Normally, once you have been diagnosed with rheumatic disorders such as arthritis, neck/back pains from disc problems, fibromyalgia, etc, you will be told to “live with” these diseases, take drugs that may risk some unexpected, even dangerous, side effects, change your lifestyle, and even accept loss of mobility. In addition, the long-term pain may also cause related psychiatric symptoms including anxiety and depression, which are recognised as chronic pain syndrome.
If you are still suffering from chronic pain syndrome, acupuncture may become your alternative therapy. The aim of acupuncture is to effectively re-balance an imbalance of your body’s neuromuscular and autoimmune functions, thus increasing your energy levels to enhance how your body functions.
The imbalance of the body’s functions can be caused by external factors including a variety of new or old injuries, and also by internal factors such as abnormal emotions (eg, anger, depression ) and long-term stress. Acupuncture therapy is not only a treatment for one physical ailment or one part of the body, is a holistic approach, treating the patient as a physical and spiritual whole. Acupuncture treatment can therefore result in significant improvement of both physical body pain and the related psychiatric symptoms.
However, if patients, in particular young children, are afraid of needles, they could be treated by manual manipulation instead, namely, acupressure therapy.
For more information contact Dr Xian Yang Lai (MM, MD, PhD ). His clinic is located at No 1 Nile Lodge, Lower Salthill, Galway. Phone 087 799 7866.
