The Acupuncture Outsider Podcast

It's been a few years since I shared my protocol for treating low back pain.   This is a much more detailed step-by-step of how I first assess by talking to the patient, then palpation, then treating, then re-assessing, then treating trigger points and re-assessing.    Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com Instagram: @richhazel   

Imagine the pain he must have been in with two nerve entrapments that hit around the same time! How I assessed and treated to confirm the issues (resolved both in about 10 minutes)   Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com IG: @richhazel  

Want to get better, lasting results for TMJ issues?   Check this out.     Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com Instagram: @richhazel    

Watering eye or drooping eyelid? one-sided nasal congestion? Ringing in your ear? Ear pain? Sinus Pain? Dizziness? These are some of the crazy symptoms from myofascial trigger points in the SCM.   Here are the reasons this happens.     Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com Instagram: @richhazel    

The suboccipital muscles have more of a sensory function than a movement function. They are the GPS for your brain.     Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com Instagram: @richhazel  

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  

Is chronic low back pain a symptom of poor breathing mechanics? See what you think.     Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com    

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    

Dry Needling takes skill, good assessment, good patient communication and the confidence to see it through.        Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com  

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 Physi...

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...

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 ano...

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    

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  

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: http...

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...

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.  

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://...

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...

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...

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  BLACKFRIDA...

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

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://rich...

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    

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)     Online Courses: https://richardhazel.podia.com