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Acupuncture may be a solution for you
What is happening to our health today? Lots of people are suffering from “not feeling quite right”. It may be from physical stiffness and pain or stress, anxiety, worry, frustration, depression or other symptoms. But where there are problems there is always a solution somewhere and a lot of people have found acupuncture very helpful.
Acupuncture is part of the oriental medical system and has been practised for thousands of years. There are many different styles of acupuncture. The different countries in the orient have their own version but all styles have a lot in common.
Acupuncture has its own diagnostic model, which looks at disease from the point of view of imbalances of energy. In our daily lives we use energy all the time. Most commonly this is in the form of electricity. What most people don’t realise is that our own bodies also have “electricity”. The Chinese word for this energy is chi.
There are over 400 points and lots of energy channels in the body. The most commonly used are 12 channels of which 10 correspond to our internal organs. This means that there is an energetic channel for each main internal organ i.e. stomach, spleen, liver, heart, lungs, small intestine, large intestine, gallbladder, kidney, and bladder.
The oriental medicine’s point of view takes into account the “whole” person. This includes the physical, mental and emotional aspects. As an example, stress often causes frustration and anger, which in energetic terms may affect the liver energy. All the organs have a different emotion. Liver energy imbalances can result in migraines, stiff neck & shoulders as well as stiffness in the body, menstrual problems and insomnia to mention a few symptoms. Obviously also anger, short temper, irritation, frustration etc. may be part of it.
Any problem is part of the whole person. This means that when you stimulate to change a problem, whether it is back pain, menstrual problems, digestive problems or anything else people often report for instance, their headaches have also got better or they are sleeping better even though the acupuncturist may not have treated these additional problems specifically. Everything is part of the whole and consequently the whole body is balanced.
This is why acupuncture has the ability to treat any kind of illness or imbalance and every person is treated as an individual.
Acupuncture and the emotions
Everyone has emotions and feelings whether you are male or female. Some people feel them acutely and others don’t. Some people express their emotions freely and others hold their feelings in and there are many shades in-between.
From an oriental medical point of view the body, mind, emotions and spirit are all connected. This means that when you feel something it registers in the physical body and changes the energetic balance. The 10 channels that are connected to our internal organs are also connected to different emotions.
Liver & Gallbladder - Anger (which may take the form of frustration, irritation, short temper etc.)
Stomach & Spleen - Worry
Lung & Large Intestine - Grief
Heart & Small Intestine - Sadness
Kidney & Bladder - Fear
This is all from an energetic point of view. We can’t see emotions but we know they are there because we feel them. We cannot see energy but again we can feel it. The same way we cannot see electricity but if you cut a flex off and stuck it to the end of your nose you can sure feel it. (NOT ADVISEABLE!)
OK, so let’s look at what happens. Anger is a good example. Let’s say you are out driving and somebody does something stupid in front of you, you may respond with irritation, name calling etc. Now you have changed the liver balance. Later on you go to the supermarket and there is a big queue, a little bit more frustration. This is often daily life for a lot of people. At the end of the day we may have accumulated a lot of anger. Some people can just let it go and other hold on to it. Some people also think they have let it go but it is still in the body. Over a period of time we may start to see symptoms like for example: stress, tension, insomnia, menstrual problems, grinding our teeth at night, easily irritated over small things, flying off the handle, tension headaches, migraines etc.
Anger is very, very common. It is probably a symptom of modern life these days. Most people may have a dominant emotion but there is normally a mixture underneath. Worry and anxiety is also common. Grief, sadness and fear are often present in many people’s lives as well. Everything depends on what life situations we are dealing with.
With chronic worry you may get symptoms like weight problems, sweet tooth, varicose veins, muscular problems, and cotton wool head, tiredness in the afternoon after lunch etc.
Grief: tight chest, sinus problems, waking around 3-5 am, recurrent colds, shortness of breath etc.
Fear: lower backache, having to pee at night, hair loss, lethargy, tooth problems, tiredness etc.
Sadness: difficulty going to sleep, palpitations, listlessness, tight chest, mild depression etc.
Now remember that all of this is in terms of energetics. Acupuncture can be very effective in helping to change all of these symptoms and more. Whether a person decides to have acupuncture because of physical or emotional problems doesn’t matter because with treatment you would be working on both as it is all connected.
Acupuncture as explained in previous articles can be very effective in resolving physical and emotional problems. Acupuncture has its own diagnostic model of looking at what is going on in the body. The practitioner can detect where there are blockages in the energy and where there are weaknesses. Once determined, blockages can be cleared and weaknesses strengthened. This, in a nutshell, is how acupuncture works - though it is a little bit more complicated than that!
To diagnose we ask a lot of questions about digestion, bowel, urine, diet, sleep, menstruation etc. As well as looking at the tongue and feeling the pulses on both wrists. There are 6 pulses on each wrist. 10 of them correspond to the internal organs and the other 2 are functions in the body.
After the diagnosis, points are chosen to change the energetic imbalances found. This is why acupuncture can treat more or less anything. It is finding and treating the root that is important.
Over the years here are some examples of problems people have consulted me for:
Asthma
Breathing problems
Arthritis (both osteo and rheumatoid)
High blood pressure
Muscular pain
MS
ME
Sinusitis
Migraine
Digestive disorders
IBS
Colitis
Back pain
Knee pain
Neck pain
Tennis/golfers elbow
Frozen shoulders
Frozen neck
PMR
Sports injuries
Prostate problems
Menstrual problems
Infertility
Morning sickness
Low sex drive
Support whilst having chemo and radiotherapy
Anxiety
Depression
Stress
Tendon problems
Bone problems
As well as many other problems.
It is important to remember that each person is treated as an individual, therefore even if two people have the same kind of symptoms the treatment they receive may be different as the underlying cause of the problem may not be the same. Also the rate of change can vary between different people as their own bodies healing ability may vary.
A few case studies:
Woman aged 83. Originally came for severe right leg pain as well as neck and back pain. The pain was so severe that it would make her cry when she walked up the stairs in her house. She has no leg pain now though her back gets tense every now and then as she walks quite hunched on crutches but we maintain her health with a monthly treatment.
Man aged 34. Came for treatment with IBS. He had had diahorrea and pain for several months. With treatment he improved quite quickly after three months he was able to have curries again! He is careful with his diet though.
Woman aged 56. Originally came for lower back pain. After four or five treatments she remembered that she had forgotten to tell me about her sinusitis and nose problems. They had been there since she was a teenager. From then onwards we treated her nose directly as well. She was astounded that acupuncture could work on her sinuses even though she had had it for so long. After about 3-4 treatments the nose was showing quite a lot of improvement and after a little while it stayed completely clear between treatments and as far as I know she is still ok.
Businessman aged 44. Originally came for treatment with tennis elbow. He was also very stressed, tense and found it hard to concentrate. With treatment the elbow started to get better but to his amazement his insomnia got a lot better as well as his ability to concentrate. According to his wife he is far less irritable. Though his elbow is now ok he has decided to have treatment every 6 weeks to help him cope with stress.
Woman 35. Presented with severe menstrual problems. Heavy painful periods with tender breasts and big mood swings. Her partner said he knew a week before when she was due on. With regular treatment the periods got a lot lighter and the pain and PMS more or less disappeared. What also improved was her constant worrying and anxiety.
Ann Batten works from Lanjaron. She can be contacted on 653 477 299 or by email
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