Acupuncture patients not only experience greater physical well-being but an improved state of overall health and wellness. This includes a greater sense of mental and emotional healthfulness, which makes acupuncture an essential component to any integrative health care plan and just plain living life. Below are some common general wellness complaints that often go uncared for, but that acupuncture is great for enhancing. In addition, if you are just looking to fine-tune your self-care routine, and be the best possible you can be, acupuncture is a must-do.
In addition, we may recommend custom herbal remedies and supplements designed to support your health concern(s) or for general wellness.
SLEEP
Do you have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep? Do you wake at the same time each night? Do you wake tired? Sleep is the ultimate self-healer of the body and mind and the most underrated wellness component. Making sure sleep is a priority and getting more quality zzzzz’s is often overlooked. In today’s society, far too many people rely on sleep aids to attain sleep. Even a little sleep problem can wreak havoc in your life. Acupuncture can help quiet the mind, increase relaxation, and decrease stress to promote sleep. The treatment can also help increase the release of natural melatonin in the body to help improve sleep.
ENERGY
Do you feel like you have enough energy? Do you have so much energy that you can’t unwind? How is your sexual energy? Do you experience daily energy dips? Feel fatigued after eating? The Life Force within us seeks to flow freely and evenly. Blockages and energy imbalances can affect all aspects of our health including our mental and emotional health, our sleep, immune system, libido, fertility, digestion, and elimination. Energy levels are an indicator of internal harmony, and thus it is important not to overlook the signs and symbols that our body give us. Acupuncture treatments deal directly with the movement and balance of our energy.
MOOD
Are you irritable or on edge? Do you wish you could relax more or deeper? Do you suffer from stress, anxiety, or depression? In a healthy state, we should be able to feel and express all of the five emotions (anger, joy, pensiveness, sadness, and fear, and two additional shock-fright and worry) and their variations. In Chinese Medicine, every illness or imbalance of energy is connected with a different emotion. The use of acupuncture can help manage symptoms of emotional and mental health issues and boost overall well-being by promoting the release of endorphins. Endorphins are hormones produced by the brain that cause positive and pleasant feelings.
IMMUNITY
Do you have frequent colds and flu? Do you have low energy? Want to give your immunity a boost? Much of the body’s immune response depends on the gut microbiome and ensuring that it is in balance. A study published by the National Institutes of Health revealed that acupuncture with e-stim can increase the number of T cells in the body. And, general acupuncture can decrease inflammation, which is paramount to a top-notch immune system. When your body’s energy is sluggish, your body falls prey to viruses more readily. Conversely, when your energy is in balance, you can fight off “invaders” with greater ease. By stimulating portions of the nervous system through specific acupoints, responses in the immune system are triggered. In this way, acupuncture is used preventively to shore up a healthy and strong immune response.
POST-SURGICAL RECOVERY
At the most fundamental level, we must allow for the smooth passage of qi and blood to reduce inflammation, fluid retention, and an accumulation of toxins. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine are often the perfect supplemental treatments to assist in surgical healing where even the tiniest of vessels are compromised at an incision site. While it may be more common to think of acupuncture when one undergoes cancer care treatment, it is also a great alternative to traditional painkillers after routine procedures and complex surgeries alike. It can even help cut your recovery time in half by inhibiting the inflammatory process, promoting microcirculation in tiny vasculature, and disarming the nervous system to interrupt pain.
RESPIRATORY ISSUES
Do you suffer from a chronic cough or frequent sinus infections? Annoying allergies or aggravating asthma leave you feeling drained? From a Chinese point of view, some respiratory issues are due to a deficiency of the Lung and Kidneys’ defensive-qi systems. Herbs and acupuncture help to reduce congestion, open the nasal passages, and nourish the Lungs and Kidneys. Western treatment of allergies relies mostly on the use of antihistamines. Unfortunately, those only treat the symptoms of the disease and not the root. Chinese medicine and acupuncture offer respiratory sufferers a way to strengthen their bodies, which in turn helps relieve symptoms.
URINARY COMPLAINTS
Do you suffer from recurrent UTIs? Do you awaken nightly to urinate, and if so how often? Acupuncture exams are interested in urinary frequency, control, color, odor, history of urogenital infections, burning, discharge, retention, and a time of day when any of these might be more prominent. Though the bladder is the organ most in charge of the urinary function, the flow of waste from the body may have much to do with several other functions and organs. Whether you suffer from urinary incontinence, interstitial cystitis, or other urinary complaints, gentle acupuncture treatments can have a pretty immediate effect on relieving symptoms.
CIRCULATORY ISSUES
Do you have cold hands and feet? Do you suffer from varicose veins or Raynaud’s Disease? When this happens, smaller arteries that supply blood to your skin become narrow, limiting blood flow to affected areas. Since redirecting and replenishing blood flow is acupuncture’s specialty, it makes perfect sense that acupuncture improves blood circulation. Treatments dilate constricted blood vessels that inhibit blood flow and relieve symptoms associated with circulatory issues.
CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE
In Western medicine, there are certainly “signs” associated with heart disease. Precursors often include high cholesterol, high blood pressure, peripheral artery pain, arrhythmia, angina, and more. Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine have been used for centuries in treating disorders of the heart and uncovering the signs and symptoms of systemic imbalances that may lead to heart disease.
AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE
Autoimmune disease occurs when the body’s immune system mistakenly sees its own tissue as an enemy invader and tries to destroy it. There are currently more than 100 confirmed or suspected autoimmune diseases, each with its own triggers and side effects. One in five people suffer from some form of autoimmune disease, and they can be mild, such as dry eyes, or severe such as multiple sclerosis, lupus, Hashimoto’s, or rheumatoid arthritis. Many autoimmune diseases have a “trigger” that can be identified, controlled, or avoided. That is where acupuncture comes into play because it works by calming the body’s immune system. It may also reverse the body’s sensitivity to the “trigger,” thereby stabilizing the progression of the autoimmune disease.