"Acupuncture"
Foreword...
I had my first full body acupuncture two weeks ago from the Chinese med school team that comes weekly to the psychosocial rehab place. They treat the patients here for a variety mental and emotional troubles.
They asked me a lot of questions. They asked me about any problems that I have in my body and mind. I told them about my Chronic Anxiety, and my back problems. They talked amongst each other using clinical Chinese Acupuncture vocabulary.
They had me lie down and put needles in my ears, head, hands, arms, legs, and feet. It didn't hurt. No blood, no sweat.
The next day, I went for my morning swim and excelled in my work-out. I swam 15 laps with no stops, instead of taking breaks every 3 laps like I usually do. Then I realized that I had my acupuncture the day before. I do not know if acupuncture was the cause of my alertness and refreshed energy I had the next day, but this was my undeniable first experience with it.
What Is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is the ancient Chinese practice of inserting needles in specific acupuncture points on the body to manipulate the flow of energy or Qi. The theory of acupuncture is that there is a flow of energy that when disrupted causes illness. The practice is believed to balance out the energy.
How It Works
According to Chinese tradition, health is the balance of Yin and Yang, which is sometime equated to the sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Western practitioners say that the acupuncture points are where nerves, muscles, and connective tissues can be stimulated. Acupuncture practitioners say that it increases bloodflow and releases the body's natural painkillers.
Effects and Benefits
Pain Relief
The best researched and known benefit of acupuncture is pain relief. It is very popular for pain relieving before or after surgery.
Psychological
Calming, tranquilizing, and sedative effect. Measurable changes in brain chemistry have been observed.
Delta and theta waves are decreased in the brain, and thus may be used to treat insomnia, anxiety, depression, addictions, and stress.
Immune Enhancement
May strengthen the body against disease.
Afterthoughts...
You don't know until you try it! See for yourself what benefits acupuncture may bring to you.
For those of you that are afraid of needles, acupuncture needles are extremely thin! Forty acupuncture needles can easily fit inside the opening of a hypodermic needle that we are familiar with.
All I can say is that acupuncture is something that I will definitely go back to.
