What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture has become increasingly accepted in mainstream medicine. Three million adults use acupuncture every year. Acupuncture is based on the use of small needles inserted into the body for a specific amount of time to help treat various illnesses or issues. Acupuncture used in rehab is a way to help you store the balance in the body during your recovery phase.
What are the Benefits of Acupuncture?
It is a component of traditional Chinese medicine that involves inserting extremely small needles into specific areas of your body, a technique for balancing the life force in your body. The goal is to rebalance your energy.
Chinese medicine believes the body has two opposing and interconnected parts. Acupuncture restores the balance of these two parts. It helps to restore and regulate your mental health, emotional health, spiritual health, and physical health. In Western medicine, this can easily be translated into acupuncture restoring the balance of your parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems.
In traditional Chinese medicine, it is believed that things like disease come from an imbalance in these two parts, just the same as some chronic conditions in Western medicine or thought to come from an imbalance between your sympathetic and parasympathetic nervous systems.
Even if you don’t want to look at acupuncture from its traditional Chinese standpoint, you can still look at it to stimulate the nerves and the pain pathways in your body and stimulate your connective tissue fibers. Many studies support the use of acupuncture for a variety of conditions, especially when it’s used as part of a greater mind and body therapy program.
Acupuncture is commonly misconstrued as a standalone treatment when it should be part of a larger program. It won’t cure things like chronic health conditions or make your arthritis go away, and it can’t be used on its own to help you completely recover from drug or alcohol addiction and remain sober, but it can certainly make things easier and facilitate higher chances of success. When you come to a facility, you will undergo a thorough evaluation, where a physician or professional will look at your tongue, pulse, and so on to ensure that your acupuncture is a good addition to your recovery program.
During the course of your program, your acupuncture sessions should take place in a comfortable room, after it has been established that it is a good match. The room you use might have soft lighting, calming music, or calming visuals. You are placed in a comfortable position on a table designed for acupuncture, where you will remain for the duration of your session after the needles have been applied. It’s important to bear in mind that the needles might not be inserted in an area that is your problem area. Some people who use acupuncture for things like back pain or neck pain might not have needles inserted directly into the back or neck simply because practitioners are following the connection points throughout the body and targeting the point of origin.
The WHO recommends it for treating things like:
- Digestive disorders
- Respiratory disorders
- Neurological and muscular disorders
- Low back pain
- Urinary and menstrual problems
- Acupuncture used in rehab
How is Acupuncture Used in Rehab?
Acupuncture is used as one part of a larger recovery program. Rehab acupuncture is designed to help you restore your body’s balance, especially after changes that may have happened because of drug and alcohol addiction. It can be particularly useful in reducing cravings and withdrawal symptoms.
Does acupuncture hurt?
Generally speaking, when acupuncture is used in rehab, it does not hurt. When most people think of acupuncture and needles, they think of a hypodermic needle, the kind that a doctor uses to draw blood or give you an injection. Hypodermic needles have sharp points at their beveled edge, and they are much thicker. This sharp point allows the needle to stab through tissue, skin, and muscle fibers. Between 10 and 12 acupuncture needles could fit inside one hypodermic needle. Acupuncture needles are not only smaller, but they have a rounded tip that pushes aside the fibers instead of cutting them. Acupuncture needles also don’t go in as deeply as hypodermic needles.
Most people might experience a tugging sensation as the needle reaches its final depth, but it’s never enough discomfort, but they don’t go back to ongoing sessions. When you are done you might feel a little light-headed but otherwise relaxed. Acupuncture is one of the few treatments in the world of holistic or alternative medicine that you can’t do yourself at home, which is why you need to visit a trusted, established rehab center for acupuncture treatment.
How to Find a Rehab Center That Uses Acupuncture Therapy?
When you are looking for rehab acupuncture services, you want to focus on finding facilities that offer this type of holistic care as one part of your larger rehabilitation program. Each individual is different, and having a reliable facility that can help you through your initial detoxification, individual therapy, and holistic treatments like yoga, meditation, and acupuncture can give you a more flexible and individualized plan.
Let Marina Harbor start you on your rehab acupuncture program today.
