How Our Clinic Helps Ehlers-Danlos Patients Feel Human Again

Living with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) often means living with exhaustion, instability, and pain that’s hard to explain — and even harder to treat. Joints dislocate doing everyday things. Muscles stay tense from working overtime just to hold your body together. Some days you wake up already feeling depleted.

EDS affects the connective tissues — the “glue” that supports skin, joints, and internal organs. That means symptoms don’t just show up in one place. They move. They stack. They rarely come alone. Many people with EDS also deal with conditions like POTS, fibromyalgia, and MCAS, creating a tangle of pain, fatigue, inflammation, and unpredictable flares.

And yet, many patients spend years being told it's all in their head. At Nyberg Acupuncture & Wellness, we take a different approach — one that sees your whole story, not just your chart.

We don’t claim to cure EDS. But we do help people feel more stable, more supported, and more like themselves again — using acupuncture, gentle energy therapies, and deep listening grounded in experience.

What It’s Really Like to Live with EDS (and Why That Matters)

Imagine waking up already in pain — your joints aching, your limbs heavy, your energy almost gone. For people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS), this isn’t just a bad day. It’s an ordinary one.

EDS affects the body’s connective tissue — the collagen-based “glue” that holds everything together. When that glue doesn’t work properly, it can lead to unstable joints, fragile skin, and chronic pain that moves around and rarely lets up.¹ But the symptoms go far beyond the textbook definition. People with EDS often live in bodies that feel unpredictable, unsupported, and misunderstood.

That unpredictability can be exhausting. Joints dislocate or sublux with small movements. Muscles tense constantly just to keep things in place. Many patients also deal with Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome (POTS) — causing dizziness, racing heart, and fatigue — or Mast Cell Activation Syndrome (MCAS), where the immune system seems to overreact to everything from food to stress. Others live with chronic pain conditions like fibromyalgia, which intensifies the already heavy burden of EDS.

What’s hardest, many say, isn’t just the pain or fatigue — it’s the way they’ve been treated. Years of being told “your labs are fine” or “you don’t look sick” can make people doubt their own experience. That’s why validation isn’t just kind — it’s part of care. At our clinic, we believe your body is telling the truth, even if others haven’t known how to hear it.

Why Treating Just One Symptom Isn’t Enough

For most people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, the problem isn’t just pain. Or fatigue. Or inflammation. It’s all of it — often at once. Treating EDS effectively means recognizing how deeply interconnected the body’s systems really are.

You can’t fully manage joint instability if the surrounding muscles are constantly in spasm. You can’t address daily fatigue without considering poor sleep, blood pressure swings, or undiagnosed dysautonomia. You can’t ease pain if the nervous system is stuck in fight-or-flight. And you can’t calm mast cell flares without understanding what’s triggering the body’s sense of alarm.

At Nyberg Acupuncture & Wellness, we don’t treat EDS as a list of isolated symptoms. We take a systems-level approach — supporting the nervous system, calming inflammation, easing musculoskeletal strain, and helping the immune system regulate itself more effectively. The goal isn’t to chase symptoms. It’s to help your body find a new baseline where healing becomes more possible.

It’s not about offering a miracle fix. It’s about helping you feel a little more like yourself again — grounded, less reactive, more in control. When we look at the whole picture, relief starts to become possible.

Our Whole-Person Approach to Supporting EDS

At our clinic, we’ve worked with many patients who live with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome and related conditions. And while each person’s story is different, one thing is almost always true: what helps the most isn’t a single technique — it’s a treatment plan that addresses the whole person.

That starts with how we listen. We take the time to understand your unique symptom patterns, what makes your flares worse, what’s helped (and what hasn’t), and how all of it is affecting your daily life. From there, we build a care plan that’s customized — not just for your diagnosis, but for your experience.

For many patients with EDS, this includes:

• Gentle acupuncture, to calm the nervous system and reduce the body’s overactive pain signaling
• ATP Resonance BioTherapy®, a non-invasive therapy used to support pain relief, energy balance, and tissue repair
• O3 ReBoot Therapy®, which helps reduce inflammation, promote circulation, and support immune regulation

We choose these therapies not just because they show promise — but because they’re safe, gentle, and adaptable for patients with complex, sensitive conditions. Our goal is never to push your body harder. It’s to support what it’s already trying to do: heal, stabilize, and find relief.

How Acupuncture and Complementary Therapies Support EDS Symptoms

EDS doesn’t just affect one part of the body — and that’s why a single approach is rarely enough. At Nyberg Acupuncture & Wellness, we use therapies that work together to help the body regulate pain, calm inflammation, and restore a sense of balance.

Acupuncture plays a central role. It has been shown to influence the immune system, reduce pro-inflammatory cytokines, and regulate the autonomic nervous system — which is especially relevant for conditions like POTS, MCAS, and chronic pain often seen with EDS.² Research also suggests acupuncture can affect connective tissue at the cellular level, promoting fibroblast activity and tissue repair through biochemical signaling.³

We often integrate ATP Resonance BioTherapy®, a non-invasive treatment used to support the body’s natural repair processes. Many patients with EDS find it helpful for pain regulation, connective tissue support, and energy balance.

O3 ReBoot Therapy® helps address systemic inflammation and supports immune regulation. Like every tool we use, it’s selected based on your specific presentation — and always with the goal of keeping treatment safe, gentle, and adaptable for complex, sensitive bodies.

These therapies don’t treat symptoms in isolation — they work together to support the body’s own efforts to stabilize, repair, and function more comfortably day to day.

Ready to Take the First Step Toward Relief?

If you’re living with EDS, you already know that most treatment plans don’t account for the whole picture. At Nyberg Acupuncture & Wellness, we’re here to change that — with therapies designed to be gentle, supportive, and adapted to your unique needs.

Call +1 (503) 336-4747 to schedule your free consultation with Dr. Jeffrey Savage, LAc, DACM. We welcome patients from Tualatin and the greater Portland area, and we’ll take the time to listen, understand your symptoms, and explore personalized care strategies that help you feel more stable and supported.

If you can’t call right now, you can fill out this short form, and a member of our team will reach out to schedule your visit.

You deserve care that meets you where you are — and moves with you toward relief.

Frequently Asked Questions

• Can acupuncture help with EDS symptoms like pain, fatigue, or joint instability?

  Yes. Acupuncture is often used to support symptom relief for people with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, especially when fatigue, pain, inflammation, or joint instability are interfering with daily life. Many patients find it offers natural relief without medication and works well alongside other therapies. [2]

• What symptoms can your clinic help manage for EDS patients?

  While every care plan is different, we often support patients dealing with chronic joint pain, fatigue, subluxations, connective tissue strain, digestive issues, POTS symptoms, MCAS flares, and more. We focus on non-invasive, whole-body care that helps reduce symptom burden and improve day-to-day stability.

• What non-surgical treatments do you use to support EDS?

  We combine acupuncture with other non-invasive therapies such as ATP Resonance BioTherapy® and O3 ReBoot Therapy®. These are part of a whole-body care strategy focused on regulating pain, calming inflammation, and supporting connective tissue — without surgery or medications.

• Is acupuncture safe for people with hypermobile EDS?

  In our clinic, we use a gentle, individualized approach that adapts to your body’s sensitivity and joint stability. Acupuncture is often well-tolerated by patients with hypermobile EDS when care is personalized and delivered thoughtfully.

• Do I need a diagnosis of EDS to be seen at your clinic?

  Not at all. Whether you’ve been diagnosed with EDS or are still trying to get answers, we’re here to listen and help. Many of our patients come in with complex symptoms that haven’t yet been fully explained.

• What can I expect during a consultation?

  You’ll meet one-on-one with Dr. Jeffrey Savage, LAc, DACM, who will review your history, listen to your experience, and help design a care plan tailored to your symptoms and sensitivities. Every visit is grounded in respect, collaboration, and care.

References:

1. The Ehlers Danlos Society. What is EDS? Updated 2024. Accessed May 31, 2025. https://www.ehlers-danlos.com/what-is-eds/
2. Wang M, Liu W, Ge J, Liu S. The immunomodulatory mechanisms for acupuncture practice. Front Immunol. 2023;14:1147718. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2023.1147718
3. Qu F, Cui Y, Zeng J, et al. Acupuncture induces adenosine in fibroblasts through energy metabolism and promotes proliferation by activating MAPK signaling pathway via adenosine3 receptor. J Cell Physiol. 2020;235(3):2441–2451. doi:10.1002/jcp.29148