For many of the afflictions acupuncture can treat – allergies, back pain, headaches, the list goes on – reducing inflammation in the body is a primary reason acupuncture is successful. For decades now, doctors and medical researchers have been trying to learn what the biological mechanism is that allows acupuncture to reduce inflammation in the body. continue reading
I think we all know someone, or maybe it’s even ourselves, who lives by the refrain, “If it’s not broken, don’t fix it.”
Often used to put off replacing outdated tools or technology, the phase can be connected to how we view healthcare as well. It can be hard to think about our physical health until it is a problem. Something we take for granted, until it’s broken. Why would we spend time and money on something before it’s necessary?
This view of healthcare is a challenging mental hurdle to overcome. But overcoming it can lead to a greatly improved quality of life.
Ancient practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine would administer regular treatments to everyone in the community, not only as reactive treatments once someone was sick or injured. Today, in the United States, the vast majority of patients only seek out acupuncture treatments once they are feeling pain or sickness.
For acute ailments, patients might see positive results rather quickly, and then stop their appointments, but the real gift of acupuncture is the whole-body balancing and realignment that can occur once the acute afflictions have been addressed.
Acupuncture works to balance our hormone levels, address digestive and sleep imbalances, and improve our energy level throughout the day. Each of these things can greatly improve our quality of life, but if they weren’t presenting a big, visible problem we would normally just ignore it, drink more coffee, chew a TUMS and carry on.
Through this work of correcting imbalances in the body and strengthening the immune system, acupuncture functions as a highly effective preventive medicine, meaning it helps our body function at its best, which supports it in fighting off illnesses before they start or recovering more quickly from injuries when they do occur.
In a year dominated by stories of death and disease, preventive medicine feels all the more pressing. When we give ourselves the gift of really feeling our best, we are taking a proactive stance on our health, which can end up saving money, time and hardship later as we are better able to fend off sickness.
As a preventive medicine, acupuncture is very low risk compared with consistent medication use. Studies show patients very rarely experience negative side effects due to acupuncture. Acupuncture can be an inexpensive, convenient and very effective preventive medicine.
Feel free to forward this email to someone you know who needs it!
Looking forward to seeing you in the office soon-
The team at Alpine Acupuncture
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Anger is the emotion associated with springtime in Traditional Chinese Medicine. For most of us, we consider anger a bad emotion, something to avoid or get rid of, so why would it be one that TCM would shine a light on?
Well, no emotion is inherently good or bad, it’s how we deal with challenging emotions that can end up hurting ourselves or those we love. continue reading
More than 34 million Americans have diabetes, and approximately 90 percent of them have type 2 diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Type 2 diabetes, while its exact cause is unknown, develops when the body becomes resistant to insulin or the pancreas doesn’t produce enough insulin. Because of this, treatment often involves taking “insulin sensitizers” or medication that helps the body increase its sensitivity and therefore ability to process insulin, keeping the blood sugar from getting too low. Unfortunately, this medication often causes side effects, including weight gain and anemia. continue reading
