Acupuncture & Chinese Herbs for Stress

Researchers have found more people are turning to acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine to alleviate symptoms caused by the emotional stress of everyday life. Their findings indicate more people are seeking acupuncture and herbal treatments for emotional issues such as depression, stress and anxiety.

With people working longer hours and dealing with the economic and social pressures of today, many are finding it hard to cope. The top three emotional issues for which acupuncture treatment is sought are depression (18%), anxiety (13%) and insomnia (10%) with stress following closely behind.

At least one out of every six people becomes depressed or anxious in the course of their lives. One in 20 is clinically depressed. Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are playing a bigger part in the way patients address mental health issues. Stress, anxiety, depression and other psycho-emotional disorders tend to bind up and stagnate the flow energy and blood in the body, which can lead to even more serious health problems.

Depression and anxiety are, actually, one of the most common health issues acupuncturists are approached about. An acupuncture session completely focuses on the patient and hears what they experience. It involves one-on-one time in order to understand them as an individual with their treatment plan specifically custom made. This, in combination with the needling to lift mood and give much needed relief, can be very powerful. Depression is in the top five health problems among acupuncture patients alongside back pain, fertility, headaches and skin problems.

Acupuncture is an Oriental therapy that aims to improve the overall wellbeing of the patient, rather than treating specific symptoms in isolation. Traditional Chinese philosophy states that our health is dependent on the body's motivating energy - known as Qi - moving in a smooth and balanced way through a series of meridians (channels) beneath the skin.

For any number of reasons the flow of Qi can be disturbed leading to impaired health. By inserting fine needles into the channels or meridians of energy or Qi, an acupuncturist can stimulate one’s own healing response and help restore its natural balance. For many patients a natural approach is preferred over western pharmacological drug therapies, which never actually treat the root cause of these disorders.

Meridian Harmonics

Acupuncture Beats Aspirin For Chronic Headache

Researchers report acupuncture works better than drugs like aspirin to reduce the severity and frequency of chronic headaches. The study involved nearly 4,000 patients with migraine, tension headache and other forms of chronic headache and showed 62 percent of the acupuncture patients reported headache relief compared to 45 percent of people taking medications. Researchers say 53 percent of patients given true acupuncture were helped, compared to 45 percent receiving sham therapy involving needles inserted in non-medical positions.

Acupuncture is becoming a favorable option for a variety of purposes, ranging from enhancing fertility to decreasing post-operative pain, because people experience significantly fewer side effects and it can be less expensive than other options. One of the barriers to treatment with acupuncture is getting people to understand that while needles are used, it is not a painful experience. It is a method for releasing your body's own natural painkillers.

The researchers found it took on average five to six visits for patients to report sustained headache relief. In Chinese medicine, headaches have a number of different etiologies. Each requires unique therapeutic strategies to treat successfully. The key is determining the individual cause for each patient's particular type of headache.


Meridian Harmonics