Why You Should Consider Acupuncture Treatment for Removal of Your Scars
Whenever we look at our scars, we are reminded of past accidents or even operations that are painful. If you are unfortunate enough to have a scar in your face or at some other conspicuous part of your body, you may want to undergo invasive treatments that are time consuming, expensive and often need a long amount of time for you to recover. If you want some other and even more effective ways to remove your scar, then you need to look into acupuncture treatment. This modality not only effectively treats a wide range of conditions, symptoms, and illnesses, it also has been shown to work remarkably in the treatment of painful scars and scars that cause other types of problems in the body.
What are Scars?
Whenever your skin is damaged (cut, tear or a rupture on the inner, middle or outer layer of the epidermis), the skin needs to go through the process of regeneration in order to patch up the injured body part. In a lot of instances, the regeneration process does not turn out perfectly well and scars may arise.
There are several factors why scarring occurs and the magnitude and type of the scar depend on certain factors including the orientation of the scar, the capacity of the person to heal, the manner the wound was inflicted, and the size of the wound.
How Does Acupuncture Work
Acupuncture is a 4,000-year-old Chinese healing tradition that involves the insertion of thin needles at pressure points on the skin to treat illness and pain at various parts of the body. It is a treatment that is predicated on the existence of vital energy (qi) that flow throughout the body through energy channels known as meridians. For scar treatment, the needle insertion stimulates therapeutic processes that lead to the removal of scars.
When to Seek Treatment
Most scars are really annoying because of cosmetic reasons. But scars that are usually painful or cause pain can be causes of the problems in the body as well and therefore needs to be treated (removed). If a scar in your body is painful to the touch, it may be a sign of disrupted qi or blood flow on that area and so should be properly addressed. If you have scar on the stomach, back, scalp, neck, or face, it is important to have it treated because they may be affecting the important energy channels in those areas.
Procedure
The acupuncture needles are stuck at points near or along the scar region. The needles stimulate a physiological response that causes more blood to flow in that area. The blood helps with the breakdown of scar tissue and dead skin. It also activates the lymphatic system enabling it to rid of the dead skin cells from the body. Acupuncture for scar removal is a slow and gradual process. But the results are amazing ending with either the total removal of the scar or the scar becoming less noticeable over time.
Contraindications
To prevent infections, scars that are at least a month old are treated by acupuncturists. People suffering from neurological disorders, cancer patients, diabetics, and the elderly need special acupuncture treatment in Bellingham that needs to be approved first by their doctors or their primary healthcare providers before treatment is implemented.
Why Use Drugs When Acupuncture Offers A Much Better Solution for Your Back Pain
No one is immune to bodily pain. Whether it is caused by a serious health condition, a sports injury, a motor accident or by tripping while walking, the next plan of action for people is to relieve the pain as fast as possible and to quicken the process of recovery.
When it comes to back pain, an overwhelming majority of people (83%) have, are experiencing or will experience this condition at some point in their lives. People who need serious treatment for back pain, acupuncture may be the best solution they can try.
A lot of individuals suffering from chronic back pain either use over-the-counter drugs like paracetamol or ibuprofen to mask their pain or just deal with the pain each and every day of their lives. At times, these drugs provide some kind of relief but over time, their potency wane forcing them to take larger doses to generate the same quality of relief. These drugs also have really bad side effects and their long term use can lead to addiction.
Almost all back pain sufferers who have tried acupuncture considered the treatment only after all conventional modes of treatment have been exhausted. Some of the conventional modalities for back pain they have tried including cortisone injections, physical therapy, MRI, and even surgery have not worked.
The first thing to consider when you go for treatment is to realize you don’t need to live with constant pain.
The second thing to do is to talk to a health professional who can address your condition. This means your local acupuncturist in Portland. These holistic medicine professionals can do exams, see if MRIs are necessary, and resolve the underlying cause of the problem instead merely masking the pain with medications.
Your acupuncturist will then examine you thoroughly using unique Chinese medicine diagnostic tools, gather his findings and suggest dietary modifications that can help you live life without pain. Many are unaware that a high intake of sugar lowers the capacity of your immune system and exacerbates the inflammatory response in your body. This means more inflammation in the body and thus more pain.
Moreover, stress is created when you experience pain in your body. But stress also generates pain creating a vicious cycle of pain and stress. Acupuncture can treat inflammation, remove stress and help you sleep well because it is able to banish pain. So if you are tired of your back pain problems, then talk to your acupuncturist today.
Why Acupuncture Is a Very Important Tool in the Treatment of Infertility
Acupuncture practice dates tens of hundreds of years ago in China and is more and more being recognized as a valid form of treatment by Western physicians. While this ancient form of treatment has been seen to really help in treating a wide range of illnesses, from smoking cessation to the management of pain, new researches have revealed that acupuncture can also help in the treatment of infertility.
From the Orient…
Acupuncture has been around for more than three millennia, although modern Western science still has to successfully explain how it really works. This treatment modality has been introduced in France by Jesuit missionaries in the 1600s, where it become so popular it quickly spread throughout Europe in no time at all. Acupuncture has only been widely practiced In the United States during the last four decades.
The Chinese believe in a life force known as Chi circulating all over the body and this belief is the basis of how acupuncture works. The free and normal flow of Chi is required in order to stay healthy; when an imbalance or a blockage develops in that flow, ill health develops, as well. The human body has 20 primary Chi channels that convey life force all over the body. These channels known as meridians are accessible by means of over 400 various acupuncture points, or acupoints, for short.
Various combinations of acupoints are activated with acupuncture needles based on the illness you’re experiencing. The needles are extremely thin and long although they may vary in length based on the acupoint they will be used on. The activation/stimulation of an acupoint causes Chi flow to rebalance or return to its normal state of free flow which leads to the resolution of the medical condition.
…To the West
Some Western medical experts still remain skeptical towards the healing art of acupuncture. It seems that Western medicine’s failure to fully explain the workings of this modality makes it perceive acupuncture as nothing more than a load of mumbo jumbo. The actuality that the Chi pathways don’t really correspond to say, the nervous or circulatory system, or any other recognized body system only serves to boost the skepticism of these “experts.”
Nevertheless, health institutions such as the World Health Organization or the United States’ National Institutes of Health have endorsed this treatment for a number of health problems. They have researchers working to study acupuncture in order to understand it more thoroughly. Some possible explanations as to why acupuncture works include:
– its ability to release endorphins into the body, acupuncture can effectively reduce pain. Endorphins naturally develop in the pain control system of the body, in the central nervous system.
– the release of neurohormones and neurotransmitters when acupuncture needles activate the central nervous system. This helps improve the natural self-healing capacity of the body.
– central nervous system stimulation causing positive changes in body temperature, blood flow and blood pressure during an acupuncture procedure causing the undergoes.
The truth is, acupuncture is a painless type of treatment that has very few, side effects if any at all, especially when it is performed by a qualified practitioner. If risks ever occur, they may involve minor bleeding, forgotten or broken needles, infectious disease transmission, and the puncture of body organs. These risks can all be avoided or reduced if you get yourself treated by a certified and fully trained acupuncturist.
Acupuncture is contraindicated for people using blood thinners or for those suffering from blood disorders.
Infertility and Acupuncture
As a standalone therapy, acupuncture can be a very good alternative therapy for fertility issues. Most of the time, however, it is mostly used as a complementary modality to updated fertility therapies. When utilized as a standalone treatment, acupuncture is very effective for couples who are suffering from functional problems, like irregular ovulation; when the infertility is due to a structural condition like a sperm duct obstruction, it may not be as effective as the patient would want it to be. Certain acupuncturists would also include Chinese herbal medicine or any type of treatment to augment the acupuncture treatment you are receiving. Make sure your doctor knows that you are taking herbs if you are receiving other medical treatments since there are herbs that can interact with certain fertility procedures and medications.
Acupuncturists explain that acupuncture works for fertility problems because it helps regulate the patient’s body system resulting in the stabilization of the hormone levels and in the increase of flow of blood to the reproductive organs leading in turn, in an increase in male sperm production and an improvement in female ovarian function.
Acupuncture can be utilized as a complementary form of treatment for women who are under fertility treatments. Some doctors think that acupuncture helps women stay more relaxed when they are subjected through quite invasive fertility therapies. Specific studies have revealed that the success rates of in vitro fertilization procedures greatly increases when acupuncture is included in the procedure.
In 2002, a study done in Germany tested the usefulness of acupuncture in improving the rate of conception of infertile women undergoing IVF therapy. Eighty women all with fertility problems participated in the study and they all underwent IVF. For those who received acupuncture, 42.5% got pregnant. For the women who received zero acupuncture treatment a success rate of only 26.3% was achieved. A more recent US study was conducted to test the effectiveness of acupuncture in boosting IVF success rates. The study attracted 114 participants who all were suffering from infertility. The study showed that in women who were given acupuncture, 51% of them successfully conceived with IVF therapy. For the women who only had IVF treatment, only 36% successfully conceived. A more thorough evaluation of the study showed only an 8% miscarriage of the group given acupuncture as compared to the 20% miscarriage rate of the group who only had IVF therapy. Moreover, the rates of ectopic pregnancy were far lower in women who received acupuncture compare to those who only received IVF therapy.
Finding the Right Acupuncturist
These days, a lot of medical doctors have now integrated acupuncture in their daily medical practice. They require a few hundred hours of acupuncture training in order to practice this treatment on their patients. For non-medical doctors, the required number of hours they need to complete in order to be considered a qualified practitioner is around 2,000 to 3,000 hours of training as well as passing the board exams to earn certification.
To be on the safe side, you should always check the credentials of the acupuncturist you think can help you with your problem. Check to see if he has the proper certification and training as mandated by your state. Seek referrals from anyone you know who has undergone the treatment especially if it involved treating the same condition you are currently suffering from. Know how much the treatment costs. There are insurance companies that now provide medical coverage for acupuncture treatments so you may want to do a little research on that as well.
For the treatment of infertility, multiple sessions of acupuncture therapy is required. Sessions might be once or a couple of times a week for weeks or even months. Typically, a dozen sessions is recommended with each session lasting an hour or so.
Acupuncture Health Center
1303 Astor St #101
Bellingham, WA 98225
(360) 715-1824
Why Acupuncture Is A Superior Treatment for Drug Addiction Than Any Conventional Treatments
One can use acupuncture for drug detoxification because of the treatment’s proven efficacy. Acupuncture has been developed and practiced in China for thousands of years. It is a type of treatment that uses extremely thin needles to activate certain points in the body. Underneath these points lay energy channels known as meridians. Sometimes, these energy channels develop obstructions and blockages that result in diseases and illnesses. Acupuncture is used to clear out these obstacles to restore the normal flow of energy and thus resolve symptoms arising from health conditions.
Acupuncture has been verified through several clinical studies to help stimulate the brain to produce and release feel-good chemicals in the body known as endorphins. Endorphins can help alleviate chronic pain, a condition most people in the United States experience and the number one condition acupuncturists treat each year.
The painkilling effect of acupuncture makes it a very suitable modality for drug detoxification. The treatment can help minimize the severity of drug withdrawal symptoms and is especially effective for the treatment of cocaine addiction. Studies have shown that acupuncture treatments have provided painkilling benefits to about 85% of cocaine addicts who participated in the studies as opposed to a 70% rate of effectiveness from morphine addicts.
Modern methods of acupuncture such as electro-acupoint stimulation have produced much better results in drug detoxification than needles. Traditional needling acupuncture though, is still the preferred choice of treatment in some hospitals in the U.S., which are able to treat up to 245 drug addicts each day.
Because it not only brings physiological benefits but psychological benefits as well, acupuncture has been a huge success for the treatment of drug addiction withdrawal symptoms. Doctors trained in Western medicine find this treatment difficult to understand. Part of the reason for this is that Western medicine sees the mind and body as two mutually exclusive aspects of a person; on the other hand, Chinese medicine acknowledges that a person has a third system, an energy system that acts as a bridge to the psychological and physical aspects of the person.
A balance between the body and mind is essential for any detox treatment program to succeed. In this regard, Western medicine has no form of treatment that can bring about this balance. This makes acupuncture a superior modality that combines physical and psychic effects that help normalize the emotional, mental, and physiological state of a person. All these states become imbalanced when a person is addicted to a certain substance. Acupuncture is the only modality capable of restoring balance to these various human aspects.
Kine Fischler is a licensed acupuncture physician and the clinical director of Willow Tree Wellness Clinic in Portland, OR.
Treating Sexual Dysfunction with Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine
Acupuncture has been shown to be a scientifically proven treatment for sexual health related concerns and a variety of health issues. This ancient healing tradition, along with Chinese herbs, has been used to address sexual functioning and health conditions for more than 5 millennia. Through the use of filiform needles inserted in specific points on the skin, a man’s or a woman’s sexual health can be improved efficiently. Included in this enhancement is the sex drive (libido) and sexual performance of the patient. Besides that, acupuncture also tackles underlying root problems that may cause sexual health conditions such as: hormonal imbalances, weight fluctuation, drug interactions, psychological challenges, menopause, and more.
An effective therapy for healing the emotional, mental, and physical aspects of the whole individual, acupuncture has very few side effects and minimal risks. It also provides results that are often experienced within a short span of time; the number of treatment sessions, however, is based on the severity of the imbalances within the patient’s body.
Addressing Sexual Performance Problems with Acupuncture in Tarzana
Providing the body balance through the correction of energy (Chi or Qi) flow disruptions in the body, acupuncture is also able to address libido and sexual performance decline. It does this by treating the heart and kidney and other organs affected by certain factors that lead to imbalance within the body.
Discussing the patient’s symptoms and using the most common diagnostic tools to find out where imbalances are focused, the acupuncturist performs a tongue and pulse examination on a patient to find out exactly what condition the patient is suffering from and what exactly is causing his/her condition. Examining twenty-seven pulse states through nine positions, acupuncture goes beyond the traditional pulse checks that Western medicine uses. By using these pulse positions, information about how well the body organs are functioning and the general state of health the patient can be determined. The tongue’s cracks, moisture, shape, and color is also checked to determine how well the patient’s vital organs function and the overall health of the patient.
Chinese medicine uses either or both acupuncture or acupressure to address sexual health dysfunction although other techniques, such as electro-acupuncture, cupping, or moxibustion can also be used, often combined with Chinese herbs. The aims of these treatments are to boost circulation to the sexual organs, balance the hormones and regulate hormone levels, as well as help relax the mind to lower stress. These therapies enhance sexual functioning by enabling men to increase their performance by experiencing satisfying orgasms, improving their longevity, stamina, and endurance, enhancing ejaculation, and prolonging erections.
Acupressure
Acupressure is essentially similar to acupuncture as it treats conditions by stimulating the acupoints in the body. But instead of using needles acupressure uses a less invasive approach by treating the patient with massage instead of needles. Massage is performed through the use of the elbows, knuckles, fingers and even vibrators to help improve flow of blood through the reproductive and sexual organs in a more intense manner. In between acupuncture sessions, acupressure can be used by patients to help continue stimulation.
Acupressure Point stimulation Using Vibrators
By using a small massager or bullet style vibrator, the level of stimulation can be enhanced during acupressure. Using a small vibrato has its advantages. It can help a person stimulate an acupoint with pinpoint accuracy.
Beyond the Betterment of Your Sex Drive
Besides the improvement of your sex drive, listed below are other types of sexual health conditions that can be treated with acupuncture:
-STD outbreaks
-Vaginismus
-Hypoactive sexual desire disorder
-Female sexual dysfunction
-Female sexual arousal disorder
-Poor sperm mobility
-Sexual aversion disorder
-Premature ejaculation
-Prostate issues
-Male and female menopause
-Infertility
-Erectile dysfunction
When addressing sexual health problems, acupuncture and acupressure can indeed be extremely effective alternative modalities to use. They both address the symptoms and underlying reasons for the sexual health concerns, which cannot be said of Western conventional modalities for the treatment of sexual dysfunction.
The Ways Acupuncture and Chinese Herbs Help in the Treatment of Male and Female Infertility
Acupuncture significantly increases the rate of conception by an average of 27%, especially when it is used in conjunction with Western fertility therapies. A Palestinian study concluded that TCM (traditional Chinese medicine) treatments (herbal medicine and acupuncture) helped increase the rate of success of IUI treatments by 66% as compared to only 39.2% from the control group, who received zero type of TCM treatment. In the United States alone, there are around 5 million couples who are suffering from a specific type of infertility condition each year. A lot of them need to consider acupuncture as a way to overcome their condition.
Based on several medical research and studies, there are three ways that acupuncture can do to treat infertility: It can aid in the balance of the endocrine and reproductive systems, increase the flow of blood into these systems, and boost fertility by removing stress in the person’s mind and body. Acupuncture’s goal when treating infertility from the viewpoint of TCM, is to not only make the patient pregnant, but also to let her stay pregnant and help her deliver a healthy baby. Besides these three benefits, acupuncture can also increase the circulation of blood to the uterus and ovaries, resulting in the egg’s stronger chance to be nourished and brought to term.
Acupuncture involves the insertion of acupuncture needles into certain points in the body. The needles are made of stainless steel, sterile and extremely thin. The human body has over 2000 acupuncture points scattered throughout. Underneath each acupuncture point lie a meridian of which there are 14 in the body and where the vital energy known as chi flows or travels. The meridians, according to TCM practitioners, are believed to be located between the internal organs and the surface of the body. The vital energy chi is the force that normalizes a person’s physical, emotional, spiritual, and mental balance. When, because of disease, pain, poor health and other circumstances the flow of qi is disrupted, acupuncture can be considered and enabled to improve the flow of qi which then helps improve the chances of conception.
Treating infertility with acupuncture in Tarzana can resolve almost any factor that can cause infertility. Female infertility accounts for 40% of all infertility cases while male infertility matches that with same number of cases as women (40%). Causes of male infertility include poor sperm motility and count while female infertility includes, endometriosis, and anovulation as the common reasons for female infertility.
As mentioned before, reducing stress is one way acupuncture can help treat infertility. Stress is one important factor in the loss of fertility; when individuals are under extreme stress, their stress hormones, known as cortisol, increases in their body. The cortisol changes the neurochemical balance of the brain resulting in an imbalance in pituitary function and a change in hormone levels thus compromising the normal cycle of reproduction. Fortunately TCM is able to help a woman go through this important time in her life. Acupuncture can be extremely helpful for the physical and emotional balance of a woman, important factors required for her to successfully conceive. Furthermore, this powerful TCM modality can also help with insomnia, birth preparation anxiety, physical pain and ache, nausea, morning sickness and many other forms of conditions.
Since stress can capably disrupt the delicate balance between the reproductive, pituitary and hypothalamic glands, it can prevent a woman from ovulating altogether. This is one of the most common causes of female infertility. Moreover, spasms in both the uterus and fallopian tubes can occur because of stress resulting in the interference in the movement and implantation of a fertilized ovum. Stress also affects men by causing impotence and lowering sperm motility and count. Treating stress with acupuncture can help neutralize the effects of cortisol and stress itself by helping releasing endorphins in the brain. Chinese herbal formulas can also help alleviate stress in men.
Cortisol is not really an important player for the creation of a hormonal imbalance that leads to infertility. Ovulation disorder is the most common reason for infertility. This particular problem occurs when the release of a mature egg is blocked in the ovaries due to an imbalance in the hormones. If the body has insufficient amounts of progesterone, for example, it can make it difficult for the fetus to attach itself to the uterus. Overabundance of prolactin, on the other hand, can also make it impossible for the body to ovulate. Prolactin is the hormone that activates breast milk production.
The male reproductive function can also become imbalanced when the reproductive hormones are imbalanced. This imbalance can lead to poor sperm production and motility. Fertility drugs designed to activate ovulation through the normalization of the pituitary and hypothalamus glands can help infertile women but not infertile men. A recent herbal product that can cure male importance may be just what you need to conceive.
There’s a 20% – 40% chance of success for fertility drugs to work. However these drugs come with side effects that include nausea, weight gain, water retention (edema), bloating, and tenderness in the stomach
Certain research data also show that usage of these drugs can also lead breast cancer.
In contrast acupuncture treatment for infertility has little if no side effects at all while at the same time can perform the same function as medications, which are resolving the underlying cause of both male and female infertility, properly balancing the hormones, and stimulating the hypothalamus in order to also balance the endocrine system.
The Good News is That Acupuncture Can Help Cure You of Your Dandruff
Almost all people all over the world suffer from dandruff in varying degrees and on a regular basis. We may all have dealt with this problem at some point in our lives.
Dandruff comes about because we all are affected by the environment and we all may have suffered from certain issues that made our body produce excess oil causing the scalp to produce a lot of dandruff.
Because the skin is the largest organ in the human body, it is one of the parts of our body that is most susceptible to damage. Our skin’s constant exposure to the elements is one huge contributing factor for it being damaged.
These are the reasons why individuals have dry or oily hair that leads to dandruff. A person does not need to have a thick and rich mane in order to suffer from dandruff nor do they need to have a problem with their hair in order to experience this condition.
As a result of skin damage due to the skin’s exposure to the elements or because of fungal infection, the skin starts to degenerate which often leads to dandruff.
What then are the ways to resolve this problem?
Other than the almost impossible task of isolating yourself from the world just to avoid dandruff, you can avail yourself of natural modes of treatment to help you treat your condition.
One of these natural forms of dandruff treatment is acupuncture, an ancient form of Chinese medicine that has been used for thousands of years. This treatment not only can boost the flow of blood in the body, it also can activate several parts of your body to get them working normally and efficiently once again.
Having your dandruff treated with acupuncture therapy in Overland Park is not only possible but it can be done on a regular basis. If you are scared about the needles used in this treatment, there’s no need to be since you can opt for other acupuncture procedures that do not involve the use of needles but still produce the same satisfactory outcomes.
You can also visit your acupuncturist ahead of time and observe the treatment to help put your mind at ease. Acupuncture is a very safe treatment that produces terrific results!
By availing of acupuncture, you will be able to get rid of your dandruff problems permanently. Instead of using conventional and less effective procedures that simply cover up your symptoms, with acupuncture, your symptoms are not only resolved but the root cause of your problem is addressed as well.
The Effectiveness of Acupuncture as a Complementary Therapy for COPD
COPD or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease has turned into the third deadliest disease in the United States behind cardiovascular disease and cancer. Considered a progressive illness, COPD worsens over time with no real cure for this condition.
Western physicians often advise their patients to stop smoking. They either prescribe pharmaceutical medications that carry toxic substances and harmful side effects or oxygen bottles. Conventional Western medicine’s aim is to control the disease rather than cure it. They may recommend lung transplant surgery as the final resort to stop the worsening of the disease.
Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease often strikes people who smoke. Chronic smokers are the highest risk group for this lung condition. But this disease can also develop in people who are regularly subjected to asbestos filaments, chemical pollutants and toxic air. Exposure to these lethal substances can lead to COPD and/or irreparable lung damage.
Asthma is not considered a type of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Chronic bronchitis and emphysema are some of the conditions bracketed under this condition. Children with autoimmune problems are the most affected age group for asthma. Children whose asthma is due to psychosomatic causes usually experience a gradual resolution of their problem over time. This is not the case with COPD. This is a disease that is not caused by an autoimmune condition and symptoms exacerbate as the person ages.
Wheezing and breathing difficulty are common and telltale signs of a lung condition. COPD patients have productive cough (their cough expels out phlegm) while asthma patients have dry unproductive coughs. There are medications prescribed for both conditions although they are not often necessarily interchangeable.
Asthmatics rarely have the need to breathe from oxygen bottles except in really life-threatening situations; COPD sufferers, on the other hand, need to use these bottles daily to survive. Besides the obvious disparity in mortality rates, asthma and COPD have relatively few differences in between.
During an asthma attack, the patient experiences a constriction in his/her bronchial tubes. Asthma attacks however, are not necessarily chronic and do not occur on a daily basis. But in COPD patients, their symptoms are experienced on a daily basis due to the thickening and loss of loss of elasticity of their respiratory tract. The symptoms can be felt in varying degrees, and as I said, are experienced every day.
Tarzana Acupuncture and COPD – A Japanese Study
Recently, the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine performed a double-blind placebo test involving 70 patients with COPD all using medications and bracketed into two groups. The modalities that were used included acupuncture that was administered on one group and placebo (sham) acupuncture given to the other group.
Both treatments were given to the patients for 12 weeks. All patients were tested for dyspnea on exertion after they did a 6 minute walk during the pre-testing (before the tests began) and post-testing periods (after the testing period ended). A Borg scale was used to measure the perceived intensity of exertion on the walk.
According to the study’s conductors the group treated with acupuncture exhibited higher Borg scores, which meant they had more energy and capacity to endure and put forth more exercise, while showing less shortness of breath or DOE after the exercise walk as compared to the group treated with placebo acupuncture.
The heads of the study stated that acupuncture can be a really helpful complementary treatment to conventional medicine for the treatment of dyspnea.
Conclusion
If you are really desirous of health, it is then not a good idea to use toxic therapies and ignore safe and effective ones. The above-mentioned study, though admirable, excluded the use of Chinese herbal medicine and other Traditional Chinese Medicine’s (TCM) modalities. Chinese herbal formulas are often used along with acupuncture by TCM practitioners to help treat COPD.
The good news is that more and more Americans are using Western supplements that have been proven effective in resolving inflammation and removing hardened tissues. Some of these supplements contain a proteolytic known as serrapeptase that can dissolve inflammation, blood clots, and even plaque in the arteries.
Serrapeptase has the ability to dissolve mucus, proteins and scar tissues that have been inflamed. It is surprisingly inexpensive and readily available.
There was a story of a man who had a severe case of emphysema COPD. He was wheelchair-bound and breathing with the aid of an oxygen tank. Someone recommended him serrapeptase in lieu of the steroids he was taking. His turnaround was remarkable.
TCM Modes of Treatment That Can Successfully Treat Ulcerative Colitis
Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a disease in which the large intestine becomes inflamed and ulcerated resulting in diarrhea usually accompanied by pus and bleeding. People at greater risk of developing this condition include those who are at the ages of 15 to 30. Initially, the symptoms of UC include mild cramping in the lower part of the abdomen but as the condition progresses it may lead to colon cancer or weight loss and fatigue.
Traditional Chinese medicine diagnoses ulcerative colitis as due to heat and dampness. These two factors can develop due to irregularities in a person’s eating habits which may include a habit of consuming alcohol and eating excessively spicy, oily and greasy foods. The fact is, an overwhelming number of ulcerative colitis sufferers have stated that the symptoms began after a bout of alcohol. UC symptoms can also develop from precipitating factors including excessive anger, over worrying and other extreme emotions.
Ulcerative colitis treatment with acupuncture usually entails the treatment of the spleen and liver to rein in the anger and other strong emotions to prevent them from becoming too strong that they start burdening the body.
Both traditional Chinese medicine and Western medicine advocate the avoidance of raw vegetables and fruits for this condition. This is because the spleen and stomach require cooked and warm foods to make them easily digestible.
A report published by the Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterolgy in 2006 revealed that a combination of moxibustion and acupuncture treatments for ulcerative colitis provided extra therapeutic benefits including the lowering of inflammation, and an improvement in well being and the quality of life of the ulcerative colitis sufferer. Only 10 sessions were needed to bring about these impressive results.
Almost all Chinese hospitals utilize the trio of Chinese herbal medicine, moxibustion, and acupuncture to successfully treat ulcerative colitis.
Christina Prieto is an Orlando acupuncturist, a certified Yoga instructor and the founder of Harmony Wellness center in central Florida.
Studies Proving Acupuncture’s Ability to Resolve Osteoarthritis Symptoms
Acupuncture is a Chinese medical practice of sticking filiform needles into specific points in the body to bolster well being and health. It has been practiced for 3,000 years in China and other parts of East Asia. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that more than 2 million American adults underwent acupuncture treatment in 2002. The traditional type of acupuncture has been the most researched acupuncture technique ever and it involves the use of metallic, solid, thin needles stuck into the skin and are manipulated with the hands or with electrical stimulation. Scientific studies in recent years have opened up more light into the potential benefits and possible mechanisms of acupuncture especially if they’re used for the treatment of painful illnesses like arthritis.
Improving function and providing alleviation of pain, acupuncture is ideal for the treatment of knee osteoarthritis and can be an effective adjunct to conventional treatment. A controlled phase III randomized study that was sponsored by the NIAMS (National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases) and NCCAM (National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine), two of the many branches of the NIH (National Institutes of Health), tested the effectiveness of acupuncture for the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee in Miami.
Around 570 patients with ages 50 years and above were used in this study. All of them were suffering from osteoarthritis of the knee. All patients were also experiencing osteoarthritis for at least a month prior to the beginning of the study. All of them neither had acupuncture treatment before nor had knee surgery in the previous 6 months. They also were not given any steroid injection. The subjects were randomly assigned to one of three therapies: sham acupuncture, acupuncture and taking part in a control group that did self-help course for the management of their ailment in accordance with guidelines formulated by the Arthritis Foundation. The subjects were still administered with conventional medical care such as opioid painkillers, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory medications, cox-2 selective inhibitors and other anti-inflammatory drugs.
This is the first time that a test of this magnitude was performed to see if acupuncture can resolve the functional impairment and alleviate the pain caused by of osteoarthritis of the knee. The outcomes showed that acupuncture truly was effective in terms of being an adjunct treatment to a conventional regimen of care which has led to the improvement of the quality of life of knee osteoarthritis sufferers.
In the United States, about 21 million adults suffer from osteoarthritis. This condition is one the most common causes of disability among adults which makes it more important to seek out a effective and alternative way of treatment to improve joint function and banish pain.
In another study done at the University of Maryland School of Medicine at Baltimore, Maryland, a total of 381 patients were given one of two types of acupuncture treatments. The subjects were divided into two groups with one group given true acupuncture while another group received sham acupuncture. All subjects were given a total of 24 treatments over a span of 26 weeks. The subjects treated with sham acupuncture were prevented from being able to know if needles were inserted at the proper acupoints. Each patient in both groups had a screen that prevented them from seeing the area of the knee where the treatment took place. They also had no idea what kind of acupuncture treatment they were receiving. A control group composed of 189 subjects watched total of 6, 2-hour group sessions for 3 months based on a self-help course sponsored by the Arthritis Foundation.
All the patient’s knee function and pain were evaluated after 4, 8, 14, and 26 weeks using standard measurement tools and standard arthritis research survey instruments. At the end of the eight week, the group treated with acupuncture exhibited a substantial improvement in function. At the end of the 14th week, a substantial subsiding of pain in the subjects treated with real acupuncture was noted, much more compared to the control and sham acupuncture groups. On average the group given true acupuncture experienced a 40% markdown of their pain and an almost 40% increase in function compared to baseline evaluations.
These studies prove the fact that acupuncture is a tried and tested adjunct treatment to Western modalities for the of treatment of osteoarthritis.