(Acufinder.com) Low back pain is an extremely common concern, affecting anywhere from 75 to 90 percent of people at some point in their lives. Low back pain is second only to the common cold as a cause of lost days at work and is one of the most common reasons to seek medical care, including acupuncture. In fact, one of the top reasons that people get acupuncture treatments is for low back pain.
Read More: https://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncture+Information/Detail/Acupuncture+and+Low+Back+Pain
All athletes and coaches are involved in an ongoing search for ways to improve performance and gain a competitive edge over their rivals. Many are finding that acupuncture can often provide that edge.
By following the principles of Oriental medicine, an acupuncture treatment can strengthen body function and restore internal harmony and balance. Professional sports teams and top athletes regularly have an acupuncturist on staff to treat injuries and keep them performing at their peak.
Some of the best Olympic athletes are incorporating acupuncture into their wellness programs. China's most popular sportsman, the 7 foot 6 inch China basketball center, Yao Ming, used acupuncture and Oriental medicine to help him recover after undergoing surgery on his ankle in April, 2007.
Read More: http://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncture+Information/Detail/Acupuncture+for+Athletes
(NCCAM at the NIH) Although acupuncture has long been used to treat pain, the underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms are still not fully understood. The process appears to involve the brain’s ability to produce opioids (pain-reducing chemicals) that bind to neurons in distinct regions of the brain, and the ability of neurons to produce receptors for these endogenous opioids—specifically, μ-opioid receptors (MORs). Recent clinical trials have indicated that both traditional (actual) and simulated (sham/placebo) acupuncture decrease pain, but other studies have suggested that the neural mechanisms involved may be different.
To investigate these neural mechanisms, NCCAM-funded researchers at the University of Michigan randomly assigned 20 women diagnosed with fibromyalgia (a chronic pain condition) to receive either traditional acupuncture or simulated acupuncture treatments in 9 sessions over 4 weeks. (In traditional acupuncture, needles are inserted at specific points on the body. Simulated acupuncture mimics this procedure, but without piercing the skin or using specific points. Participants did not know which treatment they were receiving.) At the initial session and again at the ninth, the women had positron emission tomography scans to analyze MOR binding potential in the brain, and they completed a questionnaire to assess pain intensity.
Traditional acupuncture increased MOR binding potential, in both the short term (right after the first treatment) and the long term (after 4 weeks), in several regions of the brain that process pain. Simulated acupuncture generally resulted in slight reductions in MOR-binding potential. In the traditional acupuncture group, greater long-term increases in MOR-binding potential were associated with a greater reduction in pain.
The researchers concluded that different mechanisms appear to be involved in the analgesic effects of traditional acupuncture and simulated acupuncture. By increasing MOR-binding potential, traditional acupuncture appears to help the brain use endogenous opioids more effectively. The slight reduction in MOR-binding potential suggests that simulated acupuncture increases the brain’s production of opioids.
Read more: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19501658
Read More: http://health.usnews.com/health-news/family-health/pain/articles/2009/08/27/imaging-sheds-light-on-how-acupuncture-works
New research suggests that regular exercise or meditation may be among the best ways to reduce acute respiratory infections. A small study of 149 active and sedentary adults aged 50 years and older compared the preventive effects of moderate exercise and mindful meditation on the severity of respiratory infections, such as cold and flu, during a full winter season in Wisconsin.
The researchers found that those participants who started a daily exercise routine had fewer bouts of respiratory infections and missed fewer days of work. The investigators also found that those doing mindfulness meditation, which focuses on paying attention to your body and emotions, were more protected against illness.
Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/exercise-meditation-beat-back-cold-flu-study-finds-130407338.html
Can acupuncture treat fibromyalgia?
With acupuncture, a practitioner inserts one or more dry needles into the skin and underlying tissues at specific points. Gently twisting or otherwise manipulating the needles causes a measurable release of endorphins into the bloodstream. Endorphins are the body's natural opioids. In addition, according to acupuncture practitioners, energy blocks are removed. Removing them is said to restore the flow of energy along the meridians, which are specific energy channels.
Studies show that acupuncture may alter brain chemistry. It appears to do this by changing the release of neurotransmitters. These neurotransmitters stimulate or inhibit nerve impulses in the brain that relay information about external stimuli and sensations such as pain. In this way, the patient's pain tolerance is increased. One acupuncture treatment in some patients may last weeks to help alleviate chronic pain. A recent study showed decrease pain and increased quality of life for fibromyalgia patients who had acupuncture therapy.
Read more: http://www.webmd.com/fibromyalgia/guide/natural-therapies-and-alternative-treatments-for-fibromyalgia
Acupuncture isn't really into hard-and-fast rules. What works for one person may not necessarily work for another. This is the beauty of acupuncture -- it meets us wherever we're at. However, there are some general rules of thumb when it comes to preparing for an acupuncture appointment. All are tweakable based on your constitution and preferences, but in my experience, these guidelines tend to improve the treatment experience and outcome for most people.
Are you ready to get the most out of your next acupuncture treatment? Remember these eight things.
Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/sara-calabro/acupuncture-tips_b_1568011.html
(NaturalNews) A study in the journal Evidence-based Complimentary and Alternative Medicine demonstrated a significant beneficial effect when acupuncture treatments were administered to patients who were suffering from dysmenorrhea resistant to conventional medical treatment. Dysmenorrhea manifests as painful menstrual cramps, and it can be either "primary" (without proven pelvic pathology/causation) or "secondary" (cramps in the presence of pelvic pathology). The dominant symptom of either classification of dysmenorrhea is pain, which is not alleviated by NSAID drugs in approximately 25% of cases.
Patients included in this study were suffering from dysmenorrhea of a moderate to severe nature for 1 year or longer and had not responded well to NSAID use. They had also refused oral contraceptive therapy, which is currently administered as a first line of treatment in dysmenorrhea cases. The participants were given 8 weekly acupuncture treatments over a period of 2 months, with needles inserted in applicable point locations for 30 minutes.
13 of the 15 participants in the study experienced substantial reduction of pain and of NSAID consumption following the acupuncture treatments. Greater pain reduction was observed in patients experiencing primary, rather than secondary dysmenorrhea. 7 of the 15 participants ceased NSAID use completely and remained asymptomatic when questioned 6 months after treatments ended.
Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/028627_dysmenorrhea_acupuncture.html#ixzz1xgwLV1uw
