The examination begins with a postural analysis to help identifying the cause of muscle and joint pain, followed by visceral-somatic reflexes testing to help identify internal conditions.

All relevant imaging and blood test reports should be submitted prior to appointment for them to be reviewed but Dr Walsh, but he does not rely solely on the X-rays and MRI for diagnosis. They are excellent to show in detail where the pain and inflammation is, for example; a bulged disc or degenerative joint but they do not show why their is pressure or degeneration.

Muscles and tendons move the bones, two bones that form a joint are held in their correct alignment by the muscles, tendons, ligaments and fascia i.e soft tissue, they are the why, It is the soft tissue that moves the bones and holds joints in their correct alignment.

Muscle tension, knots, scar tissue and guarding from internal organ dysfunction causes the muscle and tendons to shorten pulling the bones they attach to out of alignment, eventually over time the disc or cartilage will bulge, tear, or degenerate.

To find out the cause of pain or misalignment of joint, it is required to check the soft tissue that control the joints, soft tissue is NOT be seen on X-ray, C-T or M.R.I , they can be found with a postural analysis, testing range of motion, and feeling the soft tissue.

Joints can be misaligned from muscle knots, tension and guarding caused by mental stress or a protective response from an internal organ or gland called the visceral-somatic reflex (viseceral-cutaneous reflex).

Only treating pain with medications is a tempory measure that allows a person to ignore the warning signs that some thing is wrong. There may be nothing seen on a x-ray ot MRI, and told to take a medication, then over time pain develops more or transferes to new area, take a stronger medication, time goes on, pain starts returning, try injections, that wears off.

Eventually X-Ray and MRI will find damage to the joints like degeneration, bulged or ruptured disc, now they are ready for surgery.

The Organs and glands of the body when under stress cause specific skeletal muscles on the body to tighten and guard to protect the underlying organ, for example when a person has appendicitis the abdominal muscle on the lower right abdomen over the appendix will become guarded, tight and painful when pressed.

This mechanism of the nervous system is in all people and animals that have complex nervous systems, it is called a visceral-cutaneous or visceral-somatic reflex and is not just restricted to diagnose severe inflammation of the appendix.

Most organs and glands have specific groups of muscles onthe neck, abdomen and back that will tighten or guard in response to even mild distress of the organ or gland, even when the dysfunction does not yet show on blood tests or imaging.

The muscles on the abdomen that tighten to protect theinternal organs don’t usually show any discomfort or pain unless pressure is applied, sometimes referred pain from the organ is felt elsewhere. For example, a heart attack it will cause pain down the left arm, another example isinflammation of the Gall bladder causes right shoulder and neck pain.

Many times, a person may be complaining of chronic right neck and shoulder pain with x-rays showing bulged cervical discs in the neck, the basic assumption is the pain is caused from the discs but frequently it is referred pain from an over worked and stressed liver that causes the muscles in the neck to pull the the vertabrea out of alignmnet bulging the discs.

During the examination we can test to find out if the pain is coming from a trauma, postural imbalance or referred pain from an organ or gland, testing muscle reflexes has been used for hundreds and ofyears to help physicians diagnosed or assess the internal organs and glands but it is not commonly used today due to decrease in hands on training and for the trend to favor technology.

Other standard vital signs like blood pressure, pulse andtemperature may also be taken.

Checking the movement of joints, feeling the soft tissue for inflammation, pain, knots, and muscle guarding from organ reflexes is important to help diagnose the cause of many musculoskeletal and internal conditions but also to used to test if acupuncture will work.

Different acupuncture points that are “active” or tender can be briefly stimulated with pressure or a small electrical current to see or feel which point gives most improvement to movement, pain or reflex guarding, it also gives an indication of how much change can be expected in a treatment.

There are many other factors that will determine how many treatments are needed but when treating internal conditions scientific research and experiments have clearly shown that by applying acupuncture to only these “active” acupuncture points can the acupuncture stimulate a diseased organ to physically and functional repair itself.

Many people are concerned if acupuncture is painful, the answer is it can be but does not have to be.

Traditional Chinese Medicine style acupuncture does require the practitioner to twist the needles or thrust them in or out to obtain “De Qi” or a small pain response to work effectively, this technique is also called "Dry needling" by Physical Therapists.

Science-based acupuncture uses acupressure to find and test the most “active” and effective acupuncture points first, even light pressure on these ponts will show immediate improvement and strong stimulation is not necessary, also less needles are needed to get an effect.

The active acupressure points may be sensitive to touch but needling is painless if high quality needles with desensitizing guide tubes are used, Acupuncture Clermont only uses needles from Korea and Japan.

After needles are applied, the person is left to relax in private room with a heat lamp, soft music and the lights down for 20 minutes with a pager to call if uncomfortable, the needles are then removed the reflexes and any pain are check again to assess the level of improvement.

During acupuncture most people go into a deep state of relaxation like an induced meditation or even fall asleep, a person should not feel any discomfort from the acupuncture at all, they may feel gentle electrical currents through their body, tingling and heaviness around the acupuncture points.

There are times that a person can have an emotional release during or after treatment, also feelings of euphoric can occur, but mostly felling relaxed and in less pain.

A treatment plan will be discussed with stretching/exercises and possibly a herbal formula may also be prescribed if necessary to help improve treatment outcomes, most severe or chronic conditions longer than 12 months will require at least 6 treatments.

If pain or symptoms are severe treatments repeated twice a week until out of severe pain, but most individuals require 1 treatment per week until symptoms are gone, some conditions requiring monthly maintenance.

In the beginning of care if treatments are repeated twice a week, significantly faster results with less over all treatments are acheived as a opossed to once per week.

Dr. Walsh may also recommend an organic herbal formula, only 1 formula at a time is prescribed, the formulas contain several ingredients that have all been tested to work safely together to treat many symptom/conditions at once. There is no need to take many concentrated natural and synthetic supplements that stress the digestion, liver, kidneys and the wallet.

All Chinese herbal formulas used have been tested for heavy metals and other toxins and manufactured in the U.S.A by F.D.A & G.M.P approved faculties.

Ordering blood tests and imaging is requested if deemed necessary for further information to diagnose or treatment does not change the condition within a set period of time.

Follow up acupuncture treatments start by checking the progress of the movement, pain or reflexes from the first treatment, then acupressure testing is performed to find the best points to treat the concern, needles are applied and left for 20 minutes with or without electrical stimulation.

After the needles are removed the reflexes, movement and pain are re-checked then more acupressure is done to find if any more effect can be achieved by placing a small micro-needle (semi-permanent needle) into the point to provide painless stimulation to get stronger longer lasting benefit.

 
These tiny needles are most commonly placed in the ear but they can also be used on the body for up to 5 days, they are water proof and are easily removed by the patient.

Semi-permanent needles are included with the treatment because they increase benifits and reduce total number of treatments needed helping Acupuncture Clermont to give the most effective treatments.

Herbal formulas and vitamin injections may also be recommended at an additional charge.