One type of therapy that has been practiced for around 5,000 years is acupuncture. This form of Chinese modality is commonly used to help getting rid of pain.
Based on the tenets of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), this treatment involves the use of acupuncture points that are spread out all over the body in the skin where energy channels known as meridians run just underneath them. These meridians are pathways where life energy known as qi travels throughout the body allowing it to become energized and healthy.
When acupuncture needles are inserted into certain acupuncture points, it causes chemical reactions in the body to help relieve pain connected to stress including headaches and stress among many others. Despite the mystery of how acupuncture really works, hundreds of millions of people all over the world utilize acupuncture on a consistent basis.
The very long history of acupuncture therapy has revealed its extreme effectiveness in treating a wide range of conditions even if western medical science has yet to explain the reasons why it works. Sadly, for a lot of people, acupuncture for them is still controversial, especially to a lot of clinicians and medical researchers mainly because they still are unable to prove it works based on the methodologies which they use.
Most of the time, they argue that its benefits is merely a form of placebo effect. The World Health Organization meanwhile has mentioned that around 30 or more various types of conditions can be effectively addressed by acupuncture. That and abundant anecdotal evidence of its efficacy have shown that acupuncture does work in treating several types of illnesses.
There will always be skeptics of acupuncture, but that will never change the fact that hundreds of millions of people all over the world find this treatment as the answer to their ailment. Acupuncture has become a household name in the United States in the early 1970s after a journalist from the New York Times, James Reston had an appendectomy and was given acupuncture, instead of pharmaceutical painkillers to relieve his postsurgical pain. This greatly inspired the formation of a national group in the United States known as the National Acupuncture Association that devoted its work on acupuncture research. So even if western medical science has failed to explain why acupuncture works, this therapy is allowed by the IRS to be a deductible type of medical expense.
The Workings of Acupuncture on Stress
A person’s stress is merely a reaction of the body and mind involving a series of biochemical reactions within the body that come about due to a physical or mental stressful situation. When this type of situation occurs, the body releases a number of chemicals in the bloodstream that starts a chain reaction of events such as increased muscle tension, high blood pressure, rapid rate of breathing, and increased heartbeat. One can call these reaction as a fight or flight reaction or an adrenaline rush.
During these moments, the body is endowed with moments of raised alertness, energy and strength in order to handle a challenging situation. When this reaction lasts for short periods, it’s a perfectly normal response. If the stress becomes disproportionate or chronic, the response then becomes unhealthy and pathological. Long periods of alertness, for example, can lead to exhaustion, insomnia, anxiety and mental strain, while a long-term rapid rate of breathing can result and an increased heart rate can cause palpitations. Long-term increased muscle ton often results in tremors, pains, and muscle tension.
Today’s Miami modern society has only raised the levels of stress in people even higher. Endless cycles of stress from work, relationships and at home this eventually leads to the sapping of energy of the individual leading to conditions such as gastric pain, sleeping problems, skin disorders, backaches, and headaches.
Long-term stress can also lead to psychological side effects such as poor self-confidence, poor levels of concentration, poor cognitive function, memory loss, anxiety and depression. Long-term or chronic stress may eventually increase the likelihood of long-term cardiovascular diseases such as strokes, and high blood pressure.
Stress-related conditions in Miami are treated very effectively with acupuncture, and one does not have to believe in qi to experience acupuncture’s benefits. It can relax those tensed muscles of yours and other stress-caused issues in the body. It doesn’t matter if there are few scientific evidence that acupuncture works, the important thing is that it helps lower your rapid heart rates and high blood pressure, as well provide you with a tranquilizing feeling of relaxation if you suffer from too much stress.
Acupuncture in Bellmore can alleviate those feelings of depression and anxiety by stimulating the affected muscles that work against stress hormones thereby relieving stress.
The most important benefit of acupuncture is perhaps that it is not a form of pharmaceutical product, and the mechanisms by which it allows you to experience an enhanced sense of well-being are all natural, using nothing more than your body’s own response to stimuli in a much similar way as massage therapy.
Acupuncture helps boost blood flow to any part of the body, and when it is used as treatment for repetitive stress injuries such as wrist tendinitis or carpal tunnel, it stimulates the body to produce and release the body’s own “feel-good chemicals” such as endorphins that kill body pain and when pain is relieved is relieved, as well.
Acupuncture works for all types of pain including knee pain, neck pain, headaches and migraines to mention just a few. It works in a similar way to physiotherapy (massage therapy), causing a feeling of peacefulness and calm in the person, lading to a transition to a life free of stress.
Have any questions? – Send me an e-mail or call me at (516) 442-7408. I’ll be happy to answer your questions and discuss your concerns.
Ni Nan Gilbert, L.Ac.
Board Certified and Licensed