As an Acupuncturist, I’m always raving about the benefits of Acupuncture treatment for most any health condition. The balancing of hormones, stifling the common cold, elimination of acne, wrinkles and sun damage, immune support through cancer treatment… The list goes on and on.
Initially, most of us learn about the benefits of Acupuncture by way of pain relief. Any type of pain, whether it be a recent ankle sprain or broken bone, arthritis, or the ever present, often debilitating pain of auto-immune disease can be alleviated by Acupuncture.
I often treat patients with Diabetes, Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue, and a spinal disorder known as Ankylosingspondylitis, a condition in which the spinal cord slowly begins to fuse. Diabetes patients often experience peripheral neuropathy, a painful, burning, tingling disorder that reacts quite well to Acupuncture treatment. Rheumatoid Arthritis and Fibromyalgia are debilitating auto-immune imbalances which not only cause excruciating pain, but an almost oppressive amount of fatigue. All of these disorders cause tremendous pain and suffering for their victims. Thanks to Acupuncture, there is a natural solution available that can certainly enable a person to proceed with a happy, healthy life again.
“How the heck does Acupuncture work to treat pain, anyway?” is a question asked repeatedly in my clinic. Well, it is quite mysterious. There are many theories out there. What we DO know is that the Acupuncture meridians (energetic pathways that pass through each of our body’s organs) are detectible. We know that when these pathways are weakened or blocked, dis-ease persists.
One British experiment utilizing brain imaging has led to some intriguing discoveries. What they have proven is that Acupuncture actually raises your pain threshold. Sufferers of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue have a very low pain threshold, due to the disease. In this experiment, the researchers used magnetoencephalography or MEG (brain scans with magnets similar to an MRI) to observe that Acupuncture actually deactivated part of the brain’s pain matrix!
Other studies prove that Acupuncture literally blocks the hormones in the body, which cause us to suffer from pain!
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From a March 17, 2005 Article in Science Journal: “Pelvic girdle pain is a common complaint among pregnant women worldwide, but no cure exists.
Researchers in Sweden identified 386 pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain. Women were randomly divided into three groups; one received standard treatment (a pelvic belt and a home exercise programme), another received standard treatment plus acupuncture, and the third received standard treatment plus stabilising exercises to improve mobility and strength.
Pain levels were recorded every morning and evening using a recognised scale and all women were assessed by an independent examiner at the end of the treatment period.
After treatment, both the acupuncture group and the stabilising exercise group had less pain than the standard group in the morning and in the evening. Reduction of pelvic girdle pain as assessed by the independent examiner was greatest in the acupuncture group.
Acupuncture or stabilising exercises as an adjunct to standard treatment offers clear clinical advantages over standard treatment alone for reduction of pain in pregnant women with pelvic girdle pain, say the authors.
Acupuncture was superior to stabilising exercises in this study, they conclude.
Adapted from materials provided by British Medical Journal.
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Is pain in the brain? Yes, as well as the affected area of concern, which is displayed as deficiency (as in auto-immune cases) or as stagnation from physical injury. Pain is registered in the brain; extremely perceptible to some and almost not at all for others.
Acupuncture is an intricate, yet surprisingly simple therapeutic system. Intricate, where the treatment communicates with every organ and tissue in our body. Yet, simple, as Acupuncture can only bring about a constant state of homeostasis. Balance. The common denominator in all of these systems is that they all communicate with the great pain receptor… The brain.
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