Many of us have a general understanding of what acupuncture treatments entail. An acupuncturist inserts needles into the body to help make us feel better. What many people don’t realize is that not only is acupuncture a great option for a variety of health complaints, but it can be painless!

I practice the modern approach to acupuncture often dubbed “Western Acupuncture”. Western acupuncture focuses on improving the healing mechanisms of the body.  This form of acupuncture focuses directly on your injuries (injuries that involve either the nerves, the muscles, or the joints/bones).  Your injury is treated using acupuncture in three levels of care:

1. The Local or Anatomical Treatment
2. The Spinal or Segmental Treatment
3. The Central or Brain Treatment

The Local Anatomical Treatment:

The local anatomical treatment focuses on the specific structures that have been injured. For example, if you twist your knee while skiing, damage is done to the knee ligaments. In addition, there would be swelling and the nerves in that area would produce more pain signals. A local treatment use needles to stimulate the healing of these sprained ligaments. It mobilizes the swelling into the lymphatic system, and helps calm the nerves making them produce less pain.

The Spinal Segmental Treatment:

Our body has many master nerves that travel down the spine via the spinal cord. Nerves exit the spine at specific levels depending on where they are going. Nerves to the arms come out of the neck; and nerves for the legs come out of the lower back.  The spinal treatment traces the injured area (like our sprained knee) back to where it emerges from the spine. Acupuncture is performed on the spine to decrease the segmental irritation caused by your injuries.

The Central or Brain Treatment:

Our body is controlled by the nervous system, and the nervous system is controlled by the brain. The brain processes information and decides what to do. When you’re injured, the tissues generate pain signals. Your brain determines how much pain your feel, where it hurts, and what it feels like. Central treatments use acupuncture to help decrease the perception of pain. Treating the brain helps decrease the intensity of pain, decrease the size of the area that hurts, and can change it from a sharp pain to a more achy pain.

A place holder

Within this treatment model; just about any pain becomes a simple fix requiring only repeated treatments and time. Fibromyalgia, knee sprains, headaches, neck pain, and herniated discs are but a few of the conditions that acupuncture can reverse. And once the condition is properly controlled, acupuncture can also be used to enhance the effectiveness of the rehabilitation process and ensure a lasting improvement even with less frequent care.

ANOTHER PLACE HOLDER

Perhaps you can think of someone who could benefit from acupuncture. Maybe that someone is you. If you are a current patient at our office, please feel free to discuss with me directly. If you’re a new patient, consider adding acupuncture to you treatment regimen to ensure you get the best care possible and ensure you’re living life better.