Ever been curious about acupuncture, wondered what it is, what it can do, or if acupuncture works?

If you’re like most people, health maintenance activities like addressing illness or injury may get blown off until the condition begins to interfere with keeping up with life’s daily responsibilities of caring for others.

The daily juggling act of being a spouse, parent, or caregiver, stress, anxiety, and frustration can deplete energy.

The old Italian saying, “as long as you have your health, nothing else matters” is an easy concept to node your head in agreement about mindfully taking an active role in your health versus putting it into practice.

For less than one hour a week, bi-weekly, or monthly, regular acupuncture treatments can help you regain and maintain health and well being.

2,000 Year Old Alternative Treatment

Acupuncture has been used for medicinal purposes for over 2,000 years as an alternative treatment to activate the body’s Qi (pronounced “chee”) to promote energy flow throughout the body by improving natural healing and overall function.

The noninvasive whole-body approach of acupuncture uses tiny needles to stimulate points under the skin to treat Qi imbalances or disruptions and to maintain wellness.

How thin is the needle? The size of a cat’s whisker.

I compare the insertion of acupuncture needles to receiving a flu immunization shot in my arm.

Upon injection of the vaccine, the feeling of my body pooling energy in response to the viruses in forming antibodies except there is little pain.

Upon insertion of the acupuncture needle, you may experience a sensation of euphoric energy moving throughout the body.

Don’t be alarmed, what your feeling just means the treatment is working.

What Can Acupuncture Treat?

Acupuncture is proving itself as effective as a complementary healthcare modality with conventional methods and traditional approaches to treat a variety of acute and chronic conditions from musculoskeletal problems like low back pain to reproductive issues like infertility and menstrual irregularity.

Below are medical conditions acupuncture can be effective with treating:

• Anxiety
• Arthritis
• Asthma
• Carpal tunnel syndrome
• Chronic Fatigue
• Depression
• Fibromyalgia
• Hair loss
• Headache
• Hormone imbalance
• Irritable bowel syndrome
• Low back pain
• Migraine
• Pain
• Rhinitis
• Sciatica
• Sleep disturbances
• Stress

Natural Wellness Care

When thinking about the detailed planning and details involved in maintaining health and wellness for your whole self, we can draw on similarities in semi and annual activities like dental hygiene and seasonal car tune-ups.

Visiting the dentist once or twice a year can prevent tooth decay and avoid having to come back for expensive follow-up visits or dental procedures, a root canal, dental crown, or tooth filling.

Maintaining your car with seasonal tune-ups and winterizing your vehicle before the first snowstorm is a preventive safety measure.

Versus ending up stuck on the side of the road or in a ditch in sub-zero temperatures during a blizzard waiting for AAA to arrive due to worn-out tires.

Acupuncture Herbal Medicine

Keeping up with life’s daily responsibilities while engaging in an entire health approach involving the body, mind, and spirit to remain strong and balanced is one of the best investments we can make in achieving and maintaining optimal levels of wellness.

In addition to receiving holistic care, your acupuncturist may recommend herbs to strengthen your body.

I currently take herbs for uterine fibroids and hair loss resulting from a hormone imbalance.

Acupuncture isn’t going to be an overnight miracle. Healing takes time. How long? Someone once told me whenever the physical or mental condition started, that is how long it’s going to take.

Most of us can’t pinpoint when our health conditions started. I can say when I started receiving acupuncture treatments, I noticed little changes in less than a month.

Pay more attention to the changes and celebrate the milestones to living pain-free.

The combination of acupuncture and herbs allows me to receive the full benefits of enhancing my physical and emotional health.

To learn more about how acupuncture works, check out my post, What Can Acupuncture Do For Me?