Posts Tagged ‘Therapy’
Application of Acupuncture and Moxibustion therapy in different diseases
Acupuncture and Moxibustion is a medical treatment that has been practiced for thousands of years in China and other Asian countries as well as now around the world. It is used as a means of treating and preventing disease.
Acupuncture treatment involves the insertion of fine, sterile needles into specific sites (acupuncture points) along the body’s meridians to clear energy blockages and encourage the normal flow of energy (Qi) through the individual.
The general theory of acupuncture is based on the premise that there are patterns of energy flow (Qi) through the body that are essential for health. Disruptions of this flow are believed to be responsible for disease. Acupuncture corrects imbalances of flow at identifiable points close to the skin.Today, acupuncture is an effective, natural and increasingly popular form of health care that is used by people whole over the world .
Acupuncture needles are so fine that there is no discomfort when they are inserted but a slight tingle (known as needle sensation) may be experienced. The needles are usually left in for approximately twenty minutes to more; during this time there may be a heaviness of the limbs and a feeling of relaxation. The Doctor / practitioner may also stimulate the acupuncture points using other methods, such as moxibustion (a traditional technique that involves the burning of mugwort, a small, spongy herb used to facilitate healing), cupping and electro-stimulation etc. in order to re-establish the flow of qi.
Since Acupuncture and moxibustion Medicine promotes the body’s natural healing ability, many conditions can be treated. It is also a comprehensive system of preventative health care and maintenance. The effectiveness of acupuncture is well-documented. Throughout its long history, acupuncture has established a solid reputation as an excellent alternative for health care that actually works, and is very effective to treat some diseases, where other methods of treatment could not achieve good result or failed.
An Acupuncture medicine doctor should possess adequate knowledge and experience for providing proper treatment to his/her patients. To avoid the unwanted complications in Acupuncture treatment please avoid taking treatment by quack / fake Acupuncturist. There are many around us without proper qualifications. Because inadequate knowledge and experience may lead to serious medical problems.
The World Health Organization recognizes Acupuncture as a viable means of treatment for a wide range of conditions. In an official report, Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, the WHO has listed the following symptoms, diseases and conditions that have been shown through controlled trials to be treated effectively by acupuncture:
low back pain, neck pain, sciatica, tennis elbow, knee pain, periarthritis of the shoulder, sprains, facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders), headache, dental pain, tempromandibular (TMJ) dysfunction, rheumatoid arthritis, induction of labor, correction of malposition of fetus (breech presentation), morning sickness, nausea and vomiting, postoperative pain, stroke, essential hypertension, primary hypotension, renal colic, leucopenia, adverse reactions to radiation or chemotherapy, allergic rhinitis, including hay fever, biliary colic, depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke), acute bacillary dysentery, primary dysmenorrhea, acute epigastralgia, peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis.
In the field of acupuncture some good clinical researches have been completed, and there has also been some follow-up assessment of many of the conditions that have been treated by Acupuncture Doctors. Some diseases are more successfully treated by acupuncture and Moxibustion where other methods of treatment could not achieve good result or failed. Though this method of treatment has already been started in our country but due to quite less number of medically qualified acupuncture doctors available in our country and lack of proper perception about the application of this method in some specific diseases, the patients are depriving from the advantages of Acupuncture & Moxibustion treatment.
So, I have made an attempt to provide little information about the effects of Acupuncture and Moxibustion in few diseases. Many of the facts and figures quoted in the following sections are the results of my own experience and clinical trials carried out in China and others countries.
Diseases of the Muscles, Bones and Joints:
The muscles, bones and joints are usually called collectively the musculo-skeletal system. When disease or damage occurs to this system it nearly always results in pain, and most people use words such as rheumatism or arthritis to describe this type of pain.
There are three main types of damage that occur to the musculo-skeletal system; the first is a sudden injury or sprain which might be a domestic injury, or might be incurred during a sporting activity or in a car accident. This usually causes local pain and bruising lasting for a few days, or even a few weeks or more. The other main group is arthritis and this can be divided into two important types, Osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.
Sprains: Sudden injury or sprains usually respond well to acupuncture. The pain resulting from a sprained shoulder, ankle etc will often continue for some days or weeks after the initial injury. Once a clear diagnosis has been made acupuncture can usually be used to relieve this type of pain. Many of these ‘acute pains’ represent a self-limiting disease process; for instance a small burn is usually excruciatingly painful for a few days and then settles. If acupuncture is used as a form of pain relief for burns then its ‘pain relieving’ effect is only required for a few days. Because of the natural history of the pain it is therefore difficult to produce a clear picture of the effect of acupuncture on this type of ‘short-lived pain’.
The experience of a many of Acupuncture doctors including me, shows that, of the people treated for differing acutely painful conditions, about 70 percent obtain swift and significant pain relief. If a fracture of the bone is present then the pain relief gained from acupuncture is less effective than if the injury is due to a strain or tear of the muscles, tendons or ligaments. The main advantage of treating these acute pains with acupuncture is that chronic pain can be avoided. A sudden shoulder injury may produce pain and immobility for many months, sometimes years, but if acupuncture is used when the pain occurs then it seems that chronic pain may be avoided.
Osteoarthritis: Osteoarthritis and the rheumatic pains that result from this type of joint damage are quite a common problem. People frequently complain that their arthritic knee pain is worse in cold or damp weather and this demonstrates quite clearly the origin of the concept of pathogens in traditional medicine. The pathogen in osteoarthritis is almost always cold or damp and therefore these pains should be treated by moxibustion.
A great deal of research work has been done to investigate the effects of acupuncture on the pain caused by osteoarthritis. Clinical trials have been completed on knee, hip, elbow, neck and lower back pain, and the information from these trials shows that significant pain relief can be achieved in about 70 per cent of those who receive acupuncture. Some work suggests that only 50 per cent of people benefit from acupuncture while other trials show 95 per cent of the patients benefiting. Acupuncture also has a ‘magical quality’ that drugs do not have, so it is difficult to sort out the effects of the ‘magic’ as compared to the real effects of acupuncture. In spite of these problems, acupuncture is a safe and effective form of treatment for osteoarthritis.
Rheumatoid Arthritis: The effects of acupuncture on rheumatoid arthritis are not so clear cut. During the early, acute, inflammatory stage of rheumatoid arthritis there is some evidence to suggest that Acupuncture might worsen the pain (though which usually may subside gradually) and therefore many acupuncturists do not treat acute rheumatoid arthritis. After some months the acute inflammatory stage subsides and the residual joint destruction may then lead to the development of a secondary osteoarthritis. This type of pain is amenable to acupuncture and responds in the same way as other osteoarthritic aches and pains. Chronic pain, due to disease of the musculo-skeletal system, is frequently amenable to acupuncture treatment. The published research shows that pain which has been present for many years can respond as well as pain that has been present for only a few months; therefore, from the available information, it is fair to say that acupuncture is ‘always worth a try’ in this type of condition.
Headaches: Headaches can be due to a multitude of factors; arthritis of the neck, dental problems, psychological problems, sinusitis, stress and tension, and head injury are a few of the many causes. Headaches are a common complaint and a notoriously difficult one to treat effectively, and they can be the cause of a considerable amount of distress and marital disharmony. Acupuncture treatment has been used to treat a wide variety of headaches, particularly migrainous headaches, and the results obtained have been very encouraging. The published work suggests that between 65-95 per cent of all headache sufferers obtain significant and long lasting pain relief from acupuncture treatment. Migraines seem to respond as well as, if not better than, other
What Are The Benefits Of Omega 3 Therapy In The Treatment Of Certain Diseases And Conditions
The following conditions and/or disease processes have been shown to benefit with the use of Omega 3 essential fatty acids.
1) Cardiovascular disease. The consumption of Omega 3 fatty acids is inversely associated with the incidence of cardiovascular disease. Relatively low doses of Omega 3′s have been shown to reduce the risk of secondary coronary events. Omega 3 fatty acids inhibit coagulation and promote vasodilatation and reduce inflammation, modify plasma lipid and protein concentration. Nonfasting plasma triglyceride concentrations are strong independent predictor of future myocardial infarction. Omega 3′s reduce plasma triglyceride concentrations depending upon the specific dose.
2) Atherosclerosis. Experimental epidemiological and interventional studies all suggest fish oils produce beneficial effects on thrombosis and atherosclerosis reducing procoagulant activities of monocytes. Autopsies performed by medical doctors reveal that the degree of atherosclerosis present in coronary arteries was inversely proportional to the amount of DHA in adipose or fat tissue.
3) Stroke. The Journal of the American Medical Association in 2001 highlighted a study evaluating 79,839 women, ages 34 to 59 years, who were followed over a 14 year period. Women in the highest quintile for fish and Omega 3 essential fatty acid intake reduced risk for stroke by 72% and for thrombotic infraction by 67%. No relationship was found between fish or Omega 3 fatty acid consumption than the risk for hemorrhagic stroke.
4) Asthma. With the appearance of class of asthma medications, the leukotriene receptor antagonists, it is easy to see how Omega 3 fatty acids may work to relieve asthma symptoms, by displacing arachidonic acid and therefore preventing production of inflammatory leukotrienes, they may work as leukotriene inhibitors. In a recent study, children ranging in the age of 10 years old with asthma receiving EPA and DHA supplementation for 10 months were compared with controls. In the supplemented group only asthma symptoms were reduced in the supplemented group.
5) Cancer. EPA and DHA show inhibitory effects on tumor growth. EPA inhibits cell division in some human cancer cell lines. DHA inhibits growth of cultured metastatic melanoma cells. In undernourished patients with breast, lung, liver, GI and pancreatic malignancies, Omega 3 fatty acids inhibited immunomodulating effects increasing ratio of T-helper cells to T-suppressor cells, restoring tumor necrosis factor production.
Survival was prolonged in both well nourished and undernourished patients. In Lancet 2001, it was reported that in a prospective 30 year study of 6272 Swedish men, those who eat no fish had two to three fold higher frequency of prostate cancer than those who ate moderate or high amount of fish oil.
Acupuncture Treatment & Therapy: Boon in Restoring the Equilibrium In Your Body
Acupuncture can prove as a boon in restoring the equilibrium in your body. Acupuncturist in Boston provides the healing treatment to the patients and has fits deep root in China. This wonderful therapy is very useful and can address the pain directly. The needles are inserted at specific points known as acupoints. Wherever you are experiencing the pain, there are acupuncture points also known as acupoints that can help decrease the pain. It proves as a boon in curing various chronic pains, due to an injury, surgery, repetitive motion, or a medical condition. These responses can occur locally, i.e., at or close to the site of application, or at a distance, mediated mainly by sensory neurons to many structures within the central nervous system. This can lead to activation of pathways affecting various physiological systems in the brain.
Studies have shown that acupuncture definitely increases the rate of pregnancy in women undergoing in vitro fertilization. Though it may be a challenging experience for the child and the parents in the beginning, the results seem to suggest that it is helpful in the end. Traditional acupuncture requires the patient to lay still for long periods, to endure the close contact of a stranger and the invasive insertion of needles, all of which could prove to be exceptionally difficult for a child, particularly one on the severe end of the autistic spectrum.
Based on the traditional Chinese Herbal Medicine view that the tongue and heart are connected through meridians that spread to all the organs of the body, it is believed that points on the tongue influence the state of the body’s organs and it is through this that relief of autism’s symptoms occurs. Western medicine commonly prescribes medications to relieve the pain. Unfortunately, those medications can become addictive and possibly cause damage to your body over time. They may also become ineffective, causing a need to increase the dosage. These medications only mask the pain of headaches, and do not address the core of the problem. Additionally, they may have other side effects like drowsiness, and upset stomach. Acupuncture and Chinese Acupuncturist treatments do not have the unwanted side effects of medications and can give you relief in a very short period. Acupuncture for Weight Loss is also a common mode of treatment these days.
Furthermore, if you have had medical tests and are unable to figure out the cause of your headaches, acupuncture may be able to discover the root cause. The goal of acupuncture treatment is to treat the root of the problem, not just the symptom, so the patient experiences permanent relief. Acupuncture treatment clinic can also help prevent future occurrences of headaches as well as any other symptoms associated with the headaches. Drug withdrawal can be one of the most difficult experiences a person can go through. Whether quitting cocaine, narcotics, cigarettes, alcohol, or foods, Chinese Herbal Medicine can help pass through a dark period filled with emotional and physical pain that makes it possible to see the light beaming from the end of the tunne
