Acupuncture prevents postoperative nausea and vomiting.

There was a randomized controlled clinical trial for acupuncture stimulation of Neiguan (PC6) for preventing postoperative nausea and vomiting. There were 60 patients who were undergoing craniotomy. They were allocated into two groups: acupuncture group and control group. 30 pateints were in each group. Then regaining consciousness from the surgical anesthesia, patients in acupuncture group received acupuncture immediately and the acupuncture points used were bilateral PC6. The needles were manipulated about 1 min and repeated 10 min after insertion. The needles were left in the place for about 20 min after second manipulation. Patients in control group received no treatment.  Result showed that in acupuncture group one patient had a vomiting from 0-2 hours after acupuncture treatment; one patienthad a vomiting from 2-6 hours after the treatment; and no patients had vomiting 6 hours after the treatment. In contrast, in control group, 11 patients had vomiting from 0-2 hours; 8 patients had vomiting from 2-6 hours; and 8 patients had vomiting from 6-24 hours. The nausea scores were significantly lower in acupuncture group in all three time scale compared with control group. Their conclusion was that acupuncture at PC6 point was effective in preventing and treating postoperative nausea and vomiting in patients undergoing craniotomy.

References

Lu JQ et al Zhen Ci Yan Jiu (2013) 38:245-8

Effectiveness of acupuncture for gouty arthritis

Gout is a medical condition featured by recurrent attacks of inflammatory arthritis called gouty arthritis. The symptoms include a red, tender, hot and swollen joint. In these patients uric acid in the blood is elevated.

Effect of acupuncture for gouty arthritis was evaluated by Lee WB et al. Lee WB et al analysed randomized controlled trials (RCTs) data up to August 2012. All RCTs involving acupuncture in combination with conventional therapy for gouty arthritis were included. There were 10 RCTs involving 852 patients with gouty arthritis. Six studies with 512 patients showed a significant decrease in uric acid in the treatment groups compared with control groups. Four studies with 380 patients showed a significant decrease in visual analogue scale score for the treatment groups compared with control groups. They concluded that acupuncture is efficacious treatment method for patients with gouty arthritis.

References

Lee WB et al Rheumatology (Oxford) (2013) Feb 18 

Acupuncture increases oxygen concentration and blood circulation

Acupuncture is used to various conditions such as fertility, low back pain and other pain conditions, facial treatment etc, however how acupuncture works is still not completely clear. Recent research has suggested many theories to support the application of acupuncture. Acupuncture is suggested to increase oxygen concentration and blood flow in the brain. For example, a study has shown that small increases in oxygen saturation and a significant increase in mean blood flow velocity during acupuncture measured simultaneously at different depths within the right middle cerebral artery. Acupuncture is also suggested to increase oxygen concentration and blood flow in the muscles. For example, acupuncture at trapezius muscle increased in oxygen concentration and blood volume in the muscle. These studies provided a preliminary research data and pointed a direction for future wider studies to provide a mechanism of acupuncture application for many conditions.

References
Litscher G et al (1980) Neurol Res 20 Suppl 1:S28-32

What are meridians and acupuncture points

 

Suffer from winter blue? Acupuncture can help

Winter brings with its darker mornings and evenings, and some may feel they hardly see the sunlight at all---going to work in the dark and coming back home in the dark. Many people find themselves feeling sad, blue and even depressed around the winter. The medical name for winter depression is seasonal affective disorder (SAD). It’s fairly common, and it’s more mild than serious. You wake up before the sun even rises, you might start feeling a persistent low mood or lack of energy.

The cause of SAD is not fully understood, shorter days seem to be a main trigger for it. Reduced sunlight in winter can disrupt your body’s internal clock, or circadian rhythm. This 24-hour clock responds to cues in your surroundings, especially light and darkness. At night, the brain produces melatonin, helping you sleep. Light stops the brain producing melatonin to help keep you awake. Shortened daylight in winter may increase the production of melatonin and affect the body’s internal clock or circadian rhythm leading to SAD in certain people.

To cope with winter blue or SAD, eating healthy food, keeping active, taking vitamin D may help. Also light therapy and talking therapy may help too. Don’t forget acupuncture. Acupuncture can help reduce winter blue symptoms such as fatigue, low mood and depression.

Acupuncture helps to improve your mood

Everyone has mood changes in some degree, however too much mood changes could be caused by ill health and further affects one’s health. Mood expressions include positive scales like "activity, joy, contemplation, calmness" and negative scales like "anger, irritation, depression, fatigue”. Patients with chronic disease supposed to have dominant negative mood scales. Do you know acupuncture can help you improve mood changes. A research has shown that there was an immediate, fast suppression of unusual slow high amplitude EEG waves in response to acupuncture needle rotation. Also there was a significant improvement on positive mood scales and a decline in negative mood scales after 10 acupuncture sessions. Patients with chronic pain reported a significant decrease of pain intensity after 10 sessions.

Acupuncture is cost-effective compared with counselling or usual care alone in treating depression
There is emerging evidence that acupuncture is effective for treating patients with depression. A study from the University of York UK has shown that acupuncture is also cost effective for treating depression. They compared the cost of acupuncture, counselling or usual care for depression based the price of the interventions. They measured quality adjusted life years (QALYs) in analysis. They found that acupuncture and counselling have higher mean QALYs and costs than usual care. They have shown that acupuncture has an increased cost-effectiveness ratio (ICER) of £4,560 per additional QALY and is cost-effective with a probability of 0.62 at a cost-effectiveness threshold of £20,000 per QALY. Counselling compared with acupuncture is more effective and more costly with an ICER of £71,757 and a probability of being cost-effective of 0.36. Acupuncture is cost-effective compared with counselling or usual care alone.

References

Acker H et al Med Hypotheses (2015) May 22

Spackamn E et al PLoS One (2014) 9:e113726

What is acupuncture? Pain relief with acupuncture.

Acupuncture began in China about 2500 years ago and it is a part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, which is based on theory of meridians (channels). Chinese Medicine believes that energy (called qi) flows around human body freely through meridians without being interrupted. If the channel is blocked resulting that qi cannot pass through the channel, this may cause illness. The acupuncture needles are inserted into certain points of your body along with the channels to unblock the channels.


The effectiveness of acupuncture to treat disorders is still a long standing question in research field. There are many conflicting research results on treatments of different kinds of conditions. Sometimes it is difficult to draw firm conclusions, because of the way that the research was conducted. Researchers are trying hard to perform well designed research using control group and sham acupuncture. For some conditions, the effectiveness with acupuncture treatment is agreed, such as back pain by the researchers.

From clinical point of view (many acupuncturists and patients would agree), acupuncture does have amazing effects for many patients with some conditions, again back pain is a good example. Usually acupuncture is the last treatment that patients want to go through. They have gone through many other treatments without any improvements sometimes for years, so why not try acupuncture and they choose an acupuncturist. The cases like these are more difficult to treat. Surprisingly needles worked. I would not say acupuncture works for everyone and every condition (no medications do), but I did see many patients are no longer living in pain and having much happier life; fibroids and ovary cysts shrunk and disappeared.

Acupuncture has been accepting by more and more doctors and patients as an effective alternative treatment for some conditions. Acupuncture is accepted as complimentary therapy by general medicine based on the theory that the acupuncture needles stimulate nerve endings and this adjusts brain functions. Acupuncture is increasingly popular since last a few decades. Recently a survey showed that about 4.1% of adult population in the survey were using acupuncture in their lifetimes in US. Acupuncture makes great contribution to the healthcare of the UK, with an estimated 4 million sessions provided annually (Hopton AK et al 2012) and about 7% of adult population have consulted an acupuncture practitioner within their lifetime in the UK.

What is the acupuncture procedure like?

It is better to get information about acupuncture procedure before hand; this would give you a peace in mind. What happens during acupuncture? First of all, you will have a detailed consultation. The acupuncturist will ask your questions about your medical history, the illness or symptoms you wanted to treat with acupuncture, illness that acupuncture cannot be performed, such as bleeding problem. Then he or she may examine you and you can also ask questions. According to your history and the examination, the acupuncturist will decide how the acupuncture is performed and you will be advised. You will need to lie down on the treatment bed at the position required for the acupuncture and expose certain area where acupuncture points are selected. Special thin acupuncture needles (They are 25-50 times thinner than injection needles) will be inserted into selected particular acupuncture points in your body. These special needles are sterilised, individually packed, one off and disposable. When the needle is penetrating into your skin, you may feel a bit tingly. The needles may be inserted into your skin about half a centimetre to one centimetre depending on where the acupuncture points are and your reactions to the needles.The length of the course is depending on how individuals respond to the treatments.

How to prepare for acupuncture treatment?

There is no special preparation for acupuncture treatment. There are a few tips that may help to achieve best effects. First of all, you should feel relaxed and be confident to put trust on the acupuncturist that you have chosen. These are very important. You could bring personal listening device to use during the treatment to make you relax more. Anything that makes you nervous or stressful would compromise the effectiveness. Second, eat light meal about 2 hour before the appointment. Empty stomach increases the risk of nausea and dizziness. Heavy food upset your stomach which is not recommended. Third, avoid drinking alcohol during the day of the treatment. Fourth, try to wear loose comfortable cloth. Fifth, get a good night sleep to help maximize the effect. Sixth, bring all test results that you have taken before and a list of medications that you are currently undergoing. Finally, empty your bladder before enter the treatment room.

What do you expect from acupuncture?

Acupuncture helps the body balance and return to its healthy state. Most patients say they feel much better, more energetic and less anxiety with the treatments progressing. There is no more sleepless night, pain goes away and joint moves again. All of these seem a miracle for those who never be treated with acupuncture. Is there really a miracle? Absolutely no miracle. I would advise you to set up a realistic expectation to avoid disappointment.

How quick is the acupuncture effect coming up? It depends on individuals: what the conditions are, how long the illness is and how well the body responds to the treatment. For example, for some pain conditions, the pain can be relieved very quickly, you may feel better instantly, while for other conditions, it may take longer to accumulate the effects. If an illness is there for a long time, which makes the pathological damage well established, it will take much longer time to reverse the process. It is impossible that a ten year long illness disappears completely in a week. Don't give up trying, you would see the improvement of your heath. Positive expectation enhances the effect of acupuncture.

Not all conditions can be treated with acupuncture. Acute and severe conditions are not suitable for acupuncture treatment. For example, if you are suffering from severe chest pain or acute abdominal pain, this may be life-threatening and you need to go to hospital to see a doctor rather than an acupuncturist.

What conditions can be treated with acupuncture?

Acupuncture has been proved an effective treatment to many diseases. There are 107 diseases or symptoms that could be treated with acupuncture listed on World Health Organisation (WHO) website:

http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4926e/5.html

Are there any risks with acupuncture?

Generally acupuncture is very safe. Side effects or complications are rare but you may want to know this. Side effects of acupuncture include:

Discomfort when the needle is inserted.

Needle sickness: feeling drowsiness, faint or feeling faint, dizziness, headache, nausea, sweaty.

Bruising or bleeding at the needle point.

Temporary worsening of your symptoms: occasionally there may be transient worsening of symptoms which may last for a couple of days followed by improvement. This is because acupuncture is an invasive procedure and your body reacts strongly to the treatment. These are normal reaction of your body to the treatment.

Damage internal organs or nerves from the insertion of the needles

Infection, disposable needles are used to reduce the risk.



References

Hopton AK et al BMJ Open. (2012)11:2-9

Burke A et al J Altern Complement Med. 2006 12:639-48.

http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js4926e/5.html

Acupuncture for pelvic pain release is recommended by Medical Doctors in the US

 

Acupuncture for pelvic pain release is recommended by Medical Doctors in the US

Fascia thickening, back pain and acupuncture

What is fascia? Fascia is a band or sheet of connective tissue consisting of collagen lying under the skin that attaches, stabilizes, encloses, and separates muscles and other internal organs. Fascia is classified by layer, as superficial fascia, deep fascia, and visceral or parietal fascia, or by its function and anatomical location.

A recent study by Helen Langevin a researcher at the University of Vermont has suggested that people with chronic and recurrent low back pain had 25 percent greater fascial thickness than a low back pain-free group. She concluded that increased thickness and disorganization of connective tissue layers may be an important and so-far neglected factor in human LBP pathophysiology. Another study in Skeletal Radiology, 2005,2 found that pathological Achilles tendons showed increased thickness and 89 percent were painful.

Antonio Stecco, MD, recently completed an unpublished study3 using ultrasonography on chronic (longer than 3 months' duration) neck pain patients, evaluating fascial thickness in the distal third of the SCM and scalenus medius. The deep fascia in both muscles were thicker due to the increased amount of loose connective tissue between the layers of the deep fascia (usually three layers) and the loose connective tissue between the deep fascia and the muscle. Study has shown that there was a correlation between the intensity of the pain and the thickness of the fascia compared to the control patients. Besides the thickening of fascia beneath the deep fascia and muscle, there may be thickening between the superficial and deep fascia, and the intramuscular fascia surrounding perimysium and endomysium.


Acupuncture can help reduce chronic pain.

References
Warren Hammer Dynamic Chiropractic (2012) Vol. 30 Issue 11

Acupuncture improves nerve pain (Neuralgia, or neuropathic pain)

The nervous system is involved in all body functions. There are three types of nerves: autonomic nerves, motor nerves and sensory nerves. Autonomic nerves are involved in internal organs activities such as heart rate, blood pressure, breathing, digestion and reproduction etc; motors nerves control the skeletal muscles and involved in the body motion; sensory nerves transmit signals to the brain and let feel pain and other sensations. These nerves can be damaged by many conditions, such as virus infections, tumors, and autoimmune disorders. The symptoms of nerve damage vary greatly depending on the location and type of the nerves affected. Nerve pain is a common symptom of sensory nerve damage. Other symptoms involved in sensory nerves are sensitivity, numbness, tingling, burning and problems with positional awareness. The location of pain depends on which sensory nerves are involved.

Acupuncture can help to improve nerve pain. For example, there were many researches showing that acupuncture helped trigeminal nerve pain, sciatic nerve pain, pudendal nerve pain and other peripheral nerve pain etc. Below are examples for acupuncture treatments for nerve pain.

Pudendal neuralgia with acupuncture treatment

Pudendal neuralgia was first described in 1987. It is a severely painful and disabling neuropathic condition, affecting both men and women. This leads to a burning, tingling, or itching sensation in the clitoris/penis, vulva/scrotum, perineum, and rectum, especially when sitting. Symptoms are frequently on one side, however, in patients presenting with both sides, there is often a more affected side. The pain could be present in the lower abdomen, posterior thigh, and lower back. Another common symptom is the sensation of a foreign body in the vagina, perineum or rectum. Defecation and urination can also be painful. Urinary or fecal incontinence may develop from decreased sphincter tone if motor function is affected.

Acupuncture can help to reduce the pain.

Acupuncture for trigeminal neuralgia

The acupuncture that you get could be very different, if you see different acupuncturists. For example, a study analysed acupuncture points used for trigeminal neuralgia. In this study 180 papers were included and in these papers 148 acupuncture points were used and were distributed in 14 meridians. The most frequent used points are Hegu (LI 4), Xiaguan (ST 7), Fengchi (GB 20) and trigger points. Other points included crossing points, yuan-primary points and five-shu points. They were widely used, accounting for 65. 9%. As for the branch of trigeminal nerve, the top-3 selected acupoints were Yangbai (GB 14), Yuyao (EX-HN 4), Cuanzhu (BL 2) in the first branch, Sibai (ST 2), Quanlian (SI 18), Yingxiang (LI 20) in the second branch, Jiache (ST 6), Xiaguan (ST 7), Dicang (ST 4) in the third branch. It can be seen that right points need to be chosen to get best effects.

Acupuncture is effective for sciatica

Sciatica is a syndrome involving sciatic nerve root impingement or inflammation. The main symptoms include unilateral leg pain radiating to the foot or toes that is greater than low back pain and often associated with burning pain, numbness, and weakness of the leg; pain is increased on straight leg raising and the symptoms limited to one nerve root. Sciatica may be sudden in onset and may subsequently persist for days, weeks, even years. Acupuncture can help release sciatic nerve pain. This is suggested by recent research. A review studied 11 trials involved a total of 962 participants. The analysis suggested that acupuncture is effective for sciatica and the effect is better than pain killers. Their conclusion is that the use of acupuncture may more effectively relieve leg pain/lumbago and improve overall assessment of sciatica when compared with NSAID (ibuprofen, meloxicam, and diclofenac) treatment.

Acupuncture treatment for acute shingles

Herpes zoster known as shingles, is caused by varicella-zoster virus which affects nerve and the skin around it. This virus is also causes chickenpox which is primary infection. It remains dormant in the dorsal root ganglion after primary infection (causing chickenpox). It affects the sensory ganglia and their area of innervation. This is one of the most painful conditions with pain and rashes in the distribution of the affected nerve. Antiviral drugs are used to limit the damage of the nerve by the virus. Corticosteroids may be used to reduce inflammation. Various painkillers are used to reduce pain. Ursini et al from Pescara General Hospital in Italy studied acupuncture for the treatment of severe acute pain in shingles using randomized trial. They compared the efficacy of acupuncture in controlling intense or very intense pain in patients with shingles with standard pharmacological treatments. The treatments were given for 4 weeks for either acupuncture or painkillers. They found that both interventions (acupuncture and painkillers were largely effective. There were no significant differences observed in response rates, pain reduction, post-herpetic neuralgia after 3 months and pain after one year follow-up. No severe unwanted effects occurred on both interventions. Acupuncture is a potential intervention for treating acute severe pain in singles.

Acupuncture for chronic pain from shingles

Most people have chickenpox in childhood. When the illness has gone, the virus remains dormant in the nervous system being watched by the immune system. Once one’s immune system is compromised, the virus can be reactivated and cause shingles. Shingles is one of the most painful conditions. There is no cure for shingles and it can be unpleasant. In most case, the painful rash lasts 7-10 day and takes 2-4 weeks to fully heal. However about 25% of patients have pain lasting for more than one year. Unresolved pain can lead decreased quality of life, such as mood change, sleep disruption and depression etc. Hui F et al from University of Toronto studied three weeks complementary and alternative medicine including acupuncture to treat shingles related pain. The participants had a mean age of 69.8 years and had shingles related pain for a median of 4.8 months. Acupuncture points for acupuncture group were LI4, Liv 3 and ST36. After three weeks treatment, they found that pain score was significantly reduced in treatment groups. The pain reduction was maintained at 9 weeks after the treatment finished and one–two year follow-up.

Li et al studied 80 cases of shingles which were divided into two groups, acupuncture group and medication group. They found that the therapeutic effect of electroacupuncture was significantly superior to that of medication. After 10 treatments visual analogous scale (VAS) scores for of both groups reduced significantly. Both the VAS score and the crust formation time of EA group were significantly lower than those of medication group.

References

Tao S et al Zhongguo Zhen Jiu (2016) 36:207-11

Hui F et al Altern Med Rev (2012) 17:57-68

Ursini T et al BMC Complement Altern Med (2011) 11:46

Li X et al Zhen Ci Yan Jiu (2009) 34:125-7

Qin Z et al Evid Based Complement Alternat Med (2015):425108. doi: 10.1155/2015/425108. Epub 2015 Oct 21.

Acupuncture worldwide

 

Should you try acupuncture, if you have thigh pain and numbness?

Thigh pain is a very common complaint. It presents constant achy throbbing pain sometimes cramping in the thighs or it could be on and off, but the pain does not go away. It could be one thigh or both thighs. This pain could radiate down to the knees, legs and feet or up to the hips. The pain can be felt when sitting and lying down. It could cause trouble walking long distance.

The pain on the outside of your hip, upper thigh, outer buttock or outside of knee is usually caused by problems with muscles, ligaments, tendons and other soft tissues that surround your hip joint. Pain killers don’t work well with this kind of pain. Acupuncture is very effective to release the pain and help to restore daily activity.

Meralgia paresthetica (MP) or lateral femoral cutaneous neuropath is a condition that also causes thigh pain and numbness. It is caused by injury or entrapment to the nerve that innervates to the thigh called the lateral femoral cutaneous nerve. This causes numbness or pain in the outer thigh. Pain is constant burning or lightening on the outer side of the thigh which is also extending to the outer side of the knee or spreading to the buttocks. It could be accompanied with numbness or tingling in the same area.

There was a report that 10 patients with MP were treated with acupuncture. These patients were aged 30-70 years with MP. The causes of MP were not clear. One patient had diabetes and several were obese. Three patients had inflammatory joint disease. Four patients were receiving high doses of analgesics. Average period of symptoms was 3-4 years. All had tried conservative treatment, physiotherapy or injections and two patients had refused surgery. All patients had tender points especially at acupuncture point GB31 and upper lumba spine. This points were less tender after acupuncture treatment. An average 4-5 sessions of acupuncture was given to these patients. Electroacupuncture was applied from second session. The pain scores for all 10 patients improved by at least 50%, including that of a patient with a 20 year history. At 3-36 months follow-up, improvement was 100%. Most patients were able to stop their analgesics.

References

Aigner N et al Schmerz (1997) 11:113-5
Alexander RE Acupunct (2013) 31:435-9

What is referred pain?

Referred pain makes acupuncture points sensitized and tender.

Referred pain is the pain felt in somewhere in the body other than in the site of origin. Pain referral has a neural basis. Specific pathways and neural connections in the brain are thought to lead to the possibility of pain referral.

One group of nerve fibres conduct information about touch and another group conduct information about tissue damage or noxious stimulation via different sensory nerves. Many sensory fibres from different parts of the different area can terminate on the same set of second order neurons. The second order neurones are part of the pathway that sends sensory information to higher centres for perception. However, since there is so much convergence of sensory information from different body parts onto the same second order neurones, these second order neurones may provide ambiguous information as to the exact location of the noxious stimulus. This neural mechanism is thought to be one way whereby the higher centres of the brain can become "confused" as to the exact location of the noxious stimulus.

Another explanation of pain referral is the activating of silent or latent synaptic connections. When there is prolonged and/or intense noxious stimulation, some of these ineffective synapses may become effective connections. The information is transmitted from other parts unrelated to the source of the pain. The brain therefore can become confused as to the correct location of the pain.

Recent research has investigated correlation between referred pain distribution and acupoint sensitization in patients with intestinal diseases. In clinical research, 443 patients from 8 hospitals were recruited, including the outpatients and inpatients of Crohn's disease, ulcerative colitis, chronic appendicitis and other intestinal diseases. The site with tenderness on the body surface and the morphological changes of local skin were observed and recorded in the patients. Using a sensory tenderness instrument, the pain threshold at the sensitization point was measured in 60 patients with ulcerative colitis. The referred pain on the body surface in the patients with intestinal diseases was mainly located in the lower abdomen, the lumbar region and the lower legs. The diameter of tenderness region was 1.5 to 2.5 cm. Compared with the region without sensitization, the pain threshold of the sensitization point in the patients with ulcerative colitis was reduced significantly. The referred pain on the body surface in the patients with appendicitis was located in the right lower abdomen, the waist and back and the right lower limbs on the medial side. The tenderness region was 1 to 2 cm in diameter and was irregular in form. Intestinal diseases induce referred pain on the body surface where is the same as or adjacent to the location of the spinal segment corresponding to the affected intestinal section. These sensitization regions are related to the locations of acupoints.


References
Cui X et al Zhongguo Zhen Jiu 2019 Nov 12;39(11):1193-8. doi: 10.13703/j.0255-2930.2019.11.016.

The brain and stress and anxiety

The frontal lobe is located at the front of the brain just underneath frontal bone. It controls important cognitive skills, such as emotional expression, personality, problem solving, memory, language, communication skill, judgment, and sexual behaviors. It makes up about one third of the brain and is the largest lobe of the brain. It also controls muscles movement and speech. The frontal lobe enables us to respond to any changes accordingly. Acute stress can impair the function of the frontal lobe that required complex and flexible thinking by increasing both dopamine and noradrenaline release. Chronic stress induces the structural changes. chronic stress weakens the structures that provide negative feedback on the stress response and strengthens the structures that promote the stress response. Stress and anxiety are related to this part of the brain that is not functioning well. The stress and anxiety of frontal lobe is reflexed at the forehead tension. Acupuncture releases the stress and anxiety.


References
Amy F. T. Arnsten Nat Rev Neurosci. 2009 Jun; 10(6): 410–422.

10 reasons why you should try acupuncture for acne

Acne is a common cause of spots that occurs on the face. Acne is not life threatening condition, but it does have many impacts on the people psychologically and physiologically.

There are 10 reasons that you should try acupuncture to get rid of acne.

No1, Acne is chronic condition that can last for years without responding to any treatments.

No2, Acne spoilt your look especially those more inflamed spots such as cysts, nodules.

No3, Acne damage your confidence in social life.

No4, Acne spots do not occur on the surface of the skin. The blockage in the pore is in the hair follicles which are deep beneath the skin surface. They are not dirt which cannot be washed away.

No5, Inflamed acne spots can irritate the skin and cause pain on the face. Acupuncture reduce pain and skin irritation.

No6 Inflammation plays a key role in acne lesion formation. Acne lesions develop in the oil gland follicles. Increased oil production and accumulation combined abnormal inner lining cells growth cause the formation of pimples. Bacteria grow in the follicles and trigger immune response causing inflammation which contributes to the acne lesion formation. Inflammation occurs in the early stage of lesion development and is present throughout the whole process of development of acne lesions until the later stage. Acupuncture can reach deep into the skin and reduce inflammation, release tension and improves local circulation to reduce acne.

No8, Hormonal imbalance plays a role in acne spots formation, acupuncture can help regain hormone balance.

No9, Stress makes acne worse. Acupuncture can reduce stress to get rid of the risk factor for acne.

No10, Acne causes scarring and acupuncture can help reduce inflammation to reduce the chance of scar formation and repair scar that already formed.

Coughing for weeks without sign of stopping? acupuncture can help.

Persistent coughs caused by mild chest infections were not benefit from antibiotic treatment. There was a study led by Prof Paul Little from the University of Southampton about antibiotic treatment for patients with persistent cough lasting more than 28 days. This study including about 2000 patients across European countries showed that the severity and duration of symptoms in these patients treated with antibiotics were no different to those given a sugar placebo. Unless pneumonia is suspected, using antibiotic to treat some respiratory infections is not helpful and could cause harm such as developing resistance and other side effects including diarrhoea, rash and vomiting. Most of mild chest infections are mainly caused by viruses which are not responding to antibiotic treatment. These infections will settle by themselves. This is because body defence system will fight against virus infection and eventually get rid of those viruses.

Do you know acupuncture can help chronic cough condition? Patients with such condition have difficulty to fight off virus infections, because their body defence system is relatively weaker. Acupuncture can strength body defence system by stimulating particular acupuncture points. As a result, this will reduce the severity of the symptoms, shorten the duration of the illness and help recovery from the chronic infection condition.

Acupuncture is effective for COPD

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is one of the most common disorders and one of the most common causes of death worldwide. Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a general term of lung diseases including chronic bronchitis, emphysema and chronic obstructive airways disease. People with COPD have difficulties breathing, primarily due to the narrowing of their airways. Irreversible airflow limitation in COPD is caused by damage to the airways and lung tissue. COPD is usually caused by smoking. Symptoms include cough with phlegm and breathlessness which is increasing when active. There are also frequent chest infections. These symptoms are progressing over time. Respiratory failure or right heart failure may occur in the end. The main aims of the treatments are to reduce symptoms, to prevent symptoms worsening, preserve lung function and improve daily quality life. The most important treatment is to stop smoking. Inhalers are commonly used to ease symptoms. Other treatments such as steroids, antibiotics, oxygen, and mucus-thinning (mucolytic) medicines are sometimes prescribed in more severe cases, or during a flare-up (exacerbation) of symptoms. Acupuncture is used in treating COPD in China. Clinical data to date suggest that acupuncture may be an effective treatment which contributes to medical care for COPD. Acupuncture reduces inflammation in respiratory system and improves mucus clearance.

For example, there was a case series study from Japan for COPD. There were 26 patients with COPD presenting with breathlessness on exertion due to COPD. All of these patients received acupuncture treatments once a week for 10 weeks plus standard medication treatments. At the end of 10 week acupuncture treatments all 26 patients showed significant improvement with reduced breathlessness on exertion. They suggested that acupuncture treatment is a useful treatment for patients with COPD.

A recent study is investigated the regulatory effects of acupuncture on exercise tolerance in patients with COPD at stable phase. Based on specified aerobic exercise, acupuncture was applied in the treatment group and placebo acupuncture was used in the placebo group. The acupoints used were Danzhong (CV 17), Rugen (ST 18), Guanyuan (CV 4), Zhongwan (CV 12), Tianshu (ST 25) and so on. The total treatment period is 5 weeks. The exercise tolerance is measured by various methods including 6-min walking distance (6-MWD), exercise time, maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) forced expiratory volume in 1 second (FEV1)/forced vital capacity (FVC), maximum ventilatory volume (MVV), St. George respiratory questionnaire (SGRQ). The results have shown that (1) exercise tolerance: the differences of 6-MWD and exercise time were statistically significant between groups, which were more superior in the treatment group; the VO2max was significantly increased after treatment in the treatment group. (2) Pulmonary ventilation function: the differences of FEV1%, FEV1/FVC and MVV% were statistically significant between groups, which were more superior in the treatment group. (3) SGRQ: the SGRQ was significantly improved after treatment in the treatment group (P<0.05), but there was no difference between two groups. This study suggested that the acupuncture could improve the exercise tolerance in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at stable phase, and shorten the onset time of aerobic exercise. Besides, acupuncture combined with aerobic exercise could effectively improve the pulmonary function.

References

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/health-20767470

Suzuki M Acupunct Med (2012) 30:96-102

Acupuncture improves exercises tolerance in patients with COPD

Tong J et al Zhongguo Zhen Jiu (2014) 34:846-50

Highs and lows of acupuncture in China

 

How long can you get rid of the pain?

Pain and burning in the affected area, decreased strength and flexibility, and pain caused by everyday activities are very common. This is often caused by tendinopathy-tendon injury.

Tendon is a tough band of fibrous connective tissue that usually connects muscle to bone. It is responsible to transmit muscle force to the bone. A healthy tendon is up to twice as strong as the muscle, making the body of the tendon unlikely to tear before the muscle unless the tendon has already been weakened by degenerative changes. The effects of ageing, wear and tear, genetic pre-disposition and inflammation are known factors contributing to tendon injuries. Injured tendon can cause pain, loss of limb function and prevent exercise and activities of daily living. Injured tendons heal by fibrotic repair and are highly prone to re-injury.

Tendons consist of collagens, proteoglycans, glycoproteins, water and cells. It takes over 100 days to make new collagen.

The healing time for injured tendon varies. Tendon healing can be largely divided into 3 overlapping phases, inflammatory, repairing and remodelling phases: The initial inflammatory phase lasts about 24 hours. During this time erythrocytes, platelets and inflammatory cells migrate to the wound site, recruit tendon blast cell and clean the site of dead tissues and then initiate new collagen synthesis and deposition. After a few days of injury the repairing phase begins. Tendon fibroblast synthesise abundant collegan and other extra cellular matrix components. After 6 weeks the remodelling phase starts. This phase is characterised by decreased cellularity and decreased collagen and glycosaminoglycan synthesis. During this period, the repair tissue changes to fibrous tissue, this again changes to scar like tendon tissue after 10 weeks. After 10 weeks remodelling continues

Treatment at an early stage can be as brief as 6–10 weeks. Once it becomes chronic the treatment can take 3–6 months. The effective treatment might take up to 9 months when it is chronic. Knowing these timelines is part of creating an effective treatment plan.

Acupuncture helps release the pain and helps recovery with tendon injury

Acupuncture is used to treat tendon injury and it improves pain and functional activity in patients with tendinopathy. This is suggested that acupuncture can modulate both anti-inflammatory and mechanotransduction molecular pathways which can increase type I collagen synthesis. Collagen synthesis is the main factor that influences tendon biomechanical properties. Therefore one reason of acupuncture for tendon healing is that acupuncture increases synthesis and subsequent reorganisation of type I collagen during tendon healing process.

Almeida Mdos S et al Acupunct Med (2014) 32:178-82.

Acupuncture is a top choice to release pain

Chronic pain is pain that lasts more than three months. It’s a very common problem. Results from the 2012 National Health Interview Survey show that:

About 25.3 million U.S. adults (11.2 percent) had pain every day for the previous 3 months.

Nearly 40 million adults (17.6 percent) had severe pain.

Individuals with severe pain had worse health, used more health care, and had more disability than those with less severe pain.

Acupuncture is a top choice for chronic pain management according to NIH.

Clinical investigators have found that chronic pain patients often have lower-than-normal levels of endorphins in their spinal fluid. Acupuncture activates endorphin systems and increases levels of endorphins in cerebrospinal fluid.

References

https://nccih.nih.gov/health/pain/chronic.htm

https://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/all-disorders/chronic-pain-information-page

Suffer from toe pain? Acupuncture can help

A bunion is a bony bump on the joint at the base of the big toe. It starts when the big toe pushes against the nest toe, forcing the joint of the big toe to get bigger and stick out. Persistent or intermittent pain in the big toe joint is main symptom. In severe case, it makes walking difficult. Other symptoms include a bulging bump on the outside of the base of the big toe; swelling and redness around the big toe joint; corns or calluses — these often develop where the first and second toes overlap; movement restriction, tenderness when pressed. Sometimes, the skin over the bunion can become red, blistered or infected because it has been rubbing against the shoe. The risk factors to develop bunion include wearing high heels, which forces the toes into the front of the shoes, often crowding the toes; ill-fitting shoes which are either too tight, too narrow; rheumatoid arthritis, inherited structure foot defect.

Acupuncture can help reduce inflammation and pain of bunion.

How to get rid of the wrist pain?

Wrist pain is often caused by sprains or fractures from sudden injuries. Wrist pain can be caused by disease or injury affecting any aspect of the wrist joint, including the bones, ligaments, and connective tissue surrounding the area. Wrist pain can often result from long-term problems, such as repetitive stress, arthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome.

The symptoms of wrist sprains are sudden pain with redness, swelling and bruising, difficult to move wrist or grip anything.

Repetitive stress from any activity that involves repetitive wrist motion such as playing tennis, driving etc can cause wrist pain. It is caused by inflaming the tissues around joints. The symptoms include pain, swelling, redness and stiffness at the wrist.

The symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome include: pain in the fingers, hand or arm, numbness, tingling or pins and needles at the hands or fingers, a weak thumb or wrist difficulty gripping.

Acupuncture is effective and a valuable treatment for releasing wrist pain.

Wind exposure can damage the skin, acupuncture can help skin repairing

We all know that sun exposure can damage the skin. Do you know wind and chill can damage the skin too? The body gives off a layer of heat that protects the skin from cold temperatures. A strong wind can blow this layer away from the skin, taking away this natural defence to the cold. As the wind increases, the body is cooled at a faster rate causing the skin temperature to drop. Exposure to wind and chill can cause windburn and frostbite. Being exposed to below zero wind chills can induce frostbite within five minutes. While wind chills below minus 20 degrees can result in frostbite within a minute of exposure. The affected skin and tissue go numb. It’s most likely to strike the fingers or toes, ears, cheeks, chin, or nose. The exposure can lead to severe damage.

Other conditions related to wind and chill.

Chilblains is a condition in which the small blood vessels in the skin is inflamed after being exposed to cold. These clusters of small blood vessels get red, itchy, and swell or blister. Patches usually appear on your fingers, toes, ears, and cheeks. Wearing layers of loose-fitting, lightweight, warm clothing can trap air between the layers to insulate you. For dry and cracked skin, apply of cream can help to moisturise the skin.

Facial acupuncture can help damaged skin on the face repairing.

Leg and ankle pain? acupuncture can help.

Having shin pain? Acupuncture can help

Shin pain or shin splints is pain on the front of the lower leg between the knee and the ankle. It can hurt directly over the shinbone all the way or over the muscles that are on the inner or outer side of the tibia. It can be a dull aching, or sharp and severe pain. It could be one or both shin with large area across whole length of the shin bone.

This pain is usually caused by overuse from irritation of the muscles or other tissues in the lower leg. They are common in runners, tennis and basketball players. The cause is not clear, but it is suggested that running and repetitive weight baring on the legs leads to inflammation of the tissue around the shin bone.

Acupuncture can help release shin pain by reducing inflammation of the area.

The ankle is a large joint made up with three bones: two are from the leg tibia known as shin bone and fibula –the bone next to the shin bone; one foot bone talus sitting above the heel bone. Ankle joint moves the foot up and down and from side to side. Ankle joint bones are surrounded by numerous ligaments binding the bones together. All ligaments have a specific range of motion and boundaries that allow them to keep the joints stabilized and mobilized.

Ankle sprain is an acute condition that causes ankle pain. It is casued by damage to one or more of the ligaments in the ankle by accidentally twisting the ankle in an awkward way. This causes pain, swelling, bruising stiffness and tenderness, difficulty to walk and putting weight on the ankle.

Acupuncture help to reduce the pain for ankle sprain

Recently Park J studied current status of acupuncture for ankle sprain. There were 17 studies involving 1820 participants that they analysed. About acupuncture interventions, acupuncture interventions given to patients with ankle sprain were either alone or as an add-on to the control intervention. There were different kinds of acupuncture used in these studies: manual acupuncture, electroacupuncuture, warm acupuncture. About the effects of acupuncture as an alternative treatment: 797 participants in 9 trials reported global symptom improvement. Approximately nine sessions of acupuncture were given over 11.5 days. About effects of acupuncture as an add-on treatment there were 926 participants in 11 trials reported effect of acupuncture. An average of 10 sessions of acupuncture over 9 days was given. Acupuncture had significantly better improvements of all symptoms compared with other treatments. About the effects of acupuncture on pain intensity, one study reported that acupuncture significantly reduced pain intensity immediately after acupuncture treatment and after 2 years after the treatment. One study reported that acupuncture in addition to functional exercise shortened the time to return to normal activity by 3.4 days compared with a functional exercises only group. About health-related quality of life, one study reported acupuncture improved quality of life immediately after the treatment and 2 years after the treatment. About acupuncture type, manual acupuncture had an additional effect on symptom improvement compared with controls. When added to massage and infrared radiation, the effect of acupuncture was significantly better than that of massage and infrared radiation only. From this study, we can see that acupuncture is a good treatment option for ankle spray management.

Chronic ankle pain is long term pain (lasts more than three months) at the ankle. This is usually caused by inflammation in the ligaments and tendons surrounding the ankles. Pain is accompanied with swelling and tenderness.

Acupuncture is effective for chronic ankle pain

There was a study compared the efficacy differences between acupuncture and physiotherapy interventions in improving lateral collateral ligament injury of the ankle joint. There were 15 patients in acupuncture group and 15 patients in physiotherapy group. Patients in acupuncture group were received acupuncture in acupoints Qiuxu (GB40), Kunlun (BL60), Shenmai (BL62), Jiexi (ST 41) and Ashi-points etc. Patients in physiotherapy group received TDP irradiation of the regional lateral malleolus treatment. The treatments in both group were performed 3 times a week for 8 weeks. Before and after the treatment, ankle joint’s active and passive repositioning error angles were measured by using a joint angle ruler. They found that the average error angle values of active and passive reposition tests of the injured ankle-joint in acupuncture group reduced significantly after the treatment compared with those before the treatment, whereas there was no significant change before and after the treatment in physiotherapy group. Average error angle, average active and passive reposition angles of the injured ankle in the acupuncture group were significantly lower than those in the physiotherapy group.

Referencies

Tang WJ et al Zhen Ci Yan Jiu 2013 38:314-8

Park J et al BMC Complement Altern Med (2013) 13:55

10 Reasons why you should try acupuncture to release your pain.

Chronic pain is often defined as any pain lasting more than 12 weeks. Chronic pain persists—often for months or even longer. Pain is a very personal and subjective experience. There is no test that can measure and locate pain with precision. Chronic pain can occur anywhere in the body from the head to the toes, such as headaches, neck pain, back pain, thigh pain, leg pain and foot pain, facial pain, chest pain, abdominal pain, pelvic pain and genital pain etc. Chronic pain may occur in a variety of locations in the body and for many different reasons. With chronic pain, the goal of treatment is to reduce pain and improve function.

No1 chronic pain compromise the quality of life so much.

No2 It makes you tense. Chronic pain indicates there is chronic inflammation and it irritates the nerve and creates muscle tension.

No3 It can make you have fatigue. All the inflammation from the chronic pain makes you feel tired all the time.

No4 It can disturb your sleep. Chronic pain always irritates the brain to prevent you falling sleep and wake you up during sleep.

No5 It can change your mood. Chronic pain irritates the brain connecting to the mood control center which makes you anxious and/or depressed.

No6 It can affect your eating habit, not eating or overeating.

No7 It can limit your movement and reduce flexibility and strength.

No8 Acupuncture is widely accepted for pain relief and it can stimulate the brain releasing analgesic substances such as endorphins to reduce the pain.

No9, Acupuncture for chronic pain is recommended NIH Medline Plus https://medlineplus.gov/magazine/issues/spring11/articles/spring11pg5-6.html.

No10 Acupuncture can help reduce pain related symptoms such as tension, fatigue, mood changes, and sleep etc.

10 reasons why you should try acupuncture to relieve stress

If you are very stressed and cannot get rid of it, there are 10 reasons why you should try acupuncture to relieve your stress.

No1 Stress impairs the brain. The prefrontal cortex (PFC) regulates our thoughts, actions and emotions through extensive connections with other brain regions. Research has shown that Acute stress impairs PFC function, while chronic stress leads to more extensive functional and structural alteration of PFC.

No2, Stress makes you anxious. Stress is the body's reaction to any change that requires an adjustment or response. The body reacts to these changes with physical, mental, and emotional responses. Anxiety is a feeling of fear, worry, or unease. It can be a reaction to stress. Stress can make existing anxiety worse that makes you more anxious, irritable, agitated and unable to relax. Stress also makes you unable to concentrate and forget things.

No3, Stress spoils your look. Stress creates tension on the face to make the expression muscles contract, as a result it pulls the skin and folds it creating wrinkles. If the stress is prolonged, the blood vessels are contracting reducing blood circulation on the face making the skin dry and collagen production is reduced and existing collagen is damaged which contributing to creating wrinkles. It accelerates aging process. Stress hormones increases oil production I the skin and makes acne worse.

No4, Stress makes you tense. Tension triangle is involved in the face, head, neck and shoulders. The muscles in this triangle are very sensitive to stress and emotions causing tension for these muscles. According to research, in the first two or three seconds of emotional upset, the muscles around the eyes, mouth and jaw almost always tighten. Prolonged stress leads to a chronic shortening of the muscles. Under stress circumstances, people hold their body in tension without realizing it; Tension will build up over time when the stress is persisting.

No5, Stress makes you ache. Stress can trigger tension headache. A tension-type headache is the most common type of headache and can be triggered by stress. It may feel like a constant ache that affects both or one side of the head. One may also feel the neck muscle tighten and feeling of pressure behind the eyes.

No6, Stress makes digestion bad. When stress attacks, you can have abdominal cramps accompanied with diarrhea and/or constipation. Stress causes more acid production in the stomach causing bloating and pain in the abdomen. Stress inflames bowels causing diarrhea and constipation. In irritable bowel syndrome, sustained cortisol activity during stress is associated with an increase in gastrointestinal symptoms.

No7, Stress makes you sleepless. Stress can cause insomnia. In the state of stress, the body releases stress hormones –chemicals such as glucocorticoids to help the body to cope with the situation. Glucocorticoids can disrupt sleep and make sleep difficult.

No8, Stress makes you tired. When under stress, the body needs to make great efforts to cope by releasing extra chemicals such as adrenaline, cortisol and norepinephrine to prepare the action. The blood is diverted to muscles and the brain function is minimized. If you are stressed, emotionally you may feel tired, agitated, anxious, worried or depressed and having difficulty to relax; physically you may feel lack of energy, tired all the time.

No9, Stress makes your hormones imbalanced. Stress triggers the release of the hormone cortisol altering the body metabolism. Consequently, you would see signs of weight changes gaining weight or losing weight in short period of time. Also, you may see persistent acne. Menstrual cycles change is an important sign of imbalanced hormones.

No10, Stress affects your fertility. Disruption of production of hormones could lead to loss of hormone balance. Physical and emotional stress can cause menstrual cycles changes such as irregular periods and it can affect fertility. Stress triggers the release of stress hormone cortisol, which changes the body metabolism. Cotisol is made from progesterone in female and testosterone in male. If under stress, the body keeps making stress hormone which would exhaust sex hormone and this compromise fertility.

Acupuncture can effectively relieve stress in holistic way to help all aspects above and restore your health.

10 Reasons why you should have acupuncture as an adjunct treatment of your IVF.

About 1 in 6 couples have difficulty conceiving and seek specialist fertility treatment. There are various treatments available depending on the causes of the infertility. In vitro fertilisation (IVF) is one of the most successful treatments for couples with infertility, however it is still not 100% success. Some treatments that can increase the success rate of IVF would be preferable to support IVF. Acupuncture is one of the candidates. Here is a list of 10 reasons why you should have acupuncture as an adjunct treatment of your IVF.

No1 There are no side effects of acupuncture treatment. It does not cause any harm and does not interact with any medications for whatever protocols you have for IVF.

No2 IVF is a very stressful procedure. It makes women anxious about it. Stress and anxiety could affect IVF success. Acupuncture that is proved by research can reduce stress and anxiety score during IVF treatment.

No3 Acupuncture reduce inflammation. If there is inflammation around the abdominal region, it makes the toxic environment affecting fertility.

No4 Acupuncture improves blood circulation to help provide enough nutrients and oxygen to the ovaries and uterus.

No5 Acupuncture can help balance hormones. Balanced hormones are essential for pregnancy to occur and stay.

No6 Acupuncture can help improve egg quality. It reduces inflammation and improves blood circulation to the ovaries. This helps to supply oxygens and nutrients to the eggs and take the toxins away from the eggs.

No7 Acupuncture improves the uterine lining by improving blood circulation to the uterus and helps the lining to grow. Uterine lining is where the embryo to implant and grow.

No8 Acupuncture relax the uterus and help embryo implantation too.

No9 Acupuncture can increase sperm counts and improve sperm quality. The evidence for the effect of acupuncture on sperm counts and sperm quality is emerging in research.

No10 Based above step by step help. Acupuncture can help increase IVF success eventually. It is a good candidate to assist IVF.

Dr Maggie Ju acupuncture in London Kensington, Chelsea and Richmond London

 

10 reasons why you should try acupuncture to get rid of anxiety

No1 Chronic anxiety can interfere with quality of life. Everyone has anxiety from time to time, but this goes away quickly. If you are anxious all the time, this isn’t right, and you need to do something to get rid of the anxiety.

No2 Anxiety put you at risk to get physical illness. Evidence suggests that people with anxiety disorders are at greater risk for developing other chronic medical conditions. They may also have more severe symptoms and a greater risk of death when they become ill.

No3 Anxiety damages the brain. Anxiety triggers the amygdala and the hippocampus responding to any threats and the event is stored in the hippocampus. New research has shown that prolonged anxiety causes structural degeneration and impaired functioning of the brain such as the amygdala, the hippocampus and the prefrontal cortex.

No4 Anxiety causes headaches, dizziness. By responding to the anxiety, the brain releases hormones and chemicals. Long-term anxiety and panic attacks can cause the brain to release stress hormones regularly. This can increase the frequency of symptoms such as headaches, dizziness.

No5 Anxiety affects mental health and wellbeing. It makes you feel irritated, emotional, depressed and being in bad mood and easily getting angry.

No6 Anxiety causes rapid heart rate, palpitations, chest pain breathless which increases the risk of high blood pressure and heart disease, respiratory diseases such as asthma.

No7 Anxiety impairs immune function. Anxiety triggers fight or flight response and makes the body release stress hormone and immune substance to help dealing with any events. Long lasting anxiety would exhaust immune system and weakens immune function which leaves you more vulnerable to viral infections.

No8 Anxiety makes you aching. Anxiety causes muscles tension and inflammation and chronic pain.

No9 Anxiety interrupts sleep and causes extreme fatigue and make you feel exhausted all the time and also causes loss of libido.

No10 Anxiety affects your digestive systems. You may have stomach-aches, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation and loss of appetite. There is link between anxiety and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).

Amygdala and hippocampus are the key parts of the brain that are responsible for the anxiety, stress and other mood changes. Hypersensitivity of these regions of the brain causes anxiety.

Acupuncture reduces Amygdala and hippocampus activities. Acupuncture improves stress induce memory impairment and increases AchE activity in the hippocampus. Acupuncture reduces stress hormone levels, increases production of endogenous opioids and decreases the sympathetic nerve activities. Acupuncture reduces inflammation and stress induced changes.

What is facial acupuncture like? Are you brave enough to give it a try?

 

10 reasons why you should try acupuncture to boost your fertility

No1, reduce stress. Stress impacts fertility more than you imagined. If you are stressed, it can make your hormone imbalanced. Many women have experience that when they are stressed, their period arrives earlier than it should; or they have spots break out. Acupuncture can effectively reduce the stress.

No2, improves blood circulation. Good blood circulation is essential for the body to preform including ovaries and uterus. Many researches have shown that acupuncture can improve blood circulation to the body and ovaries and uterus.

No3, reduce inflammation. Metabolism products from inflammation can have toxic effects to the organs include reproductive system. Acupuncture can effectively reduce inflammation and has detoxing effect.

No4, release tension and muscle spasms. Tension and muscle spasm in the body can compromise micro blood circulation in the body including ovaries and uterus. Acupuncture can release all the tensions.

No5, rebalance hormones. Follicle development depends on hormones. Hormones imbalance affects egg qualities. Acupuncture can help rebalance the hormones and improve egg quality.

No6, improves egg quality and ovulation. As mentioned above, acupuncture can improve blood microcirculation and rebalance hormones to improve egg quality.

No7, reduce fallopian tube spasm. Fallopian tube spasm can block the way of eggs, sperms and embryos. Acupuncture can release fallopian tube spasm and help the transportation.

No8, improve uterine lining. Uterine lining is a bed for embryo. It needs to be good and comfortable to embryo to implant in. uterine lining development depends on blood circulation and hormone balance. Acupuncture can help improve uterine lining to its best for embryo implantation.

No9, improve sperm quantity and quality. Acupuncture can help improve sperm’s quality and quantity for women to get pregnant.

No 10, improves embryo quality. Acupuncture can help improve embryo quality by improving egg and sperm quality.

10 Reasons why you should try acupuncture to reduce fatigue

Fatigue is a common complaint in the clinic. Nonspecific fatigue is fatigue with no underlying medical cause. Some survey has shown that 20% of people feel unusually tired at any given time. It’s unusual to find anything physically wrong. However excessive fatigue affects one’s quality of life.

Tired of being tired? How to get rid of fatigue? Acupuncture is one of the methods that you should try. Why

No1 Many things in daily life can cause stress and stress makes you tired. Acupuncture can help reduce stress as a result it can help reduce fatigue.

No2 Brain is the largest energy consumer and all the energy come from blood supply to the brain. Acupuncture can help improve brain blood circulation and energy supply to reduce fatigue.

No3 Inflammation anywhere in the body can make you feel tired. Acupuncture reduces inflammation to reduce fatigue.

No4 The tension of the body blocks blood circulation and makes you feel tired. Acupuncture reduces tension and improves blood circulation to reduce fatigue.

No5 Chronic pain makes you tired. If you have chronic pain anywhere, this could make you feel tired. Acupuncture releases chronic pain and reduces fatigue.

No6 Imbalanced hormones can make you feel tired. Acupuncture can help resume hormone balance reduce stress hormones, consequently it reduces fatigue.

No7 Poor blood circulation can cause toxins accumulate in the body and makes you feel tired. Acupuncture improves blood circulation and improves fatigue.

No8 Insomnia can make you extremely tired. Acupuncture can improve sleep and reduce fatigue.

No 9 Emotions such as anxiety can make you tired. Acupuncture is effective to release emotion and improve fatigue

No 10. Acupuncture releases β -endorphin. If you are tired all the time, you might have low β endorphins in immune cells. Recent research has shown that β -endorphin concentrations in the immune cells of chronic fatigue patients were significantly lower than in healthy subjects.