WHAT IS ACUPUNCTURE?
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) believes that the meridians form the body’s energy network. The meridians ensure that blood, nutrients and energy flow throughout the body.
Stress, poor eating habits or heredity can cause a meridian to be weaker in a given person. In another person, energy can be obstructed and have difficulty flowing, resulting in the onset of symptoms related to the affected meridian. Acupuncture can restore energy flow through a meridian and help alleviate the symptoms.
During an acupuncture treatment, an acupuncturist will ask a person several questions about his or her health status as part of what is known as an energy assessment. He or she will try to identify the meridians through which energy flow is limited. Often, an acupuncturist will take a patient’s pulse and examine the tongue, which mirror what is going on inside the body.
Following this assessment, the acupuncturist will choose a series of points on the four limbs, the stomach, the face and the back, since the aim of the treatment is to alleviate the person’s symptoms, but also to identify and eliminate the cause of the problem.
The acupuncturist then inserts fine, presterilized and disposable needles into the chosen points. The needle insertion is practically painless, and feels more like a mosquito bite. Acupuncturists can also use suction cups, electric stimulation, moxa and magnets, or end a treatment with massage in order to provide maximum relief.
A treatment typically lasts 45 to 60 minutes and patients generally leave feeling relaxed. Side effects are quite rare. A person can feel somewhat tired, dizzy or chilly after a treatment. In cases of pain treatment, pain can sometimes increase after an initial treatment, but generally subsides quickly.
It is important to discuss any known health issues with the acupuncturist, and to mention what medications and natural products you are taking.
Acupuncturists can help alleviate problems affecting various systems in the body. They can generally help relieve symptoms related to digestive problems, menstrual problems, sleep problems, menopause, muscle pain or allergies.
We ordinarily recommend that patients start with a series of four treatments, that is, one treatment per week for four weeks, before deciding whether acupuncture is effective in treating their symptoms or not. TCM believes that the effects of treatment are cumulative. Therefore, the more treatments a person receives, the longer the effects will last. Once the symptoms begin to diminish, the therapist will try to space out the treatments progressively. Since each patient is different, it is impossible to guarantee that acupuncture will be effective or to determine the number of treatments required.
For more information on acupuncture, contact one of the Forcephysio team acupuncturists, who will be happy to answer your questions.