The inextricable bond between body and soul suggests the necessity of allowing the patient to speak in any clinical services. The patient has thus the opportunity to express their experiences and their individual and unique way of interconnecting the unconscious with the suffering of the body.

Findings from clinical cases and trials show that the physical symptom, especially in terms of chronic pain, is linked to the patient's psyche and has a direct impact on the patient’s quality of life and on their relationships with their family, friends and work environment.

It is quite often that the patient delays contacting a specialist in order to seek treatment. Consequently, a physical symptom that has not been treated as it should have been inevitably leads to chronicity that will emotionally burden the patient through a vicious circle of anxiety, depression, sleep disturbances and eventually a worsening of the physical symptom.

We can all realize that the pain cannot be objectively measured. It is a subjective experience as pain is directly linked to the enjoyment of the body. There are, therefore, many cases where medication is not sufficient and a psychological intervention is deemed necessary.

 

Neuropathic Pain is defined by the International Association for the Study of Pain (IASP) as the pain caused by damage or disease of the Somatosensory Nervous System in the:        

The peripheral neuropathic pain is caused by a primary damage to the peripheral nervous system. The causes of peripheral neuropathic pain include:

The central neuropathic pain derives from the Central Nervous System. The causes of central neuropathic pain include:

Neuropathic pain is a clinical symptom that requires the presence of a clear damage or disease that meets specific neurological diagnostic criteria.

 

 

Neuropathic pain is very common, resulting from studies at international level showing a prevalence of 7%.

Painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy and postherpetic neuralgia are two of the most common types of neuropathic pain. It is estimated that 11-26% of patients with diabetes develop painful diabetic peripheral neuropathy. Among patients with chronic back pain, an estimated 37% experiences neuropathic pain. Neuropathic pain occurs in one third of patients with cancer, affects 8% of patients after stroke and 75% of patients with spinal cord injury.

 

Patients usually have a "paradoxical" sensory perception of pain as the predominant symptom accompanied by reduced sensations caused by the damage. The co-existence of signs of hypersensitivity and insensitivity is common to neurological disorders. Instead, pain as a subjective aesthetic symptom is not visible, it is difficult to measure it and includes psychological and emotional components.

 

The neuropathic pain syndrome usually consists of a combination:

 

Symptoms are described by the patient as stinging, burning, prickling, numb or a sensation of electric shock.
May be:

Continuous or intermittent.

Induced or stimulated by a stimulus (i.e., occurring in response to a stimulus, in an exaggerated manner)

Hyperalgesia: Excessive pain

Allodynia: pain from stimuli that would not normally cause pain.

Paresthesia: Pathological sensation often described as "numbness" and it is not unpleasant.

Dysesthesia: Pathological sensation often described as "numbness" and it is always unpleasant.

Hyperpathia: A painful symptom characterized by a pathological painful reaction to a stimulus, especially a recurring one.

 

 

 

Patients with neuropathic pain often have:

 

 

A detailed patient’s medical history, a complete neurological assessment and, if necessary, hematological, biochemical and imaging tests are required. Our goal is to.

 

It is worth noting that the treatment of Neuropathic Pain is a challenge for the scientific community, as it is a field that in the recent years has been investigated in order for neurologists to fully understand the underlying mechanisms of pain induction and why its treatment requires individualization. Depending on the type of the disease, there are the options of oral medication, invasive injection therapies and the latest invasive neurostimulation therapies. Most important, however, remains the correct diagnosis and personalization of the treatment that in all cases should consider not only the type of the condition but also the particular characteristics of each patient.

Acupuncture is one of the oldest healing techniques. It is an ancient therapeutic method, which is used even nowadays, and has undergone many modifications and improvements over the centuries. It has its roots in the Ancient China and is based on the observation that energy pathways related to the paths of basic nerves or groups neurons play an important role in the functioning of the human body. There are specific points on these energy pathways that can be stimulated by inserting the needles in the skin and thus we can improve the disordered flow of energy with therapeutic effect.

 

Acupuncture has been established internationally as an integrated therapy system. It has no side effects and is completely harmless when applied by properly trained doctors who strictly adhere to its implementation rules. Extremely fine needles are inserted in specific parts of the body, known as "acupuncture points". The needles used are individual and are destroyed after use.

 

Acupuncture indications are reported in detail by the World Health Organization (WHO) Chronicle 34, 249, 1980). Acupuncture is applied alone or combined with medication, always according to the decision of the physician who has the responsibility of the entire treatment. The purpose includes:

 

 

There is no doubt that acupuncture is becoming more and more common in the developed western societies among the circles of the scientific community. Furthermore, 64% of American Medical Universities include acupuncture in the medical students' training program. In recent years, more than 5,000 medical studies on Acupuncture have been written in western journals. The volume of work done with strict scientific and methodological criteria increases daily, resulting in a fuller statistical record of the effectiveness of acupuncture. The progress of neurophysiology and neuropharmacology and the development of new imaging techniques show the limits of the method. The indications, contraindications and side effects of acupuncture are recorded and strict rules are established regarding the treatment process. Today, the scientific approach of acupuncture allows doctors to apply acupuncture based on modern techniques.

 

 

The Greek Government, by decisions of the Ministry of Health - Welfare and Social Insurance "... accepts Acupuncture as a method of treatment which is applied only by doctors ..." Protocol No. of the Υ7/οικ./4270/25-6-96) and adds that "... the application of Acupuncture should be done exclusively by physicians who have experience and have been trained in acupuncture..." (574/Α4/1191/21-2-1980).

 

 

Acupuncture has no side effects and is considered extremely harmless when practiced by physicians trained to adhere to the rules of its practice. The needles used are disposable and, prior to their placement, the acupuncture point is cleaned with an antiseptic solution. Many studies in thousands of patients have confirmed its safety when properly applied.