Acupuncture For Pain Relief
No matter our job, hobbies, or day to day life, most of us suffer from some degree of pain. Maybe you have sore shoulders from work, or achy knees. Maybe you suffer from headaches whenever the chinook winds roll in. Pain management is one of the most common reasons that a person takes the perceived gamble and first books in for an acupuncture treatment. Those pains can be structural such as carpal tunnel syndrome, tennis elbow, knee pain or low back pain, but surprisingly they could just as likely be things like digestive pain or headaches.
Acupuncture has been used to help manage and correct all sorts of different health conditions – both big and small – for thousands of years. In modern times, acupuncture is often thought of as analogous to pain treatment, but the greater breadth of acupuncture for the treatment of pain is often underestimated. While most of us can comfortably make the connection between the use of small needles to aid in the recovery of a physical injury or to release tight muscles, it often comes as a surprise to patients to find that it is also a powerful tool for headaches, migraines, menstrual and digestive pain.
There are many different approaches to the treatment of pain, some direct in which needles are placed in and around the location of the pain itself increasing blood circulation to those areas. Other methods treat pain distally (or from afar), primarily using points on the arms and legs to treat the rest of the body. This method, although seeming a bit peculiar to the uninitiated, is in fact tried and true and often gives near instant relief. With only a handful of carefully selected points on the limbs, stubborn headaches can shift and release in a matter of minutes, digestive or cramping pains can ease and dissipate, and aching muscles can be tamed.
Take a moment to consider your own daily pains and what methods you use to help manage them. Take a moment and ask yourself if you are just managing pain, or actually resolving it.
Dr. Bob Monroe, R.Ac, TCMD
