Acupuncture

But what exactly does that mean? We live in a state of general well-being because the body creates chemical, hormonal and energy reactions to re-balance the systems. For example, when you cut your skin a chemical reaction occurs. The brain registers that there is a cut in the skin and it sends out an army of white blood cells to protect the cut and platelet cells to thicken the blood and block the cut to avoid further infection of germs.

Depending on how efficient your healing abilities are will depend on how big the army is. After a great night’s sleep you wake with very little pain, because the body has been given a good chance to heal. Other days you wake feeling stiff and in pain because maybe the army of white blood cells needed to be split into two to deal with a second invasion of germs at another site. The pain fluctuates, the body fights on with either a full complement of white blood cell army or with a weakened response. The good news is that the body is still prepared to fight, it has not given up and surrendered to the pain. When this happens the pain is stuck on maximum, the body cannot fight it and you need medical intervention to allow the body a fighting chance to heal.

Energy behaves in very much the same way and at the same time as the physical response of the white blood cells and platelets, when the cut occurs the energy rushes to the site and escapes through the cut with the blood. Wind and cold enters the cut along with the germs and once it enters the body it travels around the body via meridians or channels in the same way that blood flows in our arteries and veins. Wind causes the energy to behave erratically, bombarding the site causing pain. Cold causes the blood and lymph that flows in the body to slow down resulting in a decrease of nutrients and oxygen being delivered to the site and waste product removal also slows down. The end result is a blockage or infection, swelling and pain.

Your body is trying to heal the injury as best it can but lack of sleep, poor diet, poor circulation due to little or no exercise can slow the healing process down. The use of Acupuncture needles encourages and enhance your healing process, but How?

Energy is already flowing through your body along the same route as the blood vessels but not in the arteries, veins and capillaries themselves it flows in channels called meridians alongside your blood vessels. When the needles are inserted and stimulated they attract the flow of energy and re-direct it to the site encouraging the flow of blood carrying oxygen and nutrients to the wound and lymph that removes germs and waste products. By healing the wound and strengthening the energy flow the blockage created by the wind and cold invasion is also broken down which, in turn increases energy, blood and lymph flowing to and from the wound. Thus increasing the bodies healing abilities and allowing you to return to full activities much quicker than normal.

This example is of a fairly simple cut but sometimes the illness can be much more complicated and debilitating. In these cases specific points on the body are needled to create a reaction, such as relaxing muscle tension, increasing energy to the head to promote sleep or relaxation. It could be a point to reduce pain or stimulate an organ such as the liver or kidneys. Often there is a specific order of needles required to combat an illness and, needled regularly to stimulate an organ to fight against a disease.

Although Acupuncture can bring you relief with some symptoms fairly quickly it does not work over night but allows your body to undo some of the damage we inflict on our bodies due to lifestyle and diet choices. Slowly it peels away the damage in layers allowing the systems and body networks to work more efficiently and improve the healing process.

What to expect from a treatment
The Initial Consultation takes a little longer as I will need to review your past medical history to ascertain exactly which treatment plan is ideal for you. This will be an opportunity for you to discuss the condition in depth, how it happened, when, why and what you do to minimise the symptoms. The needles will be inserted, which takes a matter of seconds and then you will be left to relax for 20 minutes under a heat lamp or with heat wraps on to improve the healing abilities of the needles. The needles will be removed, a new appointment organised .