Category: Alternative Health

Acupuncture and Children

As parents, we all want our children to be happy and healthy. Consider the idea that acupuncture might be a wonderful way to treat your child’s health. Acupuncture can be good preventative treatment, as well as a technique to cure various symptoms. In China, some acupuncture professionals in China are paid only as long as their clients remain healthy!

Your first question might be if any children are actually acupuncture clients? Sure! Nearly all children find acupuncture treatments very easy, even enjoyable. Especially the younger ones, for acupuncture needles are not painful, and younger children don’t have our “a needle is painful” association that adults do. Children also seem to be more aware of their bodies than adults, and can feel themselves feeling better quite quickly. Also, the improvement in energy and vitality is often so clear with children.

Are there differences for acupuncture treatment with children? The general treatment is similar, determining the locations and times to insert needles in order to effect the treatment. (Needles are inserted to different depths depending on the treatment, anything from just under the skin up to a maximum of a few inches. Even so, the needle insertion does not hurt. Sometimes an insertion can be described as a “slight pinch”, but once the needle is in, it isn’t felt at all unless it is moved.) The number of needles and the number of treatments for children is generally less, for their very active bodies respond quickly to less stimulation. Because of this, acupuncture treatments for children often bring noticeable results very quickly.

Another good reason to visit an acupuncture clinic with your child is that the diagnosis uses a number of different aspects: physical symptoms, observed physical signs such as the pulse and condition of the tongue, behavioral symptoms such as anger, aggression, depression, an even external physical conditions and the time of year. A goal of acupuncture is to bring the whole person into harmony: physically, emotionally, mentally, and socially. This attention to the child as a whole is of great benefit, both to the child and to your whole family.

You can bring your child in for an acupuncture visit to maintain their health, for a physical symptom, or for a behavioral problem. One common problem that frequently responds quite well to several acupuncture visits is the problem of bed-wetting. Some children have the problem disappear after one acupuncture visit; others may require a few more visits. Interestingly, most parents are aware that the child has negative emotions, and assume that of course it stems from having wet the bed. However, a number of parents report that, after thinking on it, that actually sadness or other emotion preceded the bedwetting by several weeks. This is not always true, but there is often a connection other than the assumed “wet the bed then feel bad” connection.

Something that you may want to discuss with your acupuncture practitioner is child vaccinations. As time goes on, more vaccines seem to become available for a wider range of diseases, as the recent popularity of the chicken pox vaccine. Most acupuncture practitioners have a list of vaccines they still strongly recommend, such as the vaccine against polio. It is worthwhile to discuss the various vaccines with your acupuncture practitioner.So, please consider an acupuncture practitioner as a wonderful health specialist for your child.

Acupuncture and Biorhythm

We all know something about biorhythms. Basically, a biorhythm is an internal clock that regulates our bodies in relation to the daily positions of the sun, and the monthly positions of the moon. This can be seen in the time it takes our bodies to adjust to small changes, such as the changes of daylight savings time, or in large changes, such as jet lag. Our understanding of and interest in biorhythms has been recent, within the last thirty or forty years.

The ancient Chinese observed this connection between our bodies and the planets many centuries ago, and use it in
their practice of acupuncture. They list a number of different biorhythms, from the normal twenty four hour cycle up through longer several day periods. All of these are used to follow and influence fluctuations in body energy.In acupuncture, this energy circulates through each part of the body throughout the day, each organ having a two hour time for maximum energy and a time for minimum energy. For example, the major organs have their maximum energy in the following order: first the liver, then the lungs, large intestine, stomach, spleen, heart, etc., in sequence, for all of the twelve major organs. This order was discovered by years of observing the times of day that the disorders of the various organs displayed their worst symptoms. The acupuncture practitioner can use the times of a patient’s symptoms to help determine which organs and energy channels are affected, and also help select the favorable times to treat the patient. For example, many of the worst asthma attacks take place during the wee hours, which is the maximum energy period of the lungs. The best time to treat these cases is at a time as close to this time as possible.

In the science behind acupuncture, a symptom may be caused by too much energy at an organ, and other symptoms by an insufficient amount of energy. (The determination of which symptoms fall into which category has been catalogued over many centuries, and there are many books on acupuncture detailing these for each of the major organs.) The best time to treat a symptom associated with too much energy is during its maximum energy output, and a symptom with a deficiency in energy is just after the maximum output is over. Of course, it may not be possible to get to your practitioner at those particular times, and there are also other good choices at other times of the day.

In addition to the daily biorhythm, there are also ten day intervals associated with the moon, and so the acupuncture practitioner might strongly suggest that a particular day would be better for treatment than another, based on the particular symptoms reported. Each day of the ten days is associated with one of two aspects of the Qi energy, and also associated with one of five elements. Particular organs are associated with particular elements, and so stimulation of these organs will be more successful on those days associated with the correct element.

It is important for us to take note of the times our symptoms occur as well as what our symptoms are, for that is important information in our acupuncture treatment plan. And know that the time and dates for our treatments are an important part of how well the treatment works.

Acupuncture and Beauty

Most of us are familiar with the picture of someone getting an acupuncture treatment. We can also list a few things that acupuncture is used for, including reducing anxiety and reducing or eliminating pain. However, few people know that acupuncture is a wonderful thing to add to a beauty routine.

Let us look deeply into the mirror before any makeup is applied. What would we like to get rid of? There are too many fine lines, the dark circles under the eyes are not attractive, and the large pores really should be gone. There is a small hint of a double chin, and the complexion has a few age spots and can’t be compared with that of a young woman. Sigh. Well, these things will take a lot of makeup, and maybe more drastic steps, like a little plastic surgery.

Thinking about plastic surgery suddenly makes the thought of a few needles and an acupuncture treatment much easier to tolerate. When an acupuncture practitioner inserts the tiny needles into areas of the face, this stimulates the production of collagen in the general area. The skin will be supported and nourished by the body rather than by some external application. This production of collagen will firm the skin and stretch out any fine lines.

Many women that undergo this procedure have noticed results within one or just a few treatments. Their complexion becomes more even and clear, wrinkles become less noticeable, and there is a general glow to the face. This treatment simply restores the energy of the face to the normal state, and so each woman looks naturally healthier and more beautiful.Now that our faces our beautiful, we can turn our attention to the rest of our bodies. Most of us have tried, with varying degrees of success, to trim off the extra pounds that we wish were not there. By the time many of us see the wrinkles and dark circles described above visits to the gym no longer produce any truly visible difference.

Successful long term weight loss is incredibly difficult for most of us to achieve. Many people have done all kinds of diets, which just turned into yo-yo dieting. It doesn’t seem possible to achieve and keep our weight at a number that is healthy and attractive. This is a second area where acupuncture holds out some promise.

As you would expect, acupuncture weight loss treatment is also done with needles. This time they are not inserted into the face, but instead hair-thin needles are inserted into particular spots on the body that will redirect vital energy to help the body function properly. Sometimes the acupuncture practitioner may also suggest some herbs or an herbal tea. After each acupuncture session is over, most patients feel very good. Western scientists have found that one reason this treatment is successful is the release of endorphins, which is one body chemical that is beneficial in weight loss. The patient continues in a series of treatments, and afterwards maintenance treatments are scheduled periodically. Anyway, healthy people would benefit from a periodic trip to an acupuncture clinic to restore their energy to optimal levels. And these visits will not only keep us healthy, but beautiful as well!

A Personal Experience with Acupuncture

Let’s follow Susan as she goes to her first acupuncture treatment. Susan is a little hesitant, thinking of many needles sticking out of her in funny places so that she can’t find a place to sit easily. Her friend Marie had recommended this acupuncture clinic as a possible help for Susan’s recent problems of sleeplessness and depression. Susan was very surprised that Marie had ever visited an acupuncture clinic, as Marie didn’t seem to be someone that would visit something this unusual. And anyway, Marie always seems so remarkably healthy, attending the gym on a regular basis and still having lots of energy to spare. Susan was surprised to find out that Marie had been going to this acupuncture clinic for more than three years. She was even more surprised to find out that the first visit was suggested by Marie’s doctor – her family physician. Susan had no idea that a regular doctor would recommend a visit to an acupuncture clinic.

It turns out that a few years ago Marie had very intense cramps, and after a discussion with her doctor, they decided acupuncture might help to reduce or eliminate these. After having that treatment, Marie had discovered that some people visit the acupuncture clinic periodically just to keep in good health. Marie really enjoyed the way she felt, and so continued with the periodic visits as a kind of “tune up,” as she called them.

Though this is Susan’s first treatment at the acupuncture clinic, it is her second visit. Her first visit was to sit with the acupuncture practitioner to take several vital signs and to have a long discussion about her symptoms. Susan explained that she was hoping to get relief from the sleeplessness and depression through the treatments at the acupuncture clinic. She was surprised at the number of questions that she hadn’t thought about. She hadn’t noticed if the sleeplessness was the same on every night, or if she got to sleep more easily on some nights. She hadn’t noticed if she easily returned to sleep if she was awakened once she was asleep. She hadn’t thought about whether the sleeplessness started after they turned off the central heat in the house, now that spring had come. There were so many questions about that. There were questions she had expected, like that her depression could be related to the fact that her best friend at work had left for a new job. There were also surprising questions about patterns that she noticed about any previous depressions that she might have had. Once all the questions had been answered, Susan was asked to return another day for her first treatment in order to obtain the most beneficial results.

Susan pulled into the parking lot, still a little nervous. The acupuncture practitioner was a very nice and calm woman, but still… Twenty minutes later, Susan was sitting in a comfortable chair with about 18 needles at various points on her arms and ears. She was very comfortable, and inserting the needles did not hurt at all. After sitting there for 15 minutes, the acupuncture practitioner came in, removed the needles, and that was it. Susan was amazed! A sequence of 6 treatments had been prescribed initially, and they agreed to revisit Susan’s symptoms when these were done. She was so happy it was so easy!