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Payton Hazzard, L.Ac.

Licensed acupuncturist, pain and injury division, East to West Wellness Center, Huntington NY.

Payton Hazzard, L.Ac., is a New York State licensed acupuncturist in the pain and injury division at East to West Wellness Center in Huntington, NY. He trained at Pacific College of Health and Science and has been licensed since 2024.

A Huntington native, Payton was a sprinter before he was a clinician. At the University of Virginia he was a three-time All-American and ACC champion and set the school record in the 400 meters. He went on to represent Grenada internationally, including at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and the 2016 World Indoor Championships.

Years of high-level training taught him firsthand how overuse injuries, tight hips, cranky backs and slow recoveries affect the way people move. Today he treats patients with orthopedic, sports, neurological and chronic pain conditions, with a focus on getting them back to the activities they care about.

My approach to pain

In Payton's words.

Where it hurts, then how it behaves

The first thing I check is where the pain is, and then how it behaves. Location tells me which structures and pathways are involved. Behavior tells me what is happening there: when it hurts, whether it is worse with movement or at rest, what the pain feels like, and what makes it better or worse.

Then I test range of motion. For the hip, that means checking the front of the body (flexion, internal and external rotation) and the back (hamstring contraction), and watching where you feel engagement, tightness or pain. Those tests show me which muscles are overloaded, which are underperforming, and which are compensating for their neighbors.

What patients usually get wrong about their pain

• The pain isn't always coming from where you feel it. Hip pain often starts in the low back, the ankle, or the way someone walks.
• Your age or activity level doesn't tell me what kind of pain you have. I see teenage athletes whose muscles are run down from training and sedentary adults whose hips are locked up from sitting.
• The diagnosis name doesn't dictate the treatment. Two people with the same label can need opposite treatments.

Release or recovery: how I choose a treatment

Two muscles can hurt the same way for opposite reasons. One is overloaded: it has been working too hard and won't let go. The other is worn down: it has been doing too much for too long and can't keep up. I treat them differently.

For overloaded tissue I use electrical stimulation through the needles (electroacupuncture). It is the stronger form of release, and it helps a muscle that won't stop bracing finally let go. For worn-down tissue I place the needles and leave them in without current. That is a quieter treatment, and it is what the tissue needs when the job is recovery rather than release.

The two can look alike from the outside, because a worn-down muscle often tightens up to protect itself. Part of my exam is working out which one is actually driving the pain, because the right treatment for one is the wrong treatment for the other.

What I see most

Most of my pain patients come in with one of five complaints: low back pain, hip pain, leg pain, shoulder pain or neck pain. Those are regions, not diagnoses. The actual cause is a longer list, which is why the exam matters more than the label.

Leg pain is a good example. In my practice, "leg pain" has turned out to be sciatica coming from the lumbar spine; a fibula rotated out of position, leaving the ankle unstable; the tibialis posterior, a deep muscle behind the shin bone, locked in spasm and firing a shooting pain up the leg on every jump and landing; and a peripheral nerve entrapped along its path with no spinal involvement. Four different problems, four different treatments, one complaint on the intake form.

The neck behaves the same way. Neck tension shows up as restricted rotation in one patient, numbness and tingling into the hands in another, and headaches, migraines, dizziness or vertigo in a third, who often never connected the symptoms to the neck. (Sudden or severe dizziness, headache or numbness should be checked by a physician first.)

I also treat TMJ and jaw pain and sports injuries, including the shoulder, elbow and knee problems that come with racquet sports.

How I know you're making progress

I retest range of motion at every follow-up. It is the most reliable measure I have, because it shows change even when you don't feel it yet; sometimes the numbers have moved well before the pain has. I also track how the pain itself has changed: whether it has shifted from sharp and stabbing to dull and achy, moved to a different time of day, or responds differently to exertion than it did before.

The third measure is activity. Unless there is a tear in a tendon, ligament or muscle, or another reason to rest, I usually tell patients to keep doing their sport or training, because that is also a test. How well is it tolerated? Is there pain during it, or afterward? The answers tell me whether the treatment is working and what to adjust next. (That is a call I make for each patient after the exam, not general advice.)

Your first few treatments also tell me a lot. How your body responds confirms the diagnosis or points me toward what is really driving the pain. If the first session doesn't change everything, that is information, not a failed treatment. How many sessions most people need →

At a glance

• Licensed acupuncturist (L.Ac.), New York State, since 2024
• Trained at Pacific College of Health and Science
• University of Virginia track and field: three-time All-American, ACC champion, school record in the 400m
• Represented Grenada at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and 2016 World Indoor Championships
• Treats sports injuries, back and hip pain, sciatica, TMJ, neuropathy and other orthopedic and nerve pain

Articles by Payton