The Acupuncture Outsider Podcast
We cover motor points, trigger points, myofascial slings, segmental treatments, electric stimulation and many other things.
Achilles Tendinitis and Plantar Fasciitis are Cousins
The Achilles Tendon and the Plantar Fascia are connected anatomically by something they call the S-Link.
Biomechanically they end up being very similar in how they get injured and how they should be treated for lasting results.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Open Scissors Syndrome and Chronic Low Back Pain
Is chronic low back pain a symptom of poor breathing mechanics?
See what you think.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Baxter Nerve Entrapment is often misdiagnosed as Plantar Fasciitis
Learn how to spot a Baxter Nerve Entrapment and Functional Acupuncture can relieve it in 1 or 2 sessions.
I also talked about the Functional approach to keep it from coming back.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Three Dry Needling Cases this Week and How To Get the Best Results
Dry Needling takes skill, good assessment, good patient communication and the confidence to see it through.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Two ACNES Case Follow-ups and more Moti Physio Cases
I got to see both women who had what I thought was ACNES and was able to hear what happened after treatment.
I also have now been using the Moti Physio for about 7 weeks and have learned how to improve the accuracy of the scan.
Here are a couple cases where the scan was useful for many reasons.
Online Courses:
https://richardhazel.podia.com
If you want to know more about the Moti Physio you can see more h...
AC vs DC devices (Take Two)
I removed last week's episode because I made too many errors in talking about red leads and black leads on e-stim devices.
This episode covers the difference between Direct Current and Alternating Current, the advantages of each and the safety reasons for Electric Stimulation Acupuncture devices to be AC Biphasic.
I talk about the differences between the Pointers, the ITO ES-130 and the Pantheon and a little about microcurrent.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
DC vs AC and Pointer Excel and ITO vs Pantheon - What are the possiblities?
Not all electric stimulation is the same.
There is a good reason electric stimulation devices produce a biphasic alternating current instead of a direct current.
I went down a rabbit hole on this and I'm going to take you with me.
NOTE: at one point I misspoke and said "black lead" when I meant "red lead". Black lead is negative and goes on the motor point. Red is positive and can go on the motor point or something else.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Moti Physio Research Review
For the most part, the research comparing Moti Physio to the gold standard EOS 3D X-ray was very good. There were a couple areas that were only rated at Fair and I have my opinion about why that was.
Chiropractors may still need an X-ray before treatment, but then there's huge value to using Moti regularly (no radiation) for monitoring.
Here are my thoughts for Functional Acupuncturists after another week of using the Moti Physio.
The paper I looked at most was:
Validity and Reliability of a Non-Radiographic Postural An...
My Honest Review of the Moti Physio
I've been using the Moti Physio Advanced Posture Scan for a couple weeks and here are my thoughts, observations and opinions.
If you want to know more about the Moti Physio you can see more here:
https://www.alignwellus.com/
My Online Courses on Podia: https://richardhazel.podia.com
ACNES - This Cutaneous Nerve Entrapment Often Gets Missed By MDs
It can be very distressing to have a fixed pain in the abdomen that feels like an internal organ pain and after all the tests, no one knows what to do about it.
ACNES should be known by everyone who treats pain.
I covered this in 2025 in my Sydney course. "Unlock the Mystery of Chronic Pain"
https://richardhazel.podia.com/peripheral-nerve-entrapments
Key Muscles for Hip Joint Centration
These are muscles you need to stay on top of even if they don't test weak yet. This is how we keep people from having hip issues in the future and they are muscles we need to treat when they do have hip pain. You'll see this dysfunction even after a hip replacement surgery. You can change the joint (hardware) but if the software (muscles) is still faulty, there will be pain.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
The Always-On Function of the Rotator Cuff Muscles
We test the rotator cuff muscles for their internal/external rotation and abduction strength but they have a very important Always-On function too.
Just like the scapular stabilizers, the rotator cuff needs to dynamically stabilize so that other muscles like the deltoids and pectoralis muscles can have power.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
We are in the last days of the Black Friday double discount sale.
Take 20% off any course or bundle of courses until the end of 2025
BLACKFRIDAY20 at checkout.
Bundles of...
Facial and Eye Symptoms that are coming from the Neck and the Occipital Nerves
Light sensitivity, watering eyes, ptosis, sinus pain, facial pain and migraine are all symptoms that can come from neck muscles via the TCC (Trigeminocervical Complex)
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Black Friday Discount ends at the end of the year.
BLACKFRIDAY20 for 20% all courses and bundles of courses.
Treating Pain is a Failing Strategy - Fix the Movement Pattern!
Most acupuncturists can treat pain. But the pain comes back.
We need to stop obsessing about disc bulges and MRIs and start looking at the actual mechanical problem that is leading to pain.
Fix what's tight then strengthen what's inhibited and then retrain the movement pattern.
Janda already did the hard work and most are just ignoring it and treating the site of pain.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
BLACKFRIDAY20 at checkout for 20% off until the end of the year.
Functional vs Structural - The Genius of Vladimir Janda for Treating Chronic Pain
Most people over 50 have disc bulges and degeneration and are not in pain.
30% of people in their 20s have disc bulges and are not in pain.
Janda would say that the disc is being injured by postural issues due to muscle imbalances and also because of dysfunctional movement patterns caused by those Upper and Lower Crossed Syndromes.
Treating a disc bulge only gives temporary relief. The underlying sheering force caused by a short tight psoas or a forward head placement will start to injury adjacent discs and will perpetuate pain.
Fix th...
Dry Needling College Athletes for Patellar Tendon and Achilles Pain
Sometimes Dry Needling is the best and fastest way to get full function back and to relieve pain. On these two college football players the electric stimulation acupuncture was barely touching their pain. Dry Needling give me instant and satisfying results.
Don't Forget, I'm running a 20% Discount on all Courses and Bundles of Courses (already discounted at 20%) until the end of the year.
Use the Code BLACKFRIDAY20 at checkout (look for the link to enter the code)
It's a great chance to get 20% already discounted bundles for huge savings on courses tha...
Sarcopenia is a Vascular Disease
I'm not diagnosing or treating anything and I'm not telling anyone what they should do or what they should tell their patients to do.
I'm sharing the research so that people can talk to their doctors about possible ways to reverse sarcopenia and fibrotic muscle and regain healthy fast-twitch muscle.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Black Friday discount on all courses
BLACKFRIDAY20 at checkout for 20% off courses and bundles of courses.
Unexpected Result While Treating Post-Stroke Symptoms 20 years Later
This was a little mind-blowing to see this week. I was treating someone who had a stroke 20 years ago and then this happened!
HINT: There was a musculocutaneous nerve entrapment I wasn't expecting to see.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Why We Shouldn't Trust a 5/5 MMT on an Athlete (And what we should do instead)
The 0-5 scale on Manual Muscle Tests was created in 1915 to find neuromuscular issues in paretic patients (like people with polio).
The MMT should not be trusted for Sports Optimization and Injury Prevention in Athletes.
Here's what the research says. (Pro tip: The MMT is more of a test of the strength of the examiner, than of the athlete)
Online Courses (that never expire) https://richardhazel.podia.com
Pain above the Knee is Very Common for Athletes - And This is What Resolves It
I rarely see pain above the knee on my average patients, but I see it very often on athletes, especially jumping sports.
Here's what I've found to work and what I think is the underlying cause.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Sports Performance Optimization for Overhead Sports Part 2
Part 2 of the Kinetic Chain is the shoulder elbow and wrist in the acceleration phase of pitching and the deceleration phase (where the injuries are more common)
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Sports Performance Optimization for Over-Head Sports: Part One -The Kinetic Chain
Ground Reaction Force (GRF)
Hip-To-Shoulder Separation (HTS)
The Anterior Oblique Sling
The Posterior Oblique Sling
Setting the groundwork for Part Two about Baseball Pitching
Online Course: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Hip Optimization for Athletes - Part Three - The Transverse Plane
The Hip Internal and External Rotators are important for agility to rapidly change direction and have an important role to play in proprioception and to avoid knee injury.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Courses Never Expire.
Optimizing the Hip Complex for Sports Performance - Part Two - The Frontal Plane
The Abductors and the Adductors of the Hip are essential for sports with lateral movement, cutting and changing direction with Power and Agility.
Optimizing the Lateral Stabilizers will also help to avoid knee and ankle injuries.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Bilateral Foot Pain and Numbness on a Football Player
Interesting case this week of bilateral foot pain and numbness on an American Football Player.
I walk through my thinking, my way to assess and confirm my assumptions and the results mid-way through and the adjustment I made to get to 100% pain-free.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
SEPT20 all month for 20% off all courses.
Optimizing The Hip Complex for Sports Performance: Part One - The Sagittal Plane
Part One of Three
How we can optimize Sports Performance by working on the Lumbopelvic Hip Complex in all Planes of Movement
Today it's about Triple Extension
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
SEPT20 for 20% all Courses until the end of Sept 2025
Back from Barcelona and an Interosseous Foot Injury
Thank you to everyone who made our Barcelona Acupuncture Congress a success!
I give a brief recap of what I talked about.
Then a college Volleyball player had an injury of the interosseous muscles of the foot.
I'm running a 20% Discount for September SEPT20 at checkout for all courses.
My courses never expire!
https://richardhazel.podia.com
We Can Treat Most Thumb Arthritis and Pain Quickly with Acupuncture
Most thumb pain can be fixed really quickly with electric stimulation acupuncture on the motor points of the thumb muscles. Here's what I do for thumb pain.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
This Trigger Point Causes Sciatic Symptoms in the Lower Leg
I've been showing this to people in live seminars for years but I'm finally willing to say with certainty that this is repeatable and reliable for relieving the lower leg symptoms from sciatica.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Functional Acupuncture for Sports Performance
Until now, sports medicine has been highly influenced by the MDs who treat injury so we often follow suit as acupuncturists.
Functional Acupuncture is always looking at the whole picture. We can treat more than just the injury. We can look up the chain or into the past to find healthy muscles to optimize and improve sports performance and avoid injury.
Learn more about Functional Acupuncture with my Online Courses on Podia: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Interesting and Persistent Knee Pain in a College Football Player
I'm working on a tough case of knee pain on a college football player and I'm telling you here how I went about treating and adjusting my treatment as new information became clear.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
The New Peripheral Nerve Entrapment Course is here:
https://richardhazel.podia.com/peripheral-nerve-entrapments
Two New Cases of Hand Tingling and Numbness
I very likely resolved two cases of hand tingling and numbness in 1 or 2 sessions.
NTOS and some other interesting trigger points.
CORRECTION: I was speaking off the cuff when I called the Lower Trapezius an Downward Rotator. It is, of course, an Upward Rotator. So much for the theory of Lower Trapzius increasing compression with the help of Pec Minor and Levator Scap! Sorry about that.
The new Peripheral Nerve Entrapment course is on Podia with a discount until the end of July. Use the code...
Self-Treatment for Low Back Pain Prevention (and sometimes acute back pain)
In this episode I share my own self treatment to prevent low back pain with point location guidance for each point.
This is the same protocol I use for pregnant women with sciatica or SIJ pain (without the electric stimulation of course).
I'm currently running a sale on the new Peripheral Nerve Entrapment course on Podia. The Unlock the Mystery of Chronic Pain course that was recorded in Sydney this year.
JULY100 at checkout for $100 off. Good until the end of July.
https://richardhazel.podia.com<...
Maybe we don't need GLP-1 drugs, maybe we just need to walk more?
I think I've been exercise resistant much of the time in spite of working out and eating right.
Dr. Coyle shows us that we need at least 8500 steps a day for an hour workout to have the metabolic fat-burning effects we want it to have.
Coyle EF, Burton HM, Satiroglu R. Inactivity Causes Resistance to Improvements in Metabolism After Exercise. Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 2022 Apr 1;50(2):81-88. doi: 10.1249/JES.0000000000000280. Erratum in: Exerc Sport Sci Rev. 2022 Jul 01;50(3):172. doi: 10.1249/JES.0000000000000295. PMID: 35025844.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
(The new...
The Progression of Normal Muscle Tone to Muscle Contracture to Myofascial Trigger Points
It's important to know the progression of muscle fiber dysfunction to better understand how to treat and how long it may take to correct the problem.
The analysis of current research provides substantial evidence supporting the progression of muscle fiber dysfunction as a significant contributor to musculoskeletal pain, aligning with the hypothesized sequence: sustained muscle tone leading to long-term muscle fiber shortening, which subsequently culminates in painful myofascial trigger points.
The initial phase of this progression is rooted in the transition from normal physiological muscle tone to a state of pathological hypertonia or c...
Are you missing this muscle when treating mid-back pain?
I almost never hear discussion about this muscle for midback pain.
My two cents about this muscle and how to assess and treat it.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
A Complex Case of Nerve Entrapment Pain (Post-Surgery)
I'm walking you through how I assessed and treated a complex case of cluneal, sciatic and possibly pudendal nerve symptoms. As well as managing the patient's anxiety when symptoms flare.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
Interesting Sural Nerve Entrapment Case, Possibly Caused by Cipro
Have you seen neuropathy and chronic myalgia that patients believe happened after taking Cipro? I've seen it several times.
This might be one of those cases.
Best sleep he's had in 20 years after the first treatment of what looked like Sural Nerve Entrapment.
I'm covering the Sural Nerve Entrapment in Sydney at the end of March.
https://chinesemedicineeducation.com/product/motor-point-acupuncture-trigger-point-needling-nerve-entrapments/
Online Courses on Podia: https://richardhazel.podia.com
For the month of March (my birthday month) I'm giving discounts.
20% off any...
A case of Neurogenic Thoracic Outlet and Tinnitus
I had an interesting case this week of NTOS and he also had tinnitus that improved from the treatment.
Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com
IG: @richhazel
Crooked and the Back Pain Industrial Complex
The book Crooked by Cathryn Jackobson Ramin is a must-read book for anyone who works with back pain patients or is considering a back surgery for low back pain.
I talk about research the author mentioned and some other research that will blow your mind.
Crooked is available on Audible if you prefer an audio book.
https://www.cathrynjakobsonramin.com/
The Value of Magnetic Resonance Imaging of The Lumbar Spine to Predict Low-Back Pain in Asymptomatic Subjects
The catastrophization effects of an MR...
