Orthopedic pain is an issue for many Americans, and it comes in a number of different forms including knee, hip, shoulder, and other joint pain. According to many studies, acupuncture has been proven to be an effective tool to deal with orthopedic pain.

Chronic pain can be debilitating for those suffering from it and directly impacts quality of life. People often treat chronic pain with anti-inflammatory medications (both prescription and over-the-counter), physical therapy, or with ice and heat, but those options don’t always provide long lasting relief. According to Harvard Medical School, “acupuncture is an option with a good track record that’s worth considering.” 

Harvard cites a study originally published in the Archives of Internal Medicine that found acupuncture to be a valid and effective treatment for chronic pain conditions. “Research from an international team of experts adds to the evidence that it does provide real relief from common forms of pain. The team pooled the results of 29 studies involving nearly 18,000 participants. Some had acupuncture, some had ‘sham’ acupuncture, and some didn’t have acupuncture at all. Overall, acupuncture relieved pain by about 50%.”

There are many who find relief through acupuncture treatment for their orthopedic concerns, but it’s important to note that the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment varies for each individual depending on the severity of the condition.

Here are a few ways it can help:

Acupuncture is extremely effective at pain management by modulating pain signals and stimulating the release of endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers. Following the gate control theory of pain, the needling process used can activate nerve fibers that inhibit pain signals,.

Acupuncture can reduce inflammation, improve blood flow, aid in muscle relaxation, improve joint and mobility function, address nerve compression, and reduce the stress that so often comes with orthopedic and chronic pain. 

What acupuncture does best is not to merely address the pain, but to treat the underlying cause of the pain. For example, acupuncture is often indicated to treat chronic pain conditions that radiate pain along a nerve pathway, pain causing muscle spasms, inflammation, scar tissue, and pain that is in multiple areas of the body. 

The number of acupuncture treatments required to properly address these health concerns varies according to the severity of the issue. In general terms, a chronic condition might require one to two weekly treatments for several months, while the sudden onset of pain can likely require a fewer number of visits. For others, I’ve found some patients who have experienced significant relief after just a single treatment.

Just a quick Google search of acupuncture and chronic pain studies provides ample reason to give this therapy serious consideration. One of the greatest benefits to receiving regular acupuncture treatments is that it doesn’t only relieve your current pain — having regular acupuncture sessions can reduce your overall occurrences of pain.

Regular acupuncture treatments go far beyond just pain management — you can strengthen your immune system, decrease stress, lower your blood pressure, and even improve your sleep.

If you struggle with chronic pain, acupuncture is a pharmaceutical-free, low-risk option that studies prove can offer long-term benefits for your overall health, not just your chronic pain.

After doing a proper health assessment, I’ll develop a plan to get you out of pain and back on track to a healthy and active lifestyle!

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Whether a weekend warrior, a seasoned semi-professional, or professional competitor, athletes are always looking for that competitive edge — the thing that can keep them healthy and give them a bit more in the tank to defeat the competition. 

Sports acupuncture is a great tool athletes can use as part of their overall health care strategy. Sports acupuncture is a hybrid form of acupuncture and sports medicine that is specifically used to support sports-related activity. Athletes and runners especially can use sports medicine acupuncture to relieve pain, accelerate the healing of sports related injuries, improve performance, and increase muscle flexibility. Let’s unpack each of these benefits and see just how sports acupuncture can be used to treat athletes.

Pain Management

Acupuncture is often used to alleviate the pain associated with sports injuries, overuse, or even chronic conditions developed from years of intense competition. Needles are inserted into specific points to help release endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and reduce inflammation. It’s all about restoring the balance of energy to the body to achieve ultimate wellness. 

Muscle Relaxation

Athletes can use acupuncture to address muscle tightness and spasm as well. Needles are strategically placed at various acupuncture points along the body to stimulate relaxation and reduce muscle tension. 

Injury Rehabilitation

Acupuncture can be an effective tool in an athlete’s rehabilitation plan post-injury. It can help to accelerate the healing process by improving blood circulation, reducing swelling, and promoting tissue repair. 

Stress Reduction

Athletes, especially those who compete at a very elite level, can experience extremely high levels of stress due to the intense training or simply the competitions themselves. Acupuncture can help to manage stress and anxiety by promoting relaxation and balancing the body’s energy.

Enhanced Recovery

Acupuncture can contribute to faster recovery between training sessions and competitions. It improves blood circulation and reduces muscle soreness, so athletes are often able to resume their training more quickly by incorporating regular acupuncture into their training routine. 

Immune System Support

When athletes endure intense training, it can sometimes suppress the immune system, making them more susceptible to illness. Acupuncture is believed to support the immune system by addressing the balance of energy in the body through specific meridians, thus helping athletes to stay healthy. 

Mind/Body Connection

One of the most effective things acupuncture accomplishes is the improvement of the mind/body connection. This can be an incredibly valuable tool for supporting athletic performance. Acupuncture is known to stimulate a parasympathetic nervous system response, sometimes called a state of “rest and digest.”

Regular acupuncture sessions can improve an athlete’s natural ability to tune into this mental state in times of stress or anxiety, such as right before a big race or competition. Acupuncture has been shown to support cognitive function and reduce performance anxiety.

Whether you are thinking about incorporating acupuncture into your regular wellness routine or using it as a companion to other medical treatments, talk to me today. I will take a full health history and discuss your training regimen and fitness goals. We will then work together to develop a plan specific to your needs.

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Whether you are a professional, college, or high school athlete (or maybe just a weekend warrior), you know that injuries can happen when you least expect it. Sometimes, it’s a traumatic injury because your body was pushed beyond its limit and sometimes, the injury comes from simple overuse — and every athlete wants to get back on the field, court, or track as quickly as possible.

Many athletes have discovered that acupuncture is an ideal treatment to augment recovery, speed up healing, and reduce pain. Acupuncture basically works like this. When you suffer an injury, the flow of energy (also known as Qi) to and from the area becomes disrupted which causes pain and stagnation. Blood circulation can also be limited which can extend healing times, prolong swelling and bruising, which all combine to most people taking more pain medications.

Acupuncture is used to reestablish the flow of Qi, or energy, to the injured area. This all helps to increase circulation, blood flow and to remove cellular waste from the injury. Your acupuncturist might also add herbal medicine to your acupuncture treatments to help alleviate pain. Herbs used for injuries can be applied topically or taken internally, depending on the type of injury sustained.

According to the Pacific College of Health and Science, “Specific acupuncture styles and techniques were developed to stop pain and dramatically increase recovery time. This tradition continues today, and its use has expanded into competitive athletics that result in similar injuries. Pain is one of the most common complaints in sports injuries followed by reduced function. The whole approach of Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture to the treatment of pain and reduced function is to see it as a disorder in the body’s natural state. The treatment is geared toward rectifying the disorder and restoring internal harmony.”

“Recent studies show that acupuncture effectively treats sports injuries such as strains, sprains, neck, shoulder, elbow, wrist, hip, knee and ankle pain, swollen muscles and shin splints. In addition to treating the injury, Acupuncture can also improve performance and give athletes a competitive edge.”

Because of this “competitive edge,” many professional sports teams have acupuncturists on staff to help shorten healing time and resolve overuse injuries (i.e., throwing/pitching, tennis elbow/shoulder, track and field injuries, etc.). However, you don’t have to be a competitive athlete to benefit from regular acupuncture treatments.

A 2015 study from Zhengzhou University examined the effects of Traditional Chinese Medicine style acupuncture and herbal treatments on amateur and professional athletes suffering from motor impairments due to physical training. The study ultimately found that the “total effective rate for the acupuncture only group was 70% and the herbal medicine group achieved a 62% effective rate.” Not bad results at all. However, the group receiving both acupuncture and herbal medicine achieved a total effective rate of just more than 84%. The researchers concluded that “acupuncture combined with herbs is highly effective for the treatment of physical activity induced motility impairments. The combined therapeutic approach is more effective than either treatment modality as a standalone procedure.”

If you are training for a triathlon or marathon, or you are a regular at the tennis courts or the golf course, you might want to consider regular acupuncture treatments to keep those injuries at bay. There are different preventative measures to stop injuries before they start as well as recovery plans if you have already had an acute traumatic injury.

Don’t wait, make an appointment today!

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According to the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics, almost 50,000 people die every year from opioid overdoses, more than 10 million misuse opioids in a given year, and opioids are a factor in 72% of overdose deaths. You hear about the opioid crisis on the nightly news frequently but what can be done to help people deal with chronic pain (the reason they are likely taking the opioids in the first place). Can acupuncture really help? 

Acupuncture and Pain Relief

Chronic pain can be debilitating for those suffering from it and it directly impacts quality of life. People often treat chronic pain with anti-inflammatory medications (both prescription and over-the-counter), physical therapy, or with ice and heat, but those options don’t always provide long lasting relief. People then seek out more and stronger medications to help deal with the chronic pain. This, in turn, can lead to drug dependence and an addiction to finding relief from the pain. 

What acupuncture does best is not to merely address the pain, but to treat the underlying cause of the pain. For example, acupuncture is often indicated to treat chronic pain conditions that radiate pain along a nerve pathway, pain causing muscle spasms, inflammation, scar tissue, and pain that is located in multiple areas of the body. Stopping the cycle of chronic pain is the best way to begin to address the addiction. 

Opioid Dependency

It’s important to acknowledge that many people who suffer from opioid addictions and even those who overdose don’t fit the typical profile of a drug user. These are often people who have suffered from injuries due to a car accident, workplace accident, or even a sports related injury. Injuries like these can cause chronic pain and require pain management. People become dependent on them and are simply desperate to alleviate the pain. The road to addiction can happen without people even realizing it before it is too late.

Perhaps the first benefit acupuncture offers is that it does not introduce chemicals into the patient’s body. Acupuncture is a natural way to address chronic pain by detecting the underlying issue causing the pain. By the placement of the needles, natural hormones are activated in your body to initiate healing from within. 

Those using opioids eventually develop a tolerance to them which requires larger doses to feel the desired effects. Acupuncture will address the root of the problem and not just mask the pain. It has been proven to alleviate stress, reduce inflammation, and improve mood without any chemical interference. This makes it a tremendous option for those suffering from opioid dependence.

As an entirely holistic process and with thousands of studies in support of its use for a variety of conditions, acupuncture has become a trusted pain management option. Many leading national hospitals including Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Mayo Clinic, MD Anderson, Cleveland Clinic, and others offer acupuncture as part of various treatment programs. Some of the most trusted groups in the nation have endorsed the use of acupuncture, especially for treating chronic pain. These groups include the American Medical Association, the American College of Physicians, the American Academy of Family Physicians, and the American Pain Society. 

If you or someone you love is suffering from opioid dependency, end the cycle of addiction and pain with the natural healing properties acupuncture is known for.

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According to the CDC, arthritis is a common health problem in the U.S., affecting more than 54 million people, with this number expected to rise to 78 million in the next 20 years. Among chronic diseases in the U.S., arthritis causes more disability than any other condition, including heart disease, diabetes, and back or spine problems. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the third most common type of arthritis behind osteoarthritis (prevalence 31 million) and gout (prevalence more than 8 million). RA affects More than 1.3 million in the U.S.

RA is defined as a chronic, long-term autoimmune disease, meaning your immune system begins to attack and damage healthy cells. This damage can lead to even worse symptoms. Most people assume RA is a disease impacting the joints, but there are other areas of the body that can be impacted as well. The progression of RA is different for each individual. Symptoms and treatment can vary from person to person depending on a variety of factors.

Most arthritis treatment options include non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, steroids, and various medications for pain relief. They can range from over-the-counter analgesics like Tylenol to prescription drugs like tramadol, codeine, oxycodone, and hydrocodone. These drugs often have powerful side effects and many people are looking for non-pharmacological options. The good news is studies show that acupuncture can help treat arthritis pain.

What the Research Says

Both Rheumatoid arthritis and Osteoarthritis (OA) can greatly reduce a person’s quality of life. A 2019 study revealed that people with Rheumatoid arthritis of the hand, found significant benefits from acupuncture. Participants reported less pain and improved quality of life, improved hand and arm strength and better overall health.

A 2018 study published in the Journal of Complementary and Alternative Medicine found, “beneficial outcomes following acupuncture treatment for patients with rheumatoid arthritis include less pain and joint stiffness, and improved physical functioning. The results of various human and animal studies also suggest that acupuncture has the potential to down-regulate levels of interleukins and tumor necrosis factor, specific cell signaling proteins collectively called cytokines that are involved in the inflammatory response and become elevated in autoimmune conditions like rheumatoid arthritis.”

The Arthritis Foundation believes there are several main benefits to getting acupuncture treatment:

• Stress relief, following the stimulation of endorphins and oxytocin
• Better sleep, due to the release of melatonin
• Improved sense of well-being from the release of serotonin
• Pain relief, as acupuncture stimulates nerve fibers to block out pain signals

A January 2010 study conducted a review of several studies and found acupuncture is beneficial in treating osteoarthritis in the knee. According to the 2019 American College of Rheumatology and Arthritis Foundation guidelines, acupuncture for osteoarthritis of the hand, hip, and knee is conditionally recommended. While it is generally agreed that more research needs to be done, there is evidence that acupuncture is an effective and safe alternative to prescription medication treatments.

Treatment protocols and the frequency of acupuncture visits will vary depending on the severity of your symptoms. Acupuncture visits are typically performed once or twice per week.

Don’t spend another day in pain, make an appointment today to relieve symptoms and restore your quality of life.

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Women’s health issues can be complex and unique to each person. However, traditional Western medicine solutions are full of invasive procedures that can alter hormones. Other solutions include prescription drugs that can have strong side effects for those taking them. Unfortunately, many women believe these are the only options. 

However, acupuncture can be a tremendous solution in addressing a growing number of women’s health issues. These are the six most common, but there are many more so be sure you talk to your acupuncturist when filling out your health intake so you can get each of your questions answered. 

Menstrual Issues, Menopause, and Endometriosis

Many women suffer from complications during their menstrual cycles. No two women are the same so this time of the month can be debilitating for some, causing extreme pain and discomfort. Acupuncture can be a great help in addressing the symptoms of endometriosis. Acupuncture can also be a solution for the headaches, cycle irregularity and abdominal cramps that come each month.

 Acupuncture is also a great option for those closing out their reproductive years and entering menopause. Acupuncture is an effective treatment for all the symptoms that come during this time including hot flashes, moodiness, insomnia, heart palpitations, just to name a few. 

Infertility and Pregnancy 

Pregnancy is a glorious time but it also can be challenging for many women. Acupuncture treatments can help with the low-back pain many pregnant women suffer from but it can also help with issues of morning sickness and nausea.

For those suffering from infertility, acupuncture can address the irregular menstrual cycles and endometriosis that can cause these issues. Acupuncture directs blood flow to the reproductive organs to help regulate the menstrual cycle.

Insomnia

Research has shown that, for a variety of reasons, more women than men suffer from insomnia. Clinical studies have shown that acupuncture is a great help in improving both sleep quality and duration. But the key is regular acupuncture treatments. Talk to your acupuncturist about your individualized care plan so you can get back to a restful night’s sleep!

Depression and Anxiety

For those looking for a drug-free option, clinical research has also shown that acupuncture is just as effective as antidepressants but without the harsh side effects that can come from some prescription medication. Regular acupuncture treatments can help lower blood pressure, reduce instances of anxiety and panic attacks and help to lower stress.

Chronic Pain

Chronic pain is an issue for millions of people and most people treat it by popping an over-the-counter pain medication. However, consistent acupuncture treatments can help with various chronic pain conditions whether from arthritis, fibromyalgia, or injury. Acupuncture can help with joint pain and the chronic inflammation that can come with arthritis. Check with your acupuncturist to see what care options are available if you suffer from chronic pain.

Skin Health

One of the key components of acupuncture is how it increases blood flow and this can certainly benefit skin health. Facial acupuncture has been shown to reduce puffiness and diminish fine lines and wrinkles. Most women don’t think of acupuncture for its anti-aging benefits but it has been clinically proven to be a great asset to improving facial skin health, thus improving a woman’s appearance and mood. 

If you are looking for an effective and drug-free option to treat your health issues, acupuncture is a great place to start. Talk to your clinician today to have a thorough health history so you can get a care plan in place that will address your health issues and get you back to health safely and without the side effects that can come from powerful prescription medications. Don’t wait, make an appointment today!

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Some men might not consider acupuncture as a first resort when wanting a health reset, but acupuncture can be a great way to deal with some of the issues that come with getting older. There are certainly more than four, but here are the top four ways acupuncture can improve men’s health. 

1. Reducing Stress

Many lifestyle factors can help in reducing stress levels. What many may not understand is how effective acupuncture can be at helping to reduce stress and anxiety levels. Acupuncturists can stimulate specific points on the body which can release endorphins that produce a calming effect on the nervous system. 

2. Reducing Chronic Pain

A study published in the journal Pain Medicine, showed that acupuncture was found to decrease pain intensity and frequency for people suffering from chronic low back pain. And this reduction in pain was seen after just one treatment session. Most patients experience relief with multiple sessions over several weeks, depending on the severity of the pain condition.

Studies have shown that acupuncture reduces inflammation, increases strength, improves range of motion and flexibility and can stimulate tissue repair. 

3. Improving Sleep Quality

Sleep is an essential component to good health as it allows our bodies to recover and heal. Men can struggle with achieving good sleep patterns due to high testosterone levels. Regular acupuncture treatment addresses the underlying causes of poor sleep and can help men get a better night’s rest for up to six months post-treatment in some cases.

4. Improving Fertility

Fertility issues tend to be a more talked about issue with women but men can also suffer from infertility problems. Research shows that as many as one in six couples have trouble conceiving and up to half of infertility issues are attributed to the male. Acupuncture can play a major role in helping to boost sperm quality, quantity, motility, and vitality. Acupuncture can also address low testosterone levels which can help with semen production, sex drive, and erectile dysfunction. 

Acupuncturists and Chinese medicine practitioners also have an understanding of the importance of the kidneys in sexual function and fertility issues. A kidney imbalance can contribute to a variety of issues and regular acupuncture treatments can be a great benefit to men.

These are not the only four benefits acupuncture can bring to improve men’s health but they are the most frequent reasons men seek out acupuncture. Make sure you share any additional health concerns with your acupuncturist, as they can address a variety of issues including nutrition, allergies, blood pressure, and prostate issues just to name a few. Make your appointment today and get a thorough health intake to address your concerns and get back on the road to health and wellness! 

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As we get older, those aches and pains become a little more pronounced and life begins to create some new challenges. For many seniors, schedules become impacted with doctor’s appointments and trips to the pharmacy. If you haven’t tried acupuncture, here are three reasons you should give it a try as it can greatly help some of the greatest health challenges facing seniors today. 

Pain Relief

Studies have shown that acupuncture is highly effective at treating chronic pain conditions. For example, rheumatoid arthritis is commonly treated with acupuncture. Of course, the frequency, length and number of treatments will vary depending on the severity of the condition, but acupuncture has been proven to be a powerful tool in addressing the inflammation common in arthritis, which then relieves the pain, discomfort, and swelling that often comes with the disease. 

Acupuncture has been shown to be highly effective at treating back and neck pain as well as neuropathy pain, particularly for those with diabetes. Neuropathy impacts the peripheral nerves of the body and for those suffering from it, it feels like a tingling or burning sensation in the legs or arms. Acupuncture helps by promoting nerve conduction. 

Nutrition/Digestion 

Another common health challenge for seniors can come with digestion issues and compromised nutrition. For some seniors, it’s the result of a lifetime of poor dietary choices and for others, it could be the result of a medical condition or the side effects of a particular medication. Some of the digestive orders helped by acupuncture include nausea, diarrhea, bloating, vomiting, peptic ulcer, gastritis, constipation, and irritable bowel syndrome and epigastric pain, just to name a few.

Your acupuncturist can also be a great resource if you are looking to improve your nutrition and dietary habits. There are herbal remedies your acupuncturist can discuss with you to help you address deficiencies or allergies that could be impacting your diet. 

Mental Health

Sadly, many seniors suffer from mental health issues. What’s great about acupuncture is that it recognizes the body and mind work together, in other words, emotions can have a physiological effect on the body. In channeling the “qi” or energy, acupuncture can help seniors relax and live in more of an emotional balance. Even the Centers for Disease control acknowledges acupuncture as a legitimate treatment option for many mental and emotional issues. 

Acupuncture can also help seniors who suffer from insomnia which can also trigger depression and anxiety in some seniors. And all without the dangers of becoming addicted to medications or treatment. The scientific literature is full of studies acknowledging how acupuncture has benefited those suffering from mental health challenges by improving mood and relaxations, which could be tied to a neuroendocrine connection.

But these aren’t the only three health areas where acupuncture can benefit seniors. As more seniors look to taking fewer medications and as they embrace a more integrated approach to their health concerns, acupuncture continues to rise in popularity. Acupuncture can also help seniors deal with……

If you suffer from one or more of these issues, make your appointment today and get back to better health!

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As we enter a new year, it is natural to want to look back on the last one. As humans, we have the gift and the hurdle of marking time, so it can feel helpful to recall memories we want to hold on to or look for lessons we can take with us.  

To that end, here are three categories in which research into the type, application and efficacy of acupuncture saw significant advancements in 2020, findings that will certainly help guide us as we move forward. In a year that saw so much focus on our health, these findings offer some good news in the fields of pain management without opioids, migraine headaches, and insight into why it is that acupuncture is effective as an anti-inflammatory. 

Category 1: Non-opioid Pain Treatment

Because of the safety and non-addictive nature of acupuncture, researchers have been studying its effects as a pain-reliever for at least a decade, hoping to find an alternative to opioid painkillers. In October, researchers from the Tufts University School of Medicine in Boston published the results of their analysis of 16 medical reviews and 11 clinical trials that looked at the efficacy of acupuncture for treating pain related to knee osteoarthritis, back pain and fibromyalgia. They found acupuncture is effective in all three cases. The analysis also corroborates there is evidence that acupuncture stimulates the body’s natural opioid systems to achieve pain reduction, which we have talked about before. 

The winner of this year’s research competition through the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture was a submission about acupuncture as an effective non-opioid pain therapy in pediatric sickle cell cases. Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center studied patients in the New York-Presbyterian Morgan Stanley Children’s Hospital Pediatric Hematology unit over a period of seven years. They found that acupuncture significantly decreased their patient’s pain scores approximately 65 percent of the time without any adverse side effects.

Research published in October by the journal Anesthesiology found acupuncture helped reduce post-operative pain levels. The study looked at a group of 106 veterans getting different surgeries. When compared to the control group of patients, the veterans who received acupuncture before their surgeries experienced less pain afterward, less anxiety and used fewer opioid painkillers to manage their pain after the surgery. This study, while it needs followup research, has important implications for reducing opioid dependency. Six percent of veterans who are given opioids after surgery become dependent on them, and veterans are twice as likely to die from overdoses as civilians, according to the study’s author, Brinda Krish. 

Category 2: Migraine Headaches

Highlighting the encouraging results from previous studies on acupuncture for migraine headaches, a 2020 analysis from researchers at Harvard Medical School, Georgetown University, University of Arizona, Creighton University, and Louisiana State University shows acupuncture is a safe way to alleviate or eliminate migraine headaches. Migraines affect over 15 percent of people in the United States, and they can be debilitating. In another study published this year, researchers found they can tailor acupuncture treatments to patients for better success rates by first understanding their specific brain structure through MRI scans. Using the scans and machine learning, specific patterns in patients’ brain gray matter were correlated with better responses to the acupuncture treatments.

Category 3: Anti-inflammatory Effects 

Last but not least, another study out of Harvard Medical School showed acupuncture can regulate the body’s response to certain bacterial infections. They found acupuncture improved patients’ survival rates and prevented disease progression of these bacterial infections. They also found their results were even more effective if the patients received acupuncture treatments before they were infected, adding to the body of evidence suggesting acupuncture is an important preventive medicine. The study showed acupuncture regulates systemic inflammation by activating certain neural pathways when specific acupoints were used. 

And that’s a wrap. These are just a few of the important studies to come out of the field of acupuncture research this year, and they all have important implications for our health moving forward. 

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Acupuncture is gaining popularity among pediatrics. There are licensed acupuncturists who specialize in treating children and they are in high demand. These pediatric acupuncturists are helping children where others can’t and for many, it is lifesaving.

Pediatric acupuncture is commonly known as shonishin and it rarely uses needles. Instead, this form of acupuncture utilizes the practitioners’ hands and rounded tools to stimulate the acupoints of the child. The practitioner will gently and rhythmically rub, tap and press the skin to produce gentle stimulation sensations. Because children process things more quickly and with fewer blockages, the sessions can be shorter and may be needed less frequently.

Parents are turning to acupuncture because it provides a safe resolution of illness, while also preventing future illnesses. Acupuncture and acupressure stimulate the body’s ability to restore and heal itself. Our bodies are fully capable of fighting off disease and healing injuries when the right tools are provided. Acupuncture is that right tool that not only stimulates the immune system, but also relaxes the nervous system and regulates the digestive and hormonal systems. All of these things need to be in balance for the body to heal.

Many times parents are told by doctors that what their child is experiencing is just “a phase” and he / she “will grow out of it.” In many ways, this is a way of ignoring the real issues at hand. Conventional medicine doesn’t work holistically, addressing the whole body, and parents are usually sent to a dozen different specialists who never really coordinate to find the best treatment for the child. This becomes frustrating and financially taxing for the parent, not to mention how the child feels. This is where acupuncture excels. A single acupuncture treatment can address pain, anxiety, insomnia and digestive issues all at the same time.

Not only is acupuncture more cost effective when it comes to treating children, but it also is a more logical approach. Why add in the stress of seeing multiple doctors when you can have everything addressed by just one? If your child is suffering from pain, asthma, ADHD or any other type of ailment, acupuncture might hold the answer. Ask me today for more information.

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