Practical Acupuncture

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Many people believe acupuncture is mysterious.  It’s not.   Acupuncture is practical. Billions of people around the world use acupuncture because it works to help them stay healthy and treat their health concerns.  It’s not about the body’s energy or imbalances that are the root of your problem. It’s about feeling better and staying healthy.

Feel Better, Get Acupuncture

Acupuncture is about staying healthy.  The acupuncture works by reminding the body how to be healthy.

Acupuncture works on many levels. First it works where the problem is to release tight muscles and reduce inflammation.  It works to heal the connective tissue in the region and reduce trigger points.  Acupuncture also works within the central nervous system, in the brain, to stop pain and regulate hormones.

Acupuncture is a simple idea but complicated in practice

Creating an effective therapy is where it gets more complicated.  Each patient comes into the office with their own symptoms and story as to how the condition began.  After an examination of acupuncture points, trigger points, and observing the toungue an effective treatment is created.   This includes choosing the right acupuncture points, the most powerful combination of acupuncture points, and also how your acupuncturist stimulates the acupuncture points.

For a treatment to be effective, the correct acupuncture points must be chosen.  Location of the acupuncture point is important as well. For example, when using acupuncture for treating migraine headaches, I prefer to use acupuncture points that are not on the head, but rather on the shoulders, arms, and legs. The points on the head may be too sensitive for treatment at first with a migraine.  We look for trigger points on the shoulders and active acupuncture points on the effected meridian.  But for a back spasm in the lower back, I would use more acupuncture points close to the issue.

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Acupuncture Technique is in the Hands

Another aspect is how acupuncture points are combined together. Sometimes it is important to put a few points close together to stimulate healing in a specific area. For example, with a muscles spasm in the lower back I may use a technique called surround the dragon. The surround the dragon technique uses four or five needles in the circle around the muscle in spasm. This communicates with the muscles to relax and return to a healthy states.

Part of the acupuncture technique is manual. How do we use the needles to stimulate the acupuncture points, nervous system, muscles, and fascia.

One technique to get a trigger point to release is twirling. The needles are twirled slightly to create a twitch in the muscle. The twitch is a signal that the body is acupuncture point is activated and it is initialing the healing process.

Joseph Alban

Joseph Alban, L.Ac.

Joseph Alban is a Doctor of Acupuncture, New York Licensed Acupuncturist, and NCCAOM Board Certified Herbalist providing the highest quality Acupuncture and Chinese medicine care tailored to your needs.

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