Easing Pain With Acupuncture
UPDATE: With all the new research that continues to be produced we are excited that acupuncture will continue to become more available to our local community. The American Academy of Family Physicians published an article highlighting that Research Finds Acupuncture Effective For Chronic Pain.
If you study medicine in China you not only learn conventional medicine (that would be the type of doc your mom used to take you to), but also Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Acupuncture has been used for over 3,000 years, but originally it was a medicine passed from generation to generation, which is similar to how Americans pass down their family businesses. Today acupuncture is taught all overall the world and is actually the most commonly used form of "alternative medicine" in the United States. The following are pieces of an article from Dr. Liu; a practicing MD and DOM (Doctor of Oriental Medicine) originally from China, but now practices in Britain. Dr. Liu still goes to China often to study and learn new acupuncture research. She said acupuncture was used most and best to treat pains. “We use acupuncture to treat arthritis, back pain, nerve problems. Any type of pain, acupuncture can treat.” She explained that acupuncture points on the body connected meridians to nerves and blood vessels. Acupuncture for back pain has been very popular recently, along with acupuncture for knee pain, and acupuncture for neck pain.
“Some people don’t want to take painkillers or other medication, but there is a choice,” she said. “This morning I had a client, who was in pain for about three months, with intense stomach pains and the drugs the doctor prescribed were not working. Somebody recommended me to her. When she came I put two needles in her hand and ten minutes later the pain was gone. “It was a muscle spasm and painkillers cannot relax muscles but putting the needle at the pressure point on her hand that connects to her stomach, that works.” She said if a patient had a headache, it wouldn’t matter why or what caused the headache, putting the acupressure needle in the precise point on the hand would relieve it. Dr Liu warned that acupuncture was not always immediate and could sometimes take a lot of sessions before working. She said, however, that a significant number of her patients were athletes and treatment for them was usually quick depending on the nature of their injuries.
She said in China, acupuncture is used in open heart surgeries, Caesarian sections, and other major medical procedures. “People there trust and believe in acupuncture, especially because it is a treatment that has no side effects at all.”
Learn more about acupuncture for pain relief here.