Acupuncture has been around for over 3, 500 years, so you’d think acupuncture would be common knowledge. Yet, quite the opposite is true. Here are 3 reasons why people don’t try acupuncture.
1) They don’t know how acupuncture works
If you go to a dentist, you know what to expect. You’ve been going there since you were a kid. There is the exam, cleaning and hopefully no cavities. With acupuncture, it is still misunderstood, even by the people that use it!
Acupuncture sparks the body to use its resources better so the body can squeeze more out of it, so it works better. Essentially, insertion of a needle sends signals to the brain which in turn, helps to tell the body to make a certain change and in specific ways. The majority of people suffer from some sort of pain, stress or anxiety. Acupuncture helps to push the body into a relaxation response where it can tap into its resources to heal itself. It releases endorphins to reduce pain and stimulate collagen to heal muscle and tendon pain. It also helps the body to relax and repair itself.
2) They don’t know what acupuncture can treat?
Pain reduction is a big one. Pain in the neck, lower back, sciatica, headaches and even fibromyalgia.
Other conditions acupuncture treats include stress reduction, insomnia and sleeping problems, hormone imbalances such as menstrual migraines, painful menstrual cycles, PMS, and infertility and chronic aches and achy muscles as signs of stress accumulation or overused muscles and finally digestive problems such as IBS, colitis, flatulence.
Many people who call me are calling out of desperation for a problem that is not responding to the traditional route. They are quite surprised to see that acupuncture can actually treat all of this stuff. For example, I treated a patient for her lower back spasms that would cause her back to lock up. She had to call out of work, when the pain got really bad and it generally crippled her ability to get around. She was surprised to find out that in addition to pain, that acupuncture could be helpful in the management of anxiety, which she had. She is currently using acupuncture to work on her anxiety.
3) Fear of needles!
This has got to be the biggest reason why people don’t try acupuncture. Acupuncture needles are the smallest needles on the planet. Compared to a hypodermic needle, there is nothing injected through the needle. So it is a bit larger than a cat’s whisker. This makes the needle smaller and therefore a lot less painful! It is more accurate to say that acupuncture needles “pinch” but they don’t really hurt. The key is to insert the needle beneath the skin rather quickly, thus bypassing all of the pain receptors located on the skin. It would not make sense for acupuncture to hurt that much, if people are using acupuncture for pain relief. Since the pain of the needles if they really did hurt, would cause more pain and no one would go to the acupuncturist for treatment! You can more accurately say that acupuncture needles “pinch” but they don’t hurt.
Want more help? Call me today for a consultation to see if acupuncture is right for you at the Integrative Acupuncture Center located in Ridgewood NJ. We are never too busy to help you. Call us at 201-444-7150 or email me at integrativeacupuncturecenter@gmail.com