Here at Synapse, our deepest desire is to elevate the health and wholeness of our patients. Whether by directly treating a condition, or supporting your health in and through a condition, we are passionate about using techniques and treatments that promote health and healing. Acupuncture is one of those techniques.
Acupuncture works in several ways to help the body heal. Most people either don’t understand it, or simply don’t like the idea of needles. We hope this article brings some clarity and understanding to Acupuncture and how you might benefit from it.
If you don’t like needles, don’t worry. Acupuncture can be performed not only by using the traditionally though of needles, but also by applying acupressure, electrical acupuncture, moxa (heat therapy), or laser to stimulate the meridians. Meridian are the physical energy pathways in your body. Some pathways are directly related to specific organs. By applying Acupuncture (or pressure, electrical, heat, etc.) to these pathways, healing is stimulated.
Here are four examples of how Acupuncture helps the body heal:
- The needle is a metal irritant that enters the body. This causes the immune system and blood to flow to the areas, which bring with it healing abilities.
- It stimulates pain receptors, which in turn stimulate an area in the brainstem called the periaqueductal gray matter. This area is responsible for releasing natural enkephalins that help reduce pain felt by the patient.
- When you stick a needle in a tight muscle, little nerve endings called proprioceptors are stimulated. When needles are left in for 15 minutes, this constant stimulation to the proprioceptor causes it to fatigue out and release, allowing for the muscle tone to relax and reset.
- In addition to circulation and lymphatic flow, we also have an energy flow that can get stagnant. The metal needles have a charge to them that attract the electrons in the body. This helps get the energy flow to move. Areas of injury collect negative charged ions. To get the negative charges to move away from an area by performing acupuncture, can aid in healing.
At Synapse, we also performed techniques closely related to acupuncture, including Guasha and Cupping.
Guasha is a technique that uses a Chinese soup spoon or something similarly shaped (some cultures will use a quarter to get the job done) to stimulate tissue mobilization. The goal is to remove muscle adhesions and scar tissue within the fascial tissue layers to promote proper muscle contraction and relaxation, improving range of motion, and reducing pain.
Cupping: is a technique that uses a suction pressure to encourage detoxification of an area and to improve blood flow to an injured area.
Still not sure if Acupuncture is right for you? Here is a list of some of the conditions that respond well to Acupuncture:
- Muscle spasms, muscle trigger points, muscle adhesions
- Migraines/headaches
- Tennis or golfer’s elbow
- Carpal tunnel syndrome
- Rotator Cuff dysfunction
- Mental health/anxiety
- Vertigo/nausea
- Greater Trochanteric Bursitis
- Fatigue
- Fibromyalgia
- Detoxification process
If you suffer from any of the above conditions, or are seeking a pill-free alternative to pain management, Acupuncture may be the right treatment choice for you.
Dr. Amber is our Acupuncture specialist. She has been certified in Acupuncture and practicing it for the past ten years.
Contact us today at 651-209-9906 to set up an appointment with Dr. Amber and find health, healing and wholeness through Acupuncture.
