Table of contents:
- Various benefits of acupuncture
- 1. Helps reduce headaches and migraines
- 2. Relieves chronic pain, including back pain, neck, knee, and arthritis.
- 3. Helps treat insomnia
- 4. Improve cancer recovery and chemotherapy effects
- 5. Helps prevent loss of cognitive brain function
- 6. Health of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum
- Acupuncture risks
Acupuncture is a holistic health technique originating from the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is performed by needling experts by stimulating specific points on the body by inserting thin needles into the skin. Surprisingly, even though the treatment uses needles, this treatment is painless. In fact, one of the most popular benefits of acupuncture is to reduce chronic pain all over the body in a natural way. So, what are the benefits of acupuncture? What are the risks of doing so?
Various benefits of acupuncture
1. Helps reduce headaches and migraines
In 2009, research from the Center for Complementary Medicine at the University of Munich reviewed more than 11 studies involving 2,137 acupuncture patients. They concluded that acupuncture could be a valuable non-pharmacological tool in chronic tension headache patients. The results showed that the placement of needles in strategic areas can minimize headaches.
2. Relieves chronic pain, including back pain, neck, knee, and arthritis.
In 2006, a study conducted by the University Medical Center of Berlin stated that the benefits of acupuncture had been shown to be more effective in improving back pain compared to those who did not treat acupuncture. Patients with chronic low back pain who received this treatment for 8 weeks, stated that they experienced a significant difference.
And in a 2012 study conducted by the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, acupuncture can relieve chronic back and neck muscle pain, osteoarthritis, and chronic headaches.
3. Helps treat insomnia
A meta-analysis conducted by Beijing University of Chinese Medicine in 2009, showed that insomnia patients who took drugs or herbs and assisted with acupuncture had a better effect than those who took drugs or herbs alone.
4. Improve cancer recovery and chemotherapy effects
According to the National Cancer Institute, several studies show the benefits of acupuncture in helping to boost immunity and speed up recovery after cancer treatment. A randomized trial found that acupuncture treatment improved immunity, platelet counts, and prevented a decrease in healthy cells after radiation therapy or chemotherapy, when compared to not receiving acupuncture at all.
Researchers reported that patients who received acupuncture treatment also experienced less pain from treatment, improved quality of life, and decreased various negative side effects of chemotherapy, such as nausea.
5. Helps prevent loss of cognitive brain function
Some early research has shown new information about the benefits of acupuncture in Parkinson's. Studies show that this treatment can relieve symptoms of age-related cognitive decline, such as the putamen and thalamus, which are particularly affected by Parkinson's disease.
In a 2002 study conducted by the Department of Neurology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, stated that after 20 Parkinson's patients were treated with acupuncture for 16 sessions, 85% of patients reported subjective improvement of individual symptoms, including tremors, walking, writing, slowness, pain, sleep, depression, and anxiety.
6. Health of pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum
Many doctors recommend acupuncture as a treatment to reduce stress, balance hormones, and relieve anxiety and pain from pregnancy and childbirth. It is considered a safe treatment for many common symptoms during pregnancy, including relieving physical and emotional strain on the body, helping to build moods, and reducing depression, mental, or physical symptoms of the mother after childbirth. Even this traditional medicine can be used before the baby is born to simplify the delivery process.
Acupuncture risks
The risk of acupuncture is actually low if you do it with a certified needling specialist. Here are some of the possible side effects and complications:
- Pain. After acupuncture, you may experience pain, minor bleeding, or bruising in the area where the needle was punctured.
- Organ injury. If the needles are pushed too deep, they can puncture internal organs, particularly the lungs. This is a very rare complication in the hands of an experienced doctor.
- Infection. Needling experts always use sterile, disposable needles. A needle that is reused can expose you to diseases such as hepatitis.
