Acupuncture can cure Muscle Pain

Information about Muscle Pain

Muscle pain or myalgia can occur in any muscle of your body. It may be triggered due to overexertion, injury, infections in the soft tissues, or different inflammatory conditions. Muscle pain can be confined to a single muscle group or spread over multiple muscle groups. Muscle pain occurring due to overuse or injury is mostly localized in a single area. It can be severe, or mild, or quite debilitating depending upon the reason triggering it. Muscle pain usually comes with symptoms such as swelling, tenderness, fever and redness, among others.

How does acupuncture work

According to traditional Chinese medicine, the universe and the human body are two opposing forces namely yin and yang. As long as these forces are balanced, the body remains healthy. Energy, called “qi” flows along certain pathways (widely called as meridians) throughout your body. This continual flow of “qi” keeps the yin and yang balanced. However, when this flow gets interrupted, the interference may lead to lack of function, pain or illness. Acupuncture can release the blocked “qi” in your body, thus eliciting the body’s normal healing response through different physiological systems. In this ancient therapy, specific anatomic sites – widely referred to as acupoints, get stimulated.

The most widely used method to stimulate the acupuncture points is insertion of hair-thin and sterile needles into the skin at some specific points. Heat, pressure or electrical stimulation can further improve the effects. This insertion of needles is considered to correct the imbalances occurring in the flow of “qi” in the body. Acupuncture is thought to alleviate pain, improve digestive function, sleep and overall sense of well-being by affecting hormone levels, immune system, digestive system, cardiovascular system and neurotransmitters. However, according to some medical practitioners, you should not seek acupuncture therapy for a new pain. First, you should find out the root cause of the pain to rule out severe medical conditions, which should be treated immediately, and then see an acupuncturist, if needed.

Acupuncture for Muscle Pain

If you’re suffering from constant muscle pain, life can become really hard. Fortunately, treatment of muscle pain is the top specialty of acupuncture therapy. Acupuncture alleviates muscle pain through different kinds of ways, the most common being insertion of needles into the body. During this therapy, the body releases hormones called endorphins. Endorphins are your body’s natural painkillers, which help you to feel alert, relaxed and mobile. As this is the body’s natural way of alleviating pain, patients who’re running on pain medications can reap the benefits of acupuncture therapy to lower their dose of medications or get rid of them completely. Release of endorphins offers more benefits than just masking the pain. Endorphins let you get relief from stress, which in turn helps the entire body to get relaxed. As a result, the tense muscles that contribute to the pain are no longer advocating the problem.

Acupuncture practiced nowadays, including the diagnostic techniques and acupuncture points, remains the same as it was in the ancient times. However, the needles utilized in modern practice are sterile, single-use-only and made of stainless steel for safety purposes. An acupuncture treatment process for muscle pain should include a complete physical examination as well as a question and answer session. The practitioner may attempt to re-create the pain by asking you to execute the same position or movement that triggers the problem in an effort to perfectly diagnose and alleviate the issue. Then the acupuncturist may want to insert a needle into a certain acupuncture point or exactly where the pain has occurred, which is widely known as an “ashi” point. Both of these procedures are considered beneficial and appropriate within the field of acupuncture. If required, the acupuncturist may add electro-stimulation to the treatment by fastening tiny wires to the needles to deliver small amount of micro-currents to the muscle to make it relaxed.

Acupuncture therapy is hardly painful and a majority of the patients find the feeling quite soothing. However, it’s important that you always go to a licensed acupuncturist for undergoing the therapy. Remember that acupuncture therapy may be beneficial for your condition, but it’s not an alternative to the medical care taken by a physician. So, don’t stop or lower your medication doses without consulting your doctor first.