Biopuncture
What is Biopuncture?
Where are these injections given?
What about the safety and efficacy
of this technique?
How does Biopuncture work then?
When should my physician suggest the
use of biopuncture?
When is Biopuncture not appropriate?
Conclusion
What is Biopuncture?
This page has been produced in order to inform you about the possibilities and the limits of a new technique in natural medicine. Biopuncture is a new therapy consisting of injecting biological products (like herbs and homeopathic products) into specific spots.
Most of these injections are given under the skin or into the muscles. Although these products have been used for several decades, the specific name biopuncture was created to give more exposure to the possibilities of this particular technique, both for the general public and for doctors.
Where are these injections given?
Most people - especially those who are apprehensive about injections because they may have had bad experiences with injections in their childhood - are surprised how easily and quickly these injections are given. In fact, these injections cannot be compared with the ‘usual’ injections given in conventional medicine. They are not as painful as a ‘normal’ injection because the needle used is very fine and the quantity injected is very small. Most of them are given into or just under the skin, others are given into specific muscle points. One does not give the injections arbitrarily, but the injections are administered in carefully chosen spots. The place where the doctor injects the product is as important as the product itself.
A lot of these injections are given at more than one spot during each session. For example, if your doctor wants to work on your liver, he or she will give about 7 little injections under the skin on your abdomen. When you have pain in your elbow, your physician will look for several painful spots in your arm muscles, and inject each of them in one session. So in most cases, several little injections are given in a specific zone (or in several areas) of the body at each session.
You should, however, remember that since the products used in biopuncture are diluted, they are not as ‘strong’ as conventional medication (e.g. painkillers, cortisone), the effects are not as noticeable in the short term.
This means that you may need 3 or more sessions before any improvement becomes apparent. And if you have had problems for several months or even years, it means looking for deeper causes and working on these. As a result, you may need ten sessions or even more to feel better. When you realize that these products are natural products that do not show any major side effects, you may be motivated to be more patient than usual. In the long run, however, the results of this form of natural medicine are longer lasting because your physician tries to work on a deeper level.
What about the safety and efficacy of this technique?
It is clear that the physician who decides to use biopuncture, will always do so according to the latest technical standards. That is his or her duty as a medical professional. This includes a correct injection technique, and of course the use of sterile disposable material.
It is true that most ampoules only have low concentrations of plant extracts. As a result, serious side effects are excluded. So that issue is not a reason to worry about with this type of therapy. Additionally, the ampoules used in biopuncture are manufactured by companies that can guarantee the production quality of their products.
How does Biopuncture work then?
Your doctor injects these natural products to stimulate your own defense systems. That is the major goal. In other words: the body is invited to start healing itself. In many cases, this is sufficient to get the body in balance again.
But there is much more to it than that. Local injections can also be given to stimulate the local blood circulation, and to support the ongoing inflammatory processes, if that is what seems to be necessary. This can be very useful when treating sports injuries. Some of the products are designed to relax muscles. They are used, for example, when dealing with neck pain and low back pain. Even pain in the knee or in the hip region can have a muscular origin and can sometimes be treated without touching the joint itself.
When should my physician suggest the use of biopuncture?
Biopuncture cannot heal all your medical problems. This is not a miracle therapy. It is up to your doctor to decide what can be treated, and what can’t.
The majority of patients choose to be treated with biopuncture because they are in pain and do not support the use of conventional painkillers. However, it is important to realize that biopuncture cannot ‘take away’ the pain as with conventional medication. Pain is seen as an important ‘signal’ from your body that something is going wrong. This means that if pain can be alleviated without prescribing painkillers, there is good reason to conclude that the deeper cause of that particular pain has been eliminated. This means however, that it may take a few treatments before you actually feel better. If your pain is recent, it may be treated in two or three sessions. If the pain has been there for months or years, it may take 10 or 20 sessions.
You may even notice that after the first treatments (especially the day after the injection) you feel a little worse. This can be due to the traumatic effect of the needle injecting your soft tissues, but in most cases this happens because the healing processes are being activated. This is called the reaction phase. In other words, your body is working on the cause of the problem and that may produce some discomfort. But when you understand that this means that real healing is on its way, you will be willing to accept these minor reactions in the beginning of the treatment.
Most physicians use biopuncture for minor orthopedic problems. Neck pain and back pain have already been mentioned, but one can also treat sciatica, ankle sprain, frozen shoulder, Achilles tendonitis, sports injuries, tennis elbow, golf elbow, etc. using biopuncture. Again, it has to be said – especially in chronic and difficult cases – that one has to go through a reaction phase where one experiences even more pain than before treatment. This is especially true during the first two or three sessions, until a gradual recovery of the body defense systems and healing systems brings the functions of that area back to normal. Only then will the pain be better.
However, Biopuncture is not just used for pain problems. An area of treatment worth noting is that of allergies and inflammations. For example, one can treat asthma, eczema and hay fever. And even patients with arthritis, bronchitis, cystitis and sinusitis can be treated with this technique. When a physician is experienced in the technique, he or she can also treat you for migraine, osteoarthritis, tension headache, Crohn’s disease, colitis, Cluster headaches, neuralgia, etc.
The use of biotherapeutic injections is interesting for those patients who have tried conventional medicine but have had no success, or for those who have had to stop taking conventional medication because of side effects. It is an interesting healing technique for those patients who want to avoid an operation (for example for sciatica or sinusitis). In some patients it may be advantageous to combine the conventional approach together with biopuncture. Many people still believe that one has to stop conventional treatments when choosing natural medicine. This is not true. When you are being treated with biopuncture, you just continue the medication you were already taking. In case of doubt, always contact your physician first for professional advice. Each case should be taken into account individually, of course.
When is Biopuncture not appropriate?
Let us be clear about it: biopuncture cannot heal you from cancer, a heart attack or AIDS. Nor is it appropriate to treat you with only biopuncture when you have high blood pressure, diabetes, depression or epilepsy. When serious damage has already occurred, biopuncture will be simply too late to reverse the damage and bring the body back into balance again. That is why it is so important to first have a diagnosis before starting with biopuncture.
Conclusion
Biopuncture is a safe and efficient technique in complementary medicine. It uses biotherapeutic injections to stimulate the natural self-healing capacities of your body. It is worth considering if it can help you with your personal health problems.
Used with kind permission of Dr. Jan Kersschot