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Help With Arthritis Pain: Acupuncture and Pain Relief.
Acupuncture is used for a wide variety of medical conditions, but in the United States it’s accepted by conventional doctors if at all solely for the treatment of arthritis and back pain.
Many chronic pain patients seem to be helped by acupuncture. This is fortunate, since several common prescription and nonprescription painkillers aspirin, ibuprofen, naproxen and indomethacin, for example can cause liver and kidney problems, ulcers and gastrointestinal bleeding.
For kidney-stone pain,and arthritis, acupuncture was found to be as effective as drug treatment. And almost half the subjects receiving drugs had side effects, while no one receiving acupuncture did.
Still, it’s curious that the studies aren’t more compelling-especially since acupuncture is more accepted in this country, and more likely to be covered by insurance, when used to treat pain than when used for other conditions. Physicians who pooh-pooh the idea of using acupuncture for other problems believe in using it for pain.
Perhaps this is because research has shown that the painkilling effect of acupuncture seems to be connected to endorphins (natural, narcotic-like substances produced by our brains). Conventional Western doctors have trouble with the concept of energy traversing invisible channels, but endorphins are something they understand. It’s known that trauma can increase these natural opiates, and one argument used to dispute the effectiveness of acupuncture holds that it works merely by the counterirritant effect (that is, the pain of the needles takes your mind off whatever problem you’re being treated for).
I have tried this technique for my own arthritis and it does give relief. If you are suffering from arthritis or almost any kind of pain I urge you to try this. Safe and effective method of pain relief and it works!
