Headaches
Headaches come in 2 major types: Primary and secondary.
Primary headaches are caused by chemical activity in your brain, stress, the nerves or blood vessels surrounding your skull, or the muscles of your head and neck (or some combination of these factors) can play a role in primary headaches. They are often not symptoms of underlying diseases.
Secondary headaches are often caused by underlying diseases, such as sinus issues, or concussions.
What acupuncture does is help stimulate the parasympathetic nervous system. This is the part of the body that tells us to rest and relax. When the body relaxes, the blood vessels will dilate and circulation is restored resulting in decreased pain.
https://insights.ovid.com/pubmed?pmid=19020156
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2005290117300614?via%3Dihub
Depression and Anxiety
Depression is a mood disorder that causes a persistent feeling of sadness and loss of interest. Also called major depressive disorder or clinical depression, it affects how you feel, think and behave and can lead to a variety of emotional and physical problems.
Anxiety disorders are frequent intense, excessive and persistent worry and fear about everyday situations. Often, anxiety disorders involve repeated episodes of sudden feelings of intense anxiety and fear or terror that reach a peak within minutes, also known as panic attacks.
Acupuncture has been shown to increase dopamine, norepinephrine, and serotonin levels in the brain by stimulating the parasympathetic nervous system. It has also been shown to increase levels of endorphins in the body.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0254627216300218
Cancer Support
Acupuncture can be beneficial in providing support to patients who are going through chemotherapy. It provides help in 4 major areas:
- Reduce nausea, vomiting, neuropathy, and fatigue caused by chemotherapy
- Improve digestion
- Stress management
- Pain relief
There is no evidence that shows acupuncture in any way treats or cures cancer. Researchers are starting to look at the impact that acupuncture has on boosting the immune system.
https://www.breastcancer.org/treatment/comp_med/types/acupuncture
Chronic Pain
Any condition can cause pain and sometimes the pain goes away within a short period of time and sometimes it may linger. When the pain lasts for 3-6 months or even longer, it becomes chronic.
Acupuncture has been shown to increase levels of endorphins in the body. Endorphins are primarily thought of as the “feel happy” hormones, but they are also the body’s natural painkiller. Increasing the natural level of endorphins in the body may be how acupuncture is able to effectively help manage chronic pain.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/acupuncture-is-worth-a-try-for-chronic-pain-201304016042
https://www.worldscientific.com/doi/abs/10.1142/S0192415X76000366
Menstrual Issues
Common menstrual issues we treat include:
- Painful menstruation
- Menstruation with too little or too much blood volume
- Early or late periods
- Irregular periods
- Amenorrhea
- PMS
- Lower abdominal pain
- Endometriosis
Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine work to regulate women’s hormones while helping to increase circulation in the lower abdomen. The goal of treatment is to establish a regular menstrual cycle that is painless and accompanied by minimal pre- and post-menstrual signs and symptoms.
Issues are usually treated and improved between 3-6 months.
Peripheral Neuropathy
Peripheral neuropathy is a constant feeling of tingling, numbness, pain, and weakness on hands and/or feet. It is caused by damage on the peripheral nerves, which commonly happens in chemotherapy, diabetes, post-surgery on the lumbar spine, or due to physical traumas such as frostbite or burn.
The constant, uncomfortable feeling is due to the nerve trying to “re-fire”, very much like the feeling a person experiences after his legs fall asleep. Acupuncture, especially electro-acupuncture, can be an effective means to calm the nerve, which helps to relieve the discomfort.
OTHER CONDITIONS TREATED
Periarthritis of Shoulder | Postoperative Pain | Renal Colic |
Rheumatoid Arthritis | Sciatica | Sprain |
Stroke | Tennis Elbow | Golfer’s Elbow |
Low Back Pain | Correction of Malposition of Fetus | Morning Sickness |
Nausea & Vomiting | Neck Pain | Pain in Dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction) |
Acute Epigastralgia | Dysentery, Acute Bacillary | Primary Dysmenorrhoea |
Essential Hypertension | Primary Hypotension | Induction of Labor |