Acupuncture and Shockwave Therapy for Managing Chronic Neck and Shoulder Pain: Josh’s Story

Josh is a thirty-six-year-old veteran and physical therapist who was injured during active military duty many years ago. His injuries caused chronic neck and shoulder pain, for which he sought treatment during his time in the service. While in the military, he went to physical therapy and received massages, dry needling, and acupuncture treatments, which he says were all beneficial.

After that, Josh says, “I got deployed some more, got out of the military, got my DPT, started practicing, and life just got busy. I was doing what I could in my physical therapist wheelhouse, like trying to do my own shoulder manipulations, neck manipulations, self-massage, and of course, strength and conditioning exercises to help the musculature in that area. But with the areas that my pain is in (neck and shoulder), it’s very difficult to really get to those areas by myself.”

Over time, Josh says the pain grew to a higher level than he could tolerate on a daily basis. Once the pain crossed a certain threshold, he was forced to rely on medications like Voltaren topical gel and ibuprofen. In addition, cervical radiculopathy would cause him to be more prone to migraines, and he took migraine medication to manage those. “I’m a physical therapist, and I don’t love being on medication daily,” he says.

“I was able to handle it for a significant amount of time, but it just got too intense for me,” Josh says. “And it triggered my memory of how much acupuncture helped in the past, so I thought I’d try that again.”

Josh reached out to the V.A. about his service-related disability benefits. Once they established that acupuncture was a viable option for him, the VA referred him to their in-house acupuncturist, who had a long waiting list. “There’s a stipulation that they have to offer timely care,” he says, “so it was lucky for me that they were busy. They referred me to Garrett Krause. I looked him up, saw that he was reasonably located, and decided to give him a shot. And lo and behold, he worked his wonders.”

Josh received a combination of dry needling, acupuncture, cupping, and shockwave therapy. “He was able to get the pain back down to a reasonable baseline,” Josh says. “The pain is still there, but it’s much more manageable. After my first course of treatment with him, I went back to the V.A. and I’m hoping to keep it going to keep the pain at bay.”

Regarding the types of treatment Josh has received at Queen City Acupuncture and Wellness, Josh says, “Garrett’s like a one-stop ship when it comes to different physical modalities. He’s got a lot of tools in his toolbox. What I really like is that it’s not a clinician-driven approach. He’s willing to hear you out and try different things, and then he’s willing to hear your feedback. It’s a collaboration, and I think that’s his strongest thing. He wants you to feel better, and he will try different things to see what helps.”

For Josh, “Acupuncture is like getting to the itch you just can’t scratch,” he says. “When you’re trying to open up cerebral fluid and inflammation or getting to those trigger points, Garrett knows how to get to those places.”

“Being able to work with, and on, other health care professionals is such a fun experience,” says Garrett.  “With Josh, it was an easy assessment of which muscles we needed to address, and he is a very compliant patient!  While we are consistently helping others, we need to get our own treatment, so we can continue to be the best version of ourselves for our patients!”