by urban-acupuncture | May 1, 2021 | Acupuncture Columbus
Reduce Back Pain With Massage
Lower back pain is an issue that’s very common. People who perform regular exercise and sports training, people who are older and even those who have postural problems can experience it.
Those who work regular 9 to 5 office jobs have to sit at their office chairs for hours on end. This is another scenario that can provoke lower back pain. People who experience lower back pain report discomfort, a tightening of the muscles and limited movement over time.
Is there anything you can do to combat lower back pain? Many people turn to medical practitioners and chiropractors to help resolve lower back pain. While these do provide benefits that improve pain and help people, they aren’t capable of completely alleviating the problem.
The role of neuromuscular massage therapy in alleviating lower back pain
Massage therapy is increasingly becoming popular among the masses. You may have heard about deep tissue massage, sports massage and even the Shiatsu massage. But what about Neuromuscular Massage Therapy?
In this form of massage therapy, the masseur addresses the soft tissues in the body. When the soft tissues in the lower back area and massaged, it immediately helps to alleviate lower back pain. According to the American Academy of Pain Management, Neuromuscular Massage Therapy has the ability to help those who are suffering from severe lower back pain.
What are the benefits of neuromuscular massage therapy?
Neuromuscular Massage Therapy is a form of restorative therapy. It can extend the benefits you obtain from medical care and help boost your body’s ability to combat lower back pain.
There are various benefits you can expect from your neuromuscular therapy sessions. These include:
- Pain Relief: The soft tissue massage treatment provides pain relief without the need for pain medications.
- Increased Mobility: When you experience lower back pain, the muscles in the area have already tightened. This causes a decrease in your general flexibility in addition to the pain. Your neuromuscular massage therapy treatment will free up the tensed muscles in your lower back, giving you freer movement.
- Stress Reduction: Consistent lower back pain is also associated with stress. Over time, you risk developing anxiety and even depression owing to the constant pain you’re experiencing. Massage therapies are known to help reduce stress. Neuromuscular massage therapy, in particular, can help you to feel relaxed and remove your stress.
- Increased Serotonin and Dopamine: Serotonin, in particular, can help reduce pain. Aside from being the ‘feel-good’ hormone that helps in mood upliftment, it also helps your body deal with pain more effectively. Your neuromuscular massage therapy session will help increase the levels of serotonin and dopamine in your body. This can in turn help alleviate lower back pain.
- Improved Blood Circulation: Blood circulation is necessary to help your muscles recover from feeling sore. Muscle soreness can often be experienced after hard physical activity. A neuromuscular massage therapy session can make you feel better and improve your body’s ability to heal itself.
Neuromuscular Massage Therapy has many benefits. Aside from alleviating lower back pain, you’ll also leave your therapy session feeling happier, more relaxed, with greater flexibility of movement, and with better immune health. If you live in Columbus, Westerville, or Clintonville in Ohio, why not book a neuromuscular massage therapy session with at Urban Acupuncture Centre? Feel the benefits of neuromuscular massage therapy and find relief from lower back pain with our masseurs.
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.
by urban-acupuncture | Dec 1, 2020 | Acupuncture Columbus
Herbal Medicine Treatments
You’ve probably heard people talking about taking herbs to help aspects of their health: ginko to boost memory, flaxseed to prevent high cholesterol, or Echinacea to prevent colds, for example. And you may have asked yourself: Do these herbal remedies really work?
On the one hand, it’s true that certain herbs can be highly effective in addressing certain ailments. On the other hand, it’s usually not as simple as picking up an “herbal supplement” from your local drug store.
Herbal medicine is an integral and highly complex element of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It has been used for thousands of years to prevent and treat a wide range of different conditions and ailments. And to be truly effective, it requires a prescription developed just for you by a licensed and experienced herbalist.
What is Chinese Herbal Medicine?
Like acupuncture, herbal medicine is premised on the belief that a body that is out of balance is more susceptible to pathogens and injury, and cannot self-heal effectively. Your unique herbal medicine formulation is designed to help bring your body back into balance and boost its ability to fight pathogens and heal itself from illness and injury.
The key to the effectiveness of herbal medicine lies in the properties of each herb and how they interact synergistically within a unique formula to address your specific imbalances. Most formulations contain four or more distinct plant-based ingredients, including leaves, flowers, bark, roots, and seeds. Your specific herbal medicine formula may be in the form of tea, powder, pills, tinctures, syrups, or topical ointment.
When is Herbal Medicine Appropriate?
By helping to re-establish your body’s natural balance—or homeostasis—Chinese Herbal Medicine can be highly effective in helping the body cope with:
- Fatigue and sleep issues
- Cold and flu symptoms
- Breathing
- Digestion
- Autoimmune disorders
- Pain management
- Mental and emotional health, including stress, anxiety, and depression
- Menstrual concerns
- Morning sickness
- Menopausal concerns
- Male and female fertility issues
- Assisting in recovery from side effects relating to cancer treatments
- Assisting in rehabilitation from chronic disease
Chinese herbal medicine is not a substitute for conventional diagnosis, treatment, or medications. However, Chinese herbal medicine can complement more traditional treatment options. Before beginning an herbal remedy, be sure to consult your medical provider.
How Can I Get a Prescription for an Herbal Remedy?
Herbal formulations must be prescribed by a Board certified herbalist who has extensive training in Chinese herbal medicine. At Urban Acupuncture Center, your initial consultation with our herbalist can be in-person or through our safe and secure online telehealth system.
During your consultation, which should last about an hour, your herbalist will discuss your general health, medical history, and lifestyle patterns, as well as your specific medical concerns and symptoms you are experiencing. If in-person, they may also perform several diagnostic measurements, such as pulse and heartrate.
Based on this initial assessment, our herbalist will prescribe a formula for the treatment of your specific health concerns. Through our convenient email system, you can purchase your prescription from our safe and reputable suppliers to be shipped directly to your home. Regular follow-up appointments with the herbalist will review the efficacy of the treatment and make adjustments as necessary.
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.
by urban-acupuncture | Nov 13, 2020 | Acupuncture Columbus
What is a Health and Wellness Coach?
When we identify a problem in our lives, our first instinct is to seek help from a specialist, someone who can help us solve that particular problem. When we are sick, we see a doctor. When we are feeling depressed or stressed, we see a therapist. When we are feeling unhealthy, we see a fitness coach or a nutritionist.
This approach—while often effective at certain times—fails to take into account the fact that we—as human beings—are not composed of distinct, separable bits that can be treated in isolation from each other. Instead, we are a complex, interconnected system. A problem in one part of that system will, inevitably, impact the whole system.
A health and wellness coach approaches health and lifestyle problems from a comprehensive, holistic perspective. By helping you understand the root causes undermining your overall health and well-being, a health and wellbeing coach can then help you create sustainable strategies to take charge of your health and develop healthy lifestyle habits.
Working with a health and lifestyle coach should be collaborative, motivating, and empowering.
- Collaborative: Because your wellness is totally unique to you, your health and wellness coach should spend a lot of time asking questions and listening to your responses. They should work closely with you to identify your unique concerns and help you develop a customized, actionable plan to improve your health and lifestyle habits.
- Motivating: Big, dramatic change—while sometimes necessary to improve your health and wellness—can feel overwhelming and unachievable. A health and wellness coach can help you stay motivated to make the necessary changes by breaking longer-term goals down into small, achievable steps.
- Empowering: You have the power to advocate for yourself and take the steps you need to bring your mind, body, and spirit back into balance and harmony. A health and wellness coach should facilitate and promote your ability to spark change, while helping you identify self-limiting behaviors that may have been undermining your health in the past.
What Kinds of Services Does a Health and Wellness Coach Offer?
A health and wellness coach seeks to offer guidance across the fields of traditional healthcare, behavioral psychology, and lifestyle management. While a health and wellness coach cannot diagnose or treat a specific physical or mental health disorder, he or she can help empower you to create a healthy, balanced lifestyle by affecting change in areas such as:
- Prioritizing self-care techniques
- Nutrition and weight loss
- Fitness and exercise
- General health
- Interpersonal relationships
- Maintaining a positive work/life balance
- Managing and coping with stress
- Setting and achieving short- and long-term goals
- Practicing positive thinking and mindfulness
Do I Need a Health and Wellness Coach?
If you are concerned about your health, wellness, or overall well-being but find yourself “stuck in a rut” and unable to effect lasting change, a health and wellness coach may be able to help.
A health and wellness coach may be able to help if you:
- Have been diagnosed with an acute or chronic medical condition that requires long-term lifestyle changes;
- Want to make a major lifestyle change to improve your long-term health and happiness, such as quitting smoking/vaping or losing weight; or,
- Find yourself overwhelmed by stress and anxiety but aren’t sure how to create a healthy lifestyle balance in response.
These are just a few of the most common reasons why many people have sought help from a health and wellness coach. The underlying reason, of course, is change. If you feel that you need to make a change in your life—whether to solve a problem or simply to improve your overall health and well-being, a health and wellness coach can help.
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.
by urban-acupuncture | Sep 12, 2020 | Acupuncture Columbus
Meditation, Mudras, and Mantra
This online workshop is the first of a series of self care and healing modalities.
Series Part 2/3 – About this Event
2020 has wrecked havoc on your nervous system, and you could be looking for alternative ways to cope with anxiety and stress.
Dawn will host a guided meditation series that includes calming breath work and peaceful mantras ( a word or sound repeated to aid concentration in meditation).
These ancient techniques require no previous experience and can be useful as a daily practice for calming the mind and soothing the spirit.
This event will be hosted virtually via Zoom. An access link will be sent to registrants prior to the event.
REGISTER NOW!
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Intuitive Healing Session
This online workshop is the third of a series of self care and healing modalities.
Series Part 3/3 – About this Event
Dawn will be sharing and in depth energy forecast for the last month of 2020, and some visions of the next year. This includes a psychic reading for the group to gain insights. This session will end with a group distance Reiki healing session.
What is distance Reiki?
The distance symbol is used to cross any distance in time or space. It allows practitioners to clear blockages from someone’s past, as well as perform reiki on someone who is not physically present. Distance Reiki works according to an ancient principle called the Hermetic Law of Similarity, which holds that we are all connected, as we are all made of energy and part of a larger whole. Invoking this law during a distance Reiki session allows the practitioner to link up to the energy field of the recipient.
How it works:
Distance Reiki can be sent to anyone, anywhere and at any time—though permission should be invoked or received in some way. When I’m performing reiki on someone who is not present, I’ll typically work with the recipient’s photo and a healing crystal. Other practitioners, however, might say that these objects unnecessary since Reiki energy can be sent to anyone simply by directing thoughts and energy to that person.
Regardless of distance, Reiki can have benefits such as increasing feelings of relaxation, happiness, empowerment, and ease.
We all have access to the life force energy, otherwise known as our chi, qi or prana, that flows through each and every living being. Distance Reiki is one of many ways to link to and channel this energy for the healing benefit of others.
This event will be hosted virtually via Zoom. An access link will be sent to registrants prior to the event.
REGISTER NOW!
by urban-acupuncture | Jul 17, 2020 | Acupuncture Columbus
Treat your Neck Pain with a Good Massage
A sore, stiff, or achy neck is an all-too-common part of life, especially as we age. Whether your neck pain is a chronic or recurrent problem that you’ve been coping with throughout your life, whether it’s the result of a traumatic event such as a car accident, or whether you simply “slept on it wrong”, it can be tough to make it through the day when you can’t easily move your neck without discomfort. And whatever the cause, neck pain can lead to a significant increase in stress and anxiety, which can, in turn, further aggravate your discomfort.
Unfortunately, identifying the ultimate cause of neck pain can be extremely difficult, complicating efforts to treat the pain effectively. Even if you know the event that led to the neck pain—such as whiplash from a car accident—knowing how the musculature and ligature of the neck was affected so as to cause discomfort can be a mystery, and one that medical science has been slow to solve. Given the complexity of the spinal column, simply blaming misalignment of the vertebrae, for instance, is likely to be a dramatic oversimplification.
There is good news, however, for those who are suffering from neck pain. First, the body has the incredible ability to self-heal even fairly significant malfunctions in this critical area. In many cases, the uncomfortable crick, stiffness, or soreness will, eventually, work itself out. Second, therapeutic massage can help dramatically reduce discomfort and pain in the neck and upper spine, even when the ultimate cause of the pain is not known. And as a bonus, massage can also address underlying mental anxiety that may be amplifying the discomfort.
Benefits of Massage as a Treatment for Neck Pain
Gentle massage can play a critical role in reducing and potentially even eliminating soreness, stiffness, and discomfort in the neck. In most cases, your licensed massage therapist will utilize light touching techniques around the cervical spine—the seven stacked vertebrae that make up the “neck”—as well as the musculature surrounding the spine. However, given the amazing complexity of the spine, and its interconnectedness to the rest of the body, gentle massage in other areas—such as the shoulders, cranium, and even lower back—may also help reduce discomfort in the neck.
A secondary—but no less important—benefit of massage in the treatment of neck pain is general relaxation and stress reduction. As noted above, pain and discomfort in the neck, regardless of the original cause, can lead to an increase in anxiety and stress. And “holding” stress and anxiety by tightening the muscles around the neck, shoulders, and scapula (shoulder blades) can aggravate the discomfort even further. Thus, eliminating stress- and anxiety-related tension around the neck can significantly reduce neck pain, even without necessarily addressing the root physical cause.
In the treatment of neck pain, a one-time massage or series of massages can be an effective part of your pain management plan. However, massage can be most effective when incorporated into a whole-body wellness plan focused on ensuring that your body is balanced, centered, and tension-free. Regularly-scheduled massage can play a vital role in maintaining both your emotional and physical health, which in turn can significantly improve your ability to manage—and potentially even prevent—neck pain.
Neck pain may be an inevitable part of life as we get older, but that doesn’t mean simply putting up with it. Gentle massage, especially when incorporated into an ongoing wellness routine, can play a vital role in reducing neck pain and even addressing the underlying sources of pain and discomfort. So don’t let neck pain slow you down: schedule your therapeutic massage today!
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.
by urban-acupuncture | Jun 3, 2020 | Acupuncture, Acupuncture Columbus
What is Asthma?
Asthma is a condition in which your airways narrow and swell and produce extra mucus. This can make breathing difficult and trigger coughing, wheezing and shortness of breath.
For some people, asthma is a minor nuisance. For others, it can be a major problem that interferes with daily activities and may lead to a life-threatening asthma attack.
Asthma can’t be cured, but its symptoms can be controlled. Because asthma often changes over time, it’s important that you work with your doctor to track your signs and symptoms and adjust treatment as needed.
Using Acupuncture to Treat Asthma Symptoms, Respiratory Issues & Allergies
People living with asthma use a variety of methods to keep their condition under control. Common methods include taking daily medicine to lower inflammation in the airways, and using inhalers for quick relief when an asthma attack strikes, according to the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute.
For some people, complementary treatment options can boost the effectiveness of conventional treatments and help keep symptoms under control. A complementary option could include acupuncture.
In Chinese medicine, asthma is called “xiao chuan”, which means wheezing and dyspnea, respectively. Chinese medicine classifies xiao and chuan as two separate illnesses with different treatments. Xiao (wheezing) is characterized by a whistling sound during breathing, increased respiration rate, dyspnea and inability to rest in a horizontal position. Chuan (shortness of breath) is characterized by dyspnea, constant opening of mouth to grasp air, raised shoulder, flared nostrils and inability to rest in a horizontal position. Patients with xiao (wheezing) generally will have chuan (shortness of breath), while patients with chuan (shortness of breath) may or may not have xiao (wheezing). In Western medicine, wheezing and shortness of breath are both considered as symptoms which may be present in many different types of pulmonary syndromes such as asthma, acute bronchitis, chronic bronchitis and emphysema.
What Science Says About Acupuncture Relieving Asthma Attacks
Researchers find acupuncture effective for relieving allergic asthma, a type of asthma triggered by allergens (e.g., dust mites, mold, pollen, foods). Symptoms include wheezing, difficulty breathing, itchy eyes, sinusitis, rhinitis, a general feeling of malaise, and sneezing. In a randomized controlled trial of 1,445 patients, acupuncture provided lasting relief for six months.
The researchers note that after the three months of acupuncture treatments, patients had significant improvements in global quality of life scores and individual parameters such as symptoms, activities, emotions, physicality, and mental function. An important finding, the durability of acupuncture was confirmed by a six month follow-up. Despite not having any acupuncture for three months following the completion of the study’s treatment regimen, the six month data point measured improvements “comparable to the 3 months’ improvements.”
If traditional treatment options don’t seem to be working or are giving you unpleasant side effects, acupuncture may be your solution.
Contact Us 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.
