Ellen Guenther first tried acupuncture seven years ago. She needed help with chronic pain from severe tightening of her chest wall following mastectomy and reconstructive surgery.
Source: Bloomfield woman overcomes chronic breast and back pain with acupuncture
Acupuncture for Chronic Pain
According to the article, Chinese medicine describes acupuncture as a technique that restores the body’s natural energy — a life force known as “qi” or “chi” — by inserting fine needles through the skin at specific points on the body. Western medicine views acupuncture as stimulation of nerves, muscles and connective tissues in a way that triggers the body’s natural pain suppression.
Great paragraph. In a few sentences it highlights a fundamental difference in approaches. Conventional Western medicine and complementary therapies / medical practices like Traditional Chinese Medicine all want to promote health and wellness. Western Medicine tends to be more about the “body”. Western medicine fiercely decomposes systems and anatomy to the cellular or even genetic level in order to affect change. The world has benefited greatly from this. Holistic practices like Traditional Chinese Medicine tend to look at the entire person energetically– body, mind, spirit. The world has benefited from this for millennia as well. Both have advantages and disadvantages but we have found more people are open to integrating the two approaches. They add complementary health therapies to their conventional care plans in order to get a more holistic “best of all worlds” package. We couldn’t agree more!
Like many holistic therapeutic agents, there are many ways to enjoy the benefits offered by practices like acupuncture in Traditional Chinese Medicine. However It is important to remember that acupuncture, like other therapies, will have an impact. If you are under any medical care please include you healthcare provider(s) in any decision before incorporating a new therapy into your care plan.
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