In a recent survey, WebMD found nearly 3.5 million Americans said they have done acupuncture in the previous year.
If you haven’t tried acupuncture before, could you be missing out?
When it comes to treatment some of the oldest methods have always proved beneficial over western medicine.
One of such old traditional Chinese methods which are in practice for centuries to cure diseases is called acupuncture.
Acupuncture involves the insertion of needles at various strategic points in the body.
Acupuncturist insert needles into these strategic points with the right combination in order to bring back the body’s normal energy flow into balance.
What are some of the benefits of acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a well renowned treatment very popular all over the world.
Acupuncture treatment has a host of benefits.
Body pains
Acupuncture treatment help relieve pain from all parts of the body.
Its helps reduce back pain or chronic pain. Joint pains are very common and can be treated by acupuncture.
Stress management
Many people suffer from stress and anxiety.
Acupuncture help relieve body from stress targeting the strategic parts in the body.
Read more on how to manage your stress, along with the dangers of long-term, untreated chronic stress to your mind and body.
Headaches & migraines
Many people suffer from migraine resulting in several headaches throughout the day.
Taking several acupuncture treatments from time to time can reduce headaches.
What to do if you want to try acupuncture, but scared of the needles?
It is quite natural for anyone to be scared as the process of acupuncture we know involves inserting many needles into various parts of the body.
At first sight it might scare you but frankly the process is painless.
The fear is because we have always associated needles with pricking and dentist visits.
Many of you will be very excited to hear that acupuncture have many healing techniques from which only one healing technique uses needles, rest are needle free.
Some of these healing techniques are known as cupping, qua sha, moxibustion and qigong.
What are the risks associated with acupuncture?
The acupuncture procedures are usually very safe since it is an extremely delicate process that requires medical training and prior instruction for each acupuncturist, which is the person who performs the acupuncture procedure.
However, there are still risks and according to studies in Germany and Great Britain, these risks can represent 10% of treatments.
Some risks are:
- Pneumothorax or lung collapse.
- Spinal cord injuries.
- Heart damage.
- Loss of consciousness.
- Bruising in the places where the puncture is performed.
- Muscle pains.
- Dizziness.
- Retained needles.
Generally, the most serious risk is the collapse of the lung or pneumothorax, as it is caused by a needle that has pierced the pleural membranes of the lung.
