In this episode we take on the question of how does acupuncture help with chronic pain?
Today’s Everyday Acupuncture Podcast question is answered by Caitria Thiele of the Connected Healing clinic in Franklin, Wisconsin
“How does acupuncture help with chronic pain?
My name is Caitria Thiele, L.Ac. I’m a licensed acupuncturist practicing at Connected Healing in Franklin WI, just outside of Milwaukee. Today, I’m going to share some information with you about how acupuncture helps with the healing of chronic pain.
The first thing that you need to know is that acupuncture works by modulating and regulating the functions of the nervous system. The nervous system controls everything in your body, including how you perceive pain.
The second thing to keep in mind is that your body will always prioritize survival above all else. Any time that there is a perceived threat to survival, like an injury, it will become a really high priority initially which is a good thing.
Let’s say for example that you hurt your back at work, or raking leaves, or maybe at the gym. Right away your body will send a lot of resources to that area for the purpose of healing that injury because it poses an immediate threat to your survival, either directly or indirectly. As the injury begins to heal, your brain will reassess the threat level that injury now poses to your survival, which would be less than when it initially happened. The injury will now be bumped lower on the list of your body’s priorities, and the resources required to continue healing it will be diverted to things that are more pressing such as digestion, cellular repair, detoxification, immune function, or any number of other bodily functions.
The big problem with this is that you’re still in pain. Yes, you’re in less pain than you were initially, but likely still enough pain that it affects your quality of life, energy, mood, etc.
This is where acupuncture comes in. It can help to redirect the required resources, which Chinese medicine would call qi and blood, back to the site of the injury to continue and complete the healing process and alleviate the remaining pain.
This same analogy would apply for pain that has been around for 6 weeks, 6 months, or 6 years. Regardless of the timeline, your body was designed to heal. It often just needs a little support and direction in order to effectively do so. Acupuncture can help tremendously with this, so if you’re struggling with chronic pain, seek out a licensed acupuncturist in your area and begin receiving care so you can get relief, and get back to living your best life!”“How does acupuncture help with chronic pain?
