Benefits of Massage and Acupuncture for Trauma and PTSD

by urban-acupuncture | Mar 23, 2021 | Acupuncture, Massage Therapy

Trauma and PTSD Treatment

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) is a complex and serious mental health disorder resulting from a traumatic experience. If left unrecognized and untreated, the symptoms of PTSD can be extremely debilitating. They can interfere with an individual’s ability to work, to maintain relationships, and live a healthy, fulfilling life.

PTSD is rooted in the body’s “fight or flight” instinct. This instinct enables us to react quickly to a traumatic event. The body automatically triggers an appropriate response to danger and then turns that reaction off when the danger is past.

When the trauma is severe or of long duration, however, that “fight or flight” reaction continues even after the danger is past. The inability to shut off the “fight or flight” instinct leads to the symptoms we now associate with PTSD. Just a few of the most common symptoms include:

• Hypersensitivity and hyperawareness
• Anxiety
• Depression
• Irritability and anger
• Insomnia / difficulty sleeping
• Flashbacks and nightmares
• Feelings of isolation and detachment
• Physical pain (not related to a specific physical cause)

Treatment for PTSD usually involves a long-term commitment to psychotherapy, as well as medications if necessary to control some specific symptoms.

Touch therapies such as acupuncture and massage can also play an important role in managing PTSD symptoms and in longer term recovery.

In the short term, massage and acupuncture can help promote relaxation while decreasing feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression. Over the longer term, touch therapy like acupuncture and massage can help individuals with PTSD manage their feelings relating to touch, trust, control, and relationship-building.

Stress-Reducing Benefits of Massage and Acupuncture for PTSD

Both acupuncture and massage are well known for their ability to help minimize stress, anxiety, and depression. This is especially important for individuals with PTSD, for whom these feelings can be overwhelming.

Massage addresses stress that is held in the body as muscle tension. Massage therapy releases this tension by manipulating and kneading those tight muscles. Promoting physical relaxation can reduce body aches and headaches that result from stress and anxiety. And it often leads to an overall positive impact on emotional health and overall well-being.

Acupuncture works differently than massage, but has similar stress-reducing effects that can be highly effective for individuals with PTSD. Acupuncture works by re-balancing the body’s flow of life energy (“qi”). By inserting very thin sterile needles into key points around the body, acupuncture helps stimulate the body’s self-healing mechanisms to reduce feelings of stress, anxiety, and depression.

Touch Therapy Can Help Build Trust for PTSD Patients

Massage and acupuncture can play a critical role in helping to reduce feelings of stress and anxiety, while promoting relaxation, for patients with PTSD.

However, touch therapies like acupuncture and massage can also help individuals with PTSD learn to rebuild trust and control.

In other words, how the therapies are handled can be just as important as the therapy itself.

For many people suffering from PTSD, touch itself can be a triggering event. Over the long term, touch therapy like acupuncture and massage can help these individuals accept physical contact without stimulating the “fight or flight” response.

The key lies in enabling the patient to remain in control throughout each therapy session and to build a relationship of trust with the licensed massage therapist or acupuncturist.

Open communication from the very first consultation through the conclusion of each therapeutic session is absolutely critical to long-term success.

The client must understand what to expect from each session, and trust that he or she can make changes and adaptations throughout each session, even stopping if necessary.

The massage therapist and acupuncturist must listen carefully to the client’s concerns and be willing to adapt their technique in each session to address those concerns.

Like any therapy, massage and acupuncture can help clients with PTSD find relief from their symptoms but success does not happen overnight. It requires a long-term, conservative approach designed to build trust and communication. But in the end, massage and acupuncture can play an integral role in a comprehensive treatment program for PTSD.

Contact Urban Acupuncture Center in Columbus, OH For More Information

For more information about how acupuncture, massage therapy and other alternative healing treatments can help you, please contact the Urban Acupuncture Center Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist’s team at Indianola Ave, Clintonville (614) 725-2488    |    Main St, Westerville (614) 426-4406 or  click here. Taking new patients in and around greater Columbus, Ohio.

Managing Chronic Pain with Acupuncture and Massage Treatments

by urban-acupuncture | Mar 1, 2021 | Acupuncture, Massage Therapy

Managing Chronic Pain 

If you are living with chronic pain, you know just how debilitating it can be.

Chronic pain can—and often does—take a serious toll on physical and mental health, lifestyle, and overall wellbeing. Chronic pain can lead to depression, anxiety, and disrupted sleep patterns. It can undermine the ability to work and threaten financial security. And it can interfere with an active social life and even disrupt relationships with family and friends.

Yet chronic pain is often extraordinarily difficult to manage. In fact, chronic pain management continues to be one of the most challenging aspects of medicine today.

Standard treatment for chronic pain today usually revolves around medications. Unfortunately, relying solely on medications can be problematic. Over-the-counter medications such as acetaminophen (Tylenol, etc) and NSAIDs (nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, ex.: Advil or Motrin) may not be strong enough to be effective in some cases, and can carry risk of potential health concerns with extended use.

And while pharmaceutical opioids such as OxyContin may have seemed like a “miracle drug” for chronic pain in the early 1990s, it is now quite clear that the use of opioids carries significant and serious health risks including the risk of long-term addiction and lethal overdose.

The good news is that alternative pain management therapies are available today.

Acupuncture and massage therapy can both play a highly effective role in pain management, either as stand-alone treatments or, more commonly, as part of a comprehensive pain management program incorporating multiple types of treatment.

Do Acupuncture and Massage Therapy Really Work for Chronic Pain?

An increasing body of scientific literature now indicates that both acupuncture and massage really can help relieve chronic pain for some people.

Both treatment options have been particularly effective in the treatment of lower back pain, headaches and migraines, nerve pain (especially relating to shingles), fibromyalgia, joint pain due to arthritis, and menstrual cramps.

In addition to helping relieve pain and discomfort, both acupuncture and massage have been shown to be highly effective in improving sleep, reducing feelings of depression, anxiety, and stress, and promoting relaxation. These secondary effects may not have an impact on pain reduction in and of themselves. However, they do help promote mental health and well-being, which can play a critical role in improving your overall quality of life.

How to incorporate massage therapy or acupuncture into a pain management program is unique for each patient. For some, regular massage may seem to work “miracles”; for others, acupuncture may provide effective relief. For some, a combination of both may be most effective.

And of course, these treatment options may not work for every patient, or may work only in conjunction with other, more traditional treatments.

Are Acupuncture and Massage Safe for Patients with Chronic Pain?

Massage and acupuncture may not be appropriate for all patients.

For most people, however, both acupuncture and massage may be safely incorporated into a medical and wellness plan. And most medical experts note that unless otherwise prohibited for a specific reason, both massage and acupuncture are worth trying.

Always speak to your physician and pain management specialist about whether massage or acupuncture, or both, might be appropriate for your comprehensive pain management program.

When exploring massage or acupuncture as a pain management option, be sure to choose your practitioner with care. Both your acupuncturist and your massage therapist should be fully licensed and experienced in specific pain management techniques. It’s ok to schedule consultations with multiple therapists to find the one that you feel the most comfortable with.

And it’s important that you are comfortable discussing your health and wellness concerns openly and honestly, before and during each appointment. The more you communicate about your unique situation, goals, and concerns, the most your therapist(s) will be able to effectively tailor your treatments to meet your needs.

Contact Urban Acupuncture Center in Columbus, OH For More Information

For more information about how acupuncture, massage therapy and other alternative healing treatments can help you, please contact the Urban Acupuncture Center Board Certified Licensed Acupuncturist’s team at Indianola Ave, Clintonville (614) 725-2488 or  click here. Taking new patients in and around greater Columbus, Ohio.