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Acupuncture For Pain Management
Acupuncture is one of the oldest medicines in the world today. It began in China over 3,000 years ago and has been used as a primary method of treatment to this day. Although acupuncture is performed by inserting sterile, hair-thin needles into various parts of the body, the procedure is considered safe, non-invasive, and relatively gentle. Many people even fall asleep during the treatment.
Acupuncture is now more widely accepted among the medical community, and Western medicine recognizes acupuncture as a drug-free approach to pain treatment, particularly in light of the opioid crisis. The ancient practice is becoming more and more mainstream as millions of Americans are turning to acupuncture to treat their pain. Unfortunately, acupuncture is often sought out as a last resort when Western medicine had tried everything else and nothing worked.
For more than seven years, the World Health Organization (WHO) and National Institutes of Health (NIH) recognize acupuncture as an effective treatment for chronic pain, particularly back, neck, and shoulder pain, osteoarthritis, and chronic headaches. Acupuncture addresses all types of pain – musculoskeletal (muscle, tendon or joint pain), neurological conditions (headaches and sciatica), gynecological conditions, GI issues (abdominal pain, irritable bowel, heart burn), and autoimmune conditions (fibromyalgia, rheumatoid arthritis) to name a few.
For acute pain, acupuncture may produce immediate effects. For example, let’s say you have a “crink” in your neck from sleeping on it in an awkward position. You have pain turning your head and limited range of motion. You stretch and massage it yet still have the pain even a few days later. After acupuncture, you may notice a 90% decrease in pain, an increase in range of motion, and within a day or two you are most likely pain free and back to full range of motion. Pain from a more intense muscle strain/sprain or sports injury may require more sessions (5-10) prior to resolving.
For chronic pain (condition for three months to many years), acupuncture will not solve your pain overnight. The longer a condition existed, most likely, the longer a person will require acupuncture treatments to bring the body back into balance. Acupuncture is cumulative and one treatment builds upon the next. You need the right amount of treatments in terms of frequency, consistency, and within an appropriate timeframe to yield the desired results.
Also, the individual is an active participant in the healing process. The needles do no put anything into the body, nor do they take anything away from the body. Acupuncture activates the body’s own self-healing mechanism. So the individual must have the energy to do this and the better the person’s lifestyle (i.e. balance of work, play and all activities, regular sleep, appropriate water intake, limits on alcohol and drug use, etc.) and diet, the increased results of acupuncture.
As acupuncture and Eastern medicine view the body and mind as a whole, the person will not only experience pain relief, they will see differences in their overall quality of wellness, such as more energy, mental clarity, better sleep and digestion, and less stress and anxiety.
So before taking more medication or having another surgery, consider acupuncture as a method not only to treat your pain…to enhance your quality of life and well-being.
