Normally, once you have been diagnosed with rheumatic disorders such as different arthritises, neck/back pains from disc problems, or fibromyalgia, 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.
In fact, you have other choices rather than just taking painkillers. 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, but 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 (MD, PhD ). His clinic is located at No 1 Nile Lodge, Lower Salthill, Galway, phone 087 7997866.
