pain.
​

Cold Intolerance

There are a lot of people who complain about cold intolerance in summer due to AC.
​
What is the cause of cold intolerance?
 
Cold intolerance is caused by stress, cold air or other various factors that contract the blood vessels, the blood flow decreases, the blood doesn’t reach the tip of the fingers and the toes, and they become cold.
 
Why do more women have cold intolerance than men?
 
Because women have less muscles than men so basically women’s metabolism is lower than men’s. that means women produce less heat than men. That is why women tend to have cold intolerance.
 
To prevent and improve cold intolerance, improvement of blood flow is important.
The substance which improves blood flow is citrulline.
 
The food rich in citrulline is Water Melon.
 
Water melon has the effect to cool the body.
But the part of water melon rich in citrulline is whitish part between the skin and red part. (Fig.1)
Rec part also contain citrulline but the content is more in whitish part.
 
The amount of citrulline effective to improve cold intolerance is 800 mg which is one sixth of whole water melon.
 
Recommended recipe (for 1 person) (Fig. 2)
Whitish part of water melon cutting into fine pieces: 100 grams (3.5 oz)
Grinded white sesame: 1 table spoon (sesame lignan contained in sesame makes blood flow better)
Grated ginger: 1 tea spoon
Japanese noodle soup (3 times concentrated): 1 tea spoon
Mix the above materials.