The Role of Acupuncture in Treating Chronic Pain
Do you suffer from chronic pain? If so, you’re not alone. One out of every three adults are living with some form of chronic pain, and this number has been steadily increasing over the last decade. Acupuncture is a treatment that can help relieve your pain without the need for drugs or surgery. In this article, we will dwell more on this treatment for chronic pain.
What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a form of complementary and alternative medicine. It originated several thousand years ago in China, where it remains part of mainstream medical treatment today. Acupuncture practices have been used to treat various conditions in different parts of the world with varying success. The word “acupuncture” comes from Latin, meaning “to prick with a sharp instrument.” Today, acupuncture is more commonly practiced by inserting thin, solid needles into the body at certain points. It is one of the major components of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
How does it work?
Acupuncture works by stimulating specific points in your body. Called acupoints, they are located all over the body and correspond to specific internal organs. Stimulating these points regulates or influences your vital energy (also called qi) in a positive way, similar to the effect of the hormone signaling system in your brain that tells your lungs to breathe when you need oxygen. The acupuncture point may be stimulated with heat, pressure, or needles.
The needles used in acupuncture are extremely thin, about the width of human hair. Some people receive electroacupuncture, which uses a small electrical current to stimulate the needle once it has been inserted. A few studies have shown that acupuncture may affect the release of neurotransmitters, peptides, and other substances in your brain. In addition, understanding how acupuncture works may help researchers develop new treatments for chronic pain.
The Role of Acupuncture in Treating Chronic Pain
Acupuncture has been used to treat a number of conditions, including cancer-related side effects, osteoarthritis, tinnitus (ringing in the ears), and Crohn’s disease. For many years, acupuncture has been used to help people with chronic low back pain. Most of these studies combined acupuncture, exercise, and other therapies. For example, a recent review pooled data from 13 high-quality studies that compared real acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or no treatment in more than 2,000 people with chronic low-back pain. Real acupuncture was associated with greater improvement in symptoms than sham acupuncture or no treatment. There is some evidence that real acupuncture worked better than fake (placebo) acupuncture, but both forms of acupuncture were more effective than not having acupuncture at all.
Learn more: How Does Acupuncture Work for Pain?
Benefits of Acupuncture
Acupuncture is beneficial for stress reduction and relaxation. This can be extremely helpful for chronic pain sufferers who are also dealing with the emotional aspect of pain. Although acupuncture has grown in popularity, especially for chronic low-back pain, it is not without controversy.
Where to find a practitioner in your area
Licensing requirements vary from state to state, but all states require a license to practice acupuncture. If you are interested in treatment for chronic pain with acupuncture, ask your doctors or health care providers about practitioners in your area. Keep in mind that because there is no federal regulation of acupuncture, there are no guarantees about the training and experience of any practitioner for acupuncture injection in Davie.
