How Can Acupuncture Help Your Pain Levels?
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese alternative medicine that has been practiced for thousands of years. It is the practice of inserting very fine needles into certain points throughout the body. These points, also called acupoints, have been studied for years and tied to specific parts of the body. Today many physicians are turning to acupuncture instead of prescribing medications to treat chronic pain, with the help of acupoints. For example, imagine you are have had back pain for months.
Your acupuncture specialist can find the acupoint where your back pain is controlled, and by inserting a needle there your body may begin to feel better. There are several reasons why this works, including but not limited to:
Increase Endorphins
Endorphins are the body's natural pain killers. They are hormones that help us to feel relief, happiness, and relaxation. There are many different ways to incite endorphins including physical touch, sexual activity, and acupuncture. Acupuncture-induced endorphins can feel almost like a rush of morphine to the system, almost immediately reducing pain levels. When needles are inserted into the specific acupoints (as described earlier) these endorphins can be focused on a specific area of your body.
Stimulate Healing
As you can imagine, inserting a metal needle into your skin can cause your body to respond as if you were being poked with a needle. Blood will rush to the area (though it will not break the skin) and your body will stimulate healing. This increase in blood flow can help to improve your circulation and your body's tissues will become healthier. If you have pain due to trauma or injury, acupuncture will likely help you to heal faster, greatly improving your pain levels.
Unblock Qi
Chinese culture believes that a person's qi or flow of energy can sometimes become blocked, causing pain or imbalance in people. Acupuncture needles work like a key being inserted into a lock and opening the energy pathways that may have been causing pain. You may not believe in qi and energy pathways now, but an acupuncture session may make you a believer.
In conclusion, acupuncture is a safe, alternative treatment for pain management. If you are tired of taking pain pills or are becoming aware of your increased dependence on them, you may want to talk to your doctor about scheduling acupuncture treatments. Even if it only improves your pain for a week or a month, think of how many pain pills you will be skipping during that time. Talk to your doctor about acupuncture today.
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