Exam problems - sleep and acupuncture could help

An interesting study has found a connection between loss of deep wave sleep as people grow older, and loss of memories. These UC Berkeley neuroscientists say that the slow brain waves generated during the deep sleep we typically experience in youth play a part in transporting memories from the hippocampus, which stores short term memories, to the prefrontal cortex, which is more like the brain's hard drive. If sleep is poor, then memories stay in the hippocampus, becoming overwritten by new short term memories, and thus lost. I imagine that most of us have experienced days when lack of sleep makes us feel "brain dead" so, intuitively, this study seems to make sense. More details here.

When I was revising for my acupuncture finals in 1992, I used to give myself a couple of acupuncture treatments each week, designed to keep me calm, and sleeping well, and also boosting my energy, so that I had the inner resources to absorb and retain all the information. Reading this article made me think that most students, approaching exams, could do with that kind of treatment. 

Acupuncture has also been recommended for the elderly in China for many years to generate good health and is, of course, a prime way of ensuring a good night's sleep. I have posted a blog early in February on this subject. Longevity and good health have always been highly prized in China. For more information, please look at my website page on how acupuncture can help in different conditions.

Acupuncture helps to relieve stress

An interesting article appeared a little while ago, indicating how different studies show that acupuncture, in relieving pain and improving sleep, also works to relieve stress. The authors say that acupuncture taps into a basic biological mechanism to relieve stress and keep it under control. As they comment, putting a needle in someone may seem a counter intuitive antidote to stress, but many patients will testify to the relaxing effects of acupuncture treatment. 

I observe this in patients on countless occasions and, speaking for myself, when on the receiving end of a needle, it is the relaxation that I notice first, long before any specific improvement in a physical symptom. One of my patients calls this the "feel good factor" in a treatment. Even better, this relaxing or destressing effect of acupuncture lasts beyond the treatment room and can have a longer term beneficial effect. Hence some people come for treatment simply for stress. You can read the article here.

There is more information about acupuncture and stress, insomnia, anxiety etc on my website.

Acid reflux - new research using acupuncture and Chinese herbs

Acid reflux, often called heartburn, is a very unpleasant symptom which can ruin a person's pleasure in eating, and go on to cause other problems such as coughing and oesophagitis, where the oesophagus becomes inflamed and constantly sore because of the persistent reflux. Various conventional medical interventions are in use, with varying degrees of effectiveness. Acupuncturists using traditional Chinese medical approaches will assess each patient's symptoms individually, including checking pulse and tongue, before treating. My treatment may include a Chinese herbal dietary supplement.

It is very interesting to read this new research, which compared two groups of patients, one receiving acupuncture and Chinese herbs, and the other receiving conventional western medication. 92% of the acupuncture group experienced an improvement, compared with 76% of the western medicine group.  You can read more about this study here.

For the purposes of clear comparison, the study used local abdominal acupuncture points. I would also often use local points, but also sometimes points on a patient's wrists, hands or legs.  There is more information on my website.  Click on the link to Acupuncture and gastrointestinal disorders.

Treating High Blood Pressure with Acupuncture

St 36 - one of the points
mentioned in the studies

A new study demonstrates that acupuncture lowers blood pressure in patients diagnosed with hypertension (high blood pressure). Another study concludes that acupuncture lowers blood pressure levels in the long term as well as the short term. During my clinical studies in Beijing in 2000, I saw acupuncture used as a standard treatment for high blood pressure, and these studies bear out my clinical experience. This Healthcare Medicine Institute online article describes three different studies, each using slightly different acupoint protocols, but each working well to lower hypertension. All of the acupuncture points mentioned are ones that I am likely to use to treat hypertension but, as each patient is assessed individually in a traditional Chinese medicine approach, I do not generally use fixed lists of points.
One of the studies also showed that acupuncture stimulates neurons in specific brain regions controlling sympathetic nerve stimulation throughout the body, concluding that it is acupuncture's ability to activate brain centres that allows it to lower high blood pressure.

I usually try to explain the action of acupuncture to patients who ask how acupuncture works in western terms, by describing the acupuncture needle as sending an electrical signal to the brain which as a master computer, then sends out signal to correct imbalances and disorders in the body. You can look at the full article here and return to my website for further information.




Trigger point acupuncture and traditional acupuncture - what's the difference?

Trigger point acupuncture, sometimes called intra-muscular needling, is commonly practised by western medically trained health professionals such as doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, and some osteopaths and chiropractors, as a small part of their treatments. Traditional acupuncture is typically practised by acupuncturists who have undertaken western medicine training in anatomy, physiology and pathology, but a great deal more training in Chinese medicine. So an acupuncturist's approach to a health problem is from a different perspective.


Acupuncture of trigger points
in the shoulder

However, more and more acupuncturists are also training in trigger point acupuncture as well. I completed a training myself a couple of years ago, and find it an invaluable adjunct to traditional acupuncture. Acupuncturists have always been aware of so called "tender points" when treating musculoskeletal problems, but trigger points are more technical and refer to small areas in a muscle where there is an underlying micro irritation of the nerve pathway supplying that muscle. In response the muscle contracts, placing strain on tendons and muscular spasms. Typically the pain for a particular trigger point will refer along a specific pathway.

When I come across a trigger point and gently insert a needle into it, the sensation is initially unpleasant, followed by massive relief. I have treated injuries of long duration in this way, to the huge relief of the patient! This doesn't just happen to young people playing sports, or taking extreme forms of exercise. I have treated elderly people who have had falls, resulting in no fractures or apparent damage visible on a scan, but causing chronic pain for years. Treating the appropriate trigger point, and then sometimes giving a traditional treatment, has worked wonders. This article describes trigger point acupuncture in a very straightforward way.

More information about acupuncture and my training on my website.