🏥 Under the Knife, Under the Needle: Acupuncture & Herbs for Supporting You Through Surgery

Acupuncture and Chinese medicine offer powerful, research-backed options to relieve pain, stiffness, weakness, and limited range of motion that often follow injury, overuse, or illness. In many cases, these therapies help people avoid surgery altogether. When surgery is necessary, Chinese medicine plays a critical role in supporting the body and mind through the entire process—from preparing you physically and mentally before surgery to speeding recovery and improving long-term outcomes afterward.

🛡️ Preparing for Surgery with Acupuncture: Building Your Body’s Resilience

Surgery places a heavy strain on your body. Going under anesthesia triggers a surge of stress hormones like cortisol and adrenaline that can increase inflammation, raise blood pressure, and slow healing after your procedure. Acupuncture treatments before surgery help reduce stress hormones and inflammatory molecules, shifting your body into a healing, “rest and digest” state by activating the parasympathetic nervous system. This improves blood flow, reduces inflammation, and promotes tissue repair, setting you up for a smoother, faster recovery (PMIDs: 19915019, 16626702).

From a Chinese medicine perspective, surgery disrupts the flow of Qi (氣, vital energy) and Blood (血), causing stagnation that leads to pain, bruising, stiffness, and numbness after the procedure. Acupuncture before surgery strengthens your body’s Qi and prepares it to handle the blood loss and trauma caused by the operation, reducing post-surgical stagnation and pain.

Surgery also exposes your body to environmental factors like Cold pathogens, which can lodge inside and slow healing, cause increased pain, digestive issues, and disrupted sleep. Treatments such as moxibustion (a warming herbal therapy done in the office), far-infrared heat therapy, and warming herbal medicines such as Ai Ye (Artemisa, 艾叶) and Rou Gui, Cinnamon Bark, 肉桂) expel residual Cold left behind by exposure of the inside of the body to the external environment, helping your body heal more quickly and effectively with less pain and fewer complications.

For most surgeries, we recommend 3-4 acupuncture sessions over 2-3 weeks before your procedure, and 6-8 sessions following surgery depending on the size and extent of the procedure and other individual health factors. Each patient's treatment plan is personalized based on your individual response to treatment and your specific case. Book a FREE 15 minute discovery call here to find out what acupuncture can do for you!

🧬 After Surgery: How Acupuncture & Herbs Support Faster, More Complete Healing

The human body heals in phases: clotting, inflammation, tissue repair, and scar remodeling. But if inflammation lasts too long or circulation is poor, healing can stall, leaving you with lingering pain, stiffness, loss of function, and limited movement.

Acupuncture supports every phase of the healing process by improving circulation, accelerating tissue repair, reducing inflammation, and managing pain and stress without sedating you or causing side effects. Acupuncture encourages the formation of new blood vessels by increasing release of various intercellular substances such as VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and nitric oxide, molecules that are crucial for re-growing damaged blood vessels to promote delivery of nutrients and oxygen to the surgical site and speeding tissue repair (PMIDs: 23304201, 24722278).

Research shows that patients receiving acupuncture after orthopedic or spinal surgery recover faster and regain function sooner than those who don’t (PMID: 36050756). Acupuncture also modulates the immune system by lowering pro-inflammatory chemicals like IL-6 and TNF-alpha, reducing pain and swelling that prolong recovery (PMID: 38215134). In short, there is significant evidence to demonstrate that acupuncture's anti-inflammatory, analgesic and parasympathetic activation significantly improves recovery outcomes after surgery in most patients following a comprehensive treatment plan.

🌿 Chinese Herbal Medicine: Healing From the Inside Out

Herbal medicine is equally important in supporting post-surgical recovery. Specific herbs reduce pain, swelling, and bruising, fight infection, improve circulation, promote tissue repair, and prevent excessive scar tissue.

Some examples include:

• Yan Hu Suo (Corydalis, 延胡索) and Hong Hua (Saffron flower, 红花) for pain and blood stasis (stagnant blood stuck in the body after the bleeding from surgery)

• Jin Yin Hua ( Japanese honeysuckle, 金银花) and Lian Qiao (Forsythia fruit, 连翘) to prevent infection and reduce inflammation

• San Qi (Notoginseng root, 三七), Huang Qi (Astragalus root, 黄芪), and Ji Xue Teng (Spatholobus vine, 鸡血藤) to boost circulation and tissue repair

• Mo Yao (Myrrh, 没药) and Zi Cao (Lithospermum root 紫草) to reduce scar formation

  
  

Herbal formulas also help the body process anesthesia and pharmaceuticals, soothe digestion, and restore sleep—common challenges after surgery. When prescribed by a licensed herbalist, these medicines are tailored to your unique constitution and healing needs, maximizing safety and effectiveness.

Please note that herbal medicine is powerful. NEVER self-prescribe any herbal medication or product without consulting a licensed herbalist first. We are trained in and familiar with herb-drug interactions and common side effects to keep you safe and healthy!

💊 Managing Pain Without the Side Effects

Post-surgical pain is a major concern, and while prescription painkillers are common, they often cause nausea, constipation, mood changes, mental confusion, sedation, and risk dependency. Chinese medicine offers effective alternatives to pharmaceutical pain medicines, minus the scary side effects.

Acupuncture triggers your body to release natural pain relievers like endorphins and serotonin, lowering pain perception and improving mood (PMIDs: 35482244, 24929454, 26896946, 26568767). Studies show patients who receive acupuncture need less opioid medication and report better pain control (PMIDs: 26959661, 39681763). In my own clinical experience, multiple doctors have commented on how well patients who have received pre- and post-surgical treatment with herbs and acupuncture have healed, compared to patients who did not receive any acupuncture or herbal intervention.

Herbs like Yan Hu Suo (延胡索) reduce pain sensitivity through the nervous system without sedation or digestive side effects (PMIDs: 34946576, 27622550). When used in combination by a trained herbalist, these treatments safely manage pain while supporting healing.

🤲 Whole-Body Healing & How We Support You

 🍽️ Nutrition

After surgery, your digestive system is often weak. Warm, easy-to-digest foods like soups, bone broth, and congee support the Spleen and Stomach, which produce Qi and Blood necessary for healing. This nourishment reduces inflammation and restores energy. Many people benefit from specific herbs, foods and targeted supplements to help replenish depleted Qi and Blood following surgery. Your acupuncturist and herbalist is trained in providing supportive dietary and supplement recommendations based on your needs and nutritional status. Check out our recipe for congee, a Chinese traditional rice porridge that is an excellent gentle option to strengthen the body after surgery.

Beyond diet, acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine help regulate the gastrointestinal tract and address common post-surgical side effects such as constipation, poor appetite, indigestion, nausea, and sluggish gut motility. These therapies work to restore digestive balance, making it easier for your body to absorb nutrients and heal effectively.

🤸 Movement

Once your doctor has cleared you, staying active is one of the most important and high yield ways to improve healing. Chinese medicine offers Tai Chi and Qigong, two methods of movement that gently stimulate Qi flow, improve circulation, reduce swelling, and boost immune response (PMIDs: 32629903, 28661865). They also calm the nervous system, reduce anxiety, and support overall recovery. In combination with physical therapy, Tai Chi and Qi Gong provide physical, mental and emotional support to recovery after surgery.

Adding in just 10-20 minutes a day of Tai Chi or Qi Gong has been shown to reduce pain scores, calm anxiety and stress due to pain and restricted movement, improve circulation, and accelerate healing as well as providing other health benefits- improved sleep, reduced stress, and better digestion are often observed as well! These modalities of movement are not intensive or cardio-based, making them gentle enough to promote healing but not so high-impact as to create more inflammation or risk injury.

Unable to stand or walk? Don't be discouraged- there are plenty of seated or reclined options for practicing Tai Chi and Qi Gong. Discuss with your practitioner for specific exercises and recommended guided videos tailored to your needs.

❤️‍🩹 Returning to Your Best Self

Surgery aims to restore function and reduce pain, but healing continues long after the operation. Outside of physical therapy and prescription pain medications, Western medicine solutions to prevent, delay and/or recover from surgery are limited. Acupuncture, herbs, diet, and movement work together to accelerate healing, minimize complications, and help you reclaim your body with less discomfort and more ease. You don't have to just hope for the best possible results from your surgery-- you can prepare for the best possible outcome, and we are here to support that.

💬 Ready to Talk?

Whether you’re preparing for surgery or recovering from one, schedule a free 15-minute discovery call with one of our licensed practitioners. We are here to answer your questions and discuss your specific case to build a healing plan that’s right for you.