Medical Acupuncture
What is Medical Acupuncture?
Medical acupuncture is the practice of utilising sterilised acupuncture needles to treat a medical condition to reduce pain and enhance your quality of life.
Unlike traditional Chinese acupuncture, medical acupuncture does not rely on the meridian system and has been studied in depth by researchers in the medical field.
With medical acupuncture, your skilled practitioner will assess the tissues in the injured or aching region of your body to determine where is best to place the needles to help you feel better.
How is Medical Acupuncture done?
Medical acupuncture requires a skilled provider to thoroughly examine the tissues in the injured or aching region of your body first.
Your provider will use palpation to identify trigger points or sensitive spots in the injured tissues.
After these trigger points have been identified, your provider will place a needle in the trigger point to allow the tissue to release.
The provider may manipulate the needle gently after it is inserted if this is needed to elicit the desired tissue response.
When the needle is placed in the trigger point, you may experience what is called a “twitch response” where the muscle briefly twitches underneath the needle. This is a normal response indicating the tissue needs to be released.
The needle will remain in the tissue until the desired effect is achieved and then your provider will gently remove the needle.
Your provider may also utilise their knowledge of referral pain patterns to effectively place needles in areas of the tissue that will result in positive neural activation and reduce pain.
In some cases, your provider may also utilise electrical stimulation with the needles to help enhance the tissue response to the needles and further the tissue healing response.
The electrical stimulation is attached to the needles and is often described as feeling like a buzzing or pressure sensation that is pleasant and relaxing.
What is the aim of Medical Acupuncture?
The aim of medical acupuncture is to decrease your pain while promoting overall wellness throughout your body.
Medical acupuncture promotes tissue relaxation which will not only alleviate pain, but also will improve that tissue’s mobility.
When the tissue mobility improves, you can then perform functional movement patterns without a sense of tightness or stiffness.
Medical acupuncture also promotes the release of endorphins into the bloodstream, which can help to manage chronic pain and improve your mood.
Medical acupuncture can also be used to help alleviate high levels of stress through promoting a calming response in your nervous system.
Through these physiological responses, medical acupuncture allows you to live life in less pain and return to doing the activities you want to do.
Benefits of Medical Acupuncture?
The benefits of medical acupuncture are often both physical and emotional.
Some of the benefits of medical acupuncture include:
- Reduced pain in an acutely injured tissue
- Decreased pain in a region of the body with chronic pain
- Improved management of fibromyalgia symptoms
- Elimination of headaches
- Improved sleep quality
- Reduced cortisol levels (less stress)
- Improved emotional regulation
