Chronic Pain Treatment
Acupuncture, nowadays, is proving to be quite valuable in treating chronic pain. Sometimes, the usual treatments of applying heat or ice, physiotherapy, anti-inflammatory medicines, and regular exercising stops having any effect on joint and muscle related pains. The sufferers of chronic pain can then resort to acupuncture.
All patients suffering from some kind of a chronic pain have always gone through some kind of a treatment or another. Acupuncture serves as an alternative treatment when injections and other pain relieving treatments do not work.
Acupuncture is still not the established method of treating chronic pain, but it is often recommended. The medical director of Osher Clinical Center at Brigham and Women’s Hospital which is affiliated with Harvard, Dr. Donald Levy, believes that there is ample evidence to aid the recommendation of Acupuncture to heal chronic pain.
Research has proven that about 50% of the pain can be treated by acupuncture. Near about 18,000 people complaining of chronic pain were treated with acupuncture. They had shoulder pain, back (especially lower back) and neck pain, chronic headache, and osteoarthritis. Almost all of them reported that their pain had reduced by at least 50%.
What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture involves inserting very thin needles into the skin at certain pressure points in the body. It is believed that when the needles are inserted they rectify the imbalance in the flow of energy in the body. It affects and adjusts the neurotransmitters, the immune system and the hormone levels in our body.
Is it absolutely safe?
As long as acupuncture is carried out by an expert and experienced practitioner you are definitely safe. Rarely have any negatives impacts been reported by any of the patients. Although, there are those rare times when some reports have shown that patients have picked up some kind of infection due to inappropriately sterilized needles. Sometimes the acupuncturist doesn’t have enough experience and as a result cannot handle the needles well.
Pain Management Tips
You should not begin an acupuncture treatment as soon as you start having pain somewhere. You first need to be diagnosed properly to determine what the cause of that pain is. If it is something extremely serious and cannot be treated by acupuncture you would need some other medical aid. If it is confirmed that acupuncture can treat the pain, only then should you opt for this kind of a treatment.
Weekly treatments are a good way of starting. If you start seeing benefits, increase the length between consecutive treatments. You can then go for a treatment once every month. Always ask a doctor to refer a trusted acupuncture practitioner.
Dr. Lucy Chen, practicing acupuncturist at Massachusetts General Hospital and a specialist in pain medicine, feels that the advantage of acupuncture is distinct and also that the side effects and potential adverse impact of acupuncture is low as compared to medication.”
So what are you waiting for? Chronic pain is quite common. Hundreds of adults in Columbus and other parts of Ohio prefer acupuncture to treat their chronic pain. Talk to an acupuncture specialist today and relieve yourself of any pain.
For more information about how acupuncture and other 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.