Why We Need Acupuncture and Preventative Medicine
The past couple days, for some reason my left knee was starting to bother me. It was feeling rather sore and was just irritating me to no end. After complaining about it to the mother dear yesterday, she sat me down, brought out her infra-red laser, and performed laser acupuncture on me.
A couple hours later, my knee felt great. The soreness was relieved, I trotted off to hot yoga class, and did very well at holding all of the poses steady.
I’ve had acupuncture done on me before, and I think that I like the needle-less laser type the best. Some people really enjoy the sensation of acupuncture needles, and most of the animals that we deal with (at the vet clinic I work at with the mother dear) certainly seem to just love it, but I don’t really like the feeling of having needles stuck in me for 20 minutes. It’s not that I have anything against needles, but if I can get away without needing them, then I’ll happily opt for the needle-less version of acupuncture!
There are other forms of acupuncture, too: moxibustion, aquapuncture, acupressure, and electro-acupuncture are all other techniques. Most people are amazed with the miraculous results accompanying acupuncture treatments, but when you think about it, it makes a lot of sense: the Chinese have been using it for thousands of years with great success.
Considering this, and then considering how many of the modern drugs we’ve designed which are actually incredibly harmful to our bodies (such as ritalin), it is worth thinking about going back to our roots. People hundreds of years ago did not have the same health problems that we have today because of their diet and lifestyle. True, advances in modern medicine have been wonderful in helping to treat diseases once we get them, but the drawback to that is that there isn’t much effort being put into preventing us from getting diseases in the first place. Diabetes is now a commonplace condition, whereas it was far more rare hundreds of years ago and you likely wouldn’t have been able to live for very long with it.
Tweet ThisI really do think that Western medicine is very beneficial (and in conjunction with Chinese medicine, it’s especially good! If you’re going to an acupuncturist, though, make sure that they’re reputable and certified and all that jazz. Unfortunately there are some people out there practicing it who aren’t licensed to do so), but it seems that we rely too much on Western medicine to save us once we’re already very ill, and we don’t pay attention to our health until it falls by the wayside and is in desperate need of some healing.
What do you think? Should we be shifting our thought away from “it’s okay if I get ill/diseased because it can be treated” to “let’s work on preventing getting any health problems, even though medicine could treat it if need be”? I think we’re better off taking care of our bodies as though there aren’t ways to treat illnesses… we might pay them a little more attention that way and improve our health.
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I totally agree with you that we need to shift our focus from treatment to prevention!! And I had no idea there was even such a thing as laser acupunture. It makes me wish I had a mom that did it too;)
Gosh, would your mom adopt me? Needle-less acupuncture sounds great! And yes, prevention should deserve more attention.
Prevention is definitely the key. Good post!
I had no idea it existed either!
that said to get a few minutes of QUIET on a table Id happily have needles stuck in me 🙂
M.
I’ve never tried acupuncture, but I’m always open to the possibility if the need arises.
Prevention is definitely key, but to be a pessimist, there’s no money in it. Money is in treatment, not cure or prevention. Ah, the capitalist society!
side planks are awesome. As for your question at the end of this post, I think we need to lean towards prevention. We need to get out of the mentality that we can destroy and misuse our bodies just because it can be “fixed”. The best way to fix a body is to not break it at all!
Jay
http://jlyoung23.wordpress.com
I agree, we need to shift our focus.
My hubby has had great success with acupuncture for allergies.
Gena- you’re right that there’s a lot more money in treating rather than preventing… I wish that our society wasn’t SO focused on making money as the top priority! Where have all the morals gone??
Jay- it’s so unfortunate how often people don’t look into their own health until its too late. Thanks for commenting!
That shift MUST happen. We can’t be reactive (to so many things in life) simply because it seems easier. Better to be PROactive.
I love acupuncture – I got it for sleep problems and it would just totally relax me the second the needles went in. Never heard of the laser kind…cool! Too bad my insurance wouldn’t cover it.
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
I’ve been thinking about trying accupuncture to relive the tension in my neck and shoulders. You’re making me think about it more seriously…
i watched a PBS Nova about how over perscribed and misdiagnosed our children are. They took one child off all of his ADHD and bipolar meds (which he was diagnosed with at age 4, arent all boys hyperactive at that age??) after he was up to 10 a day and he developed a severe tick.
Ive never had acupuncture but yeah, Iwould opt for needless as well.
Leslie- I’m so glad that acupuncture works so well for you!
Scrumpy- it would probably be really good for relieving tension. Acupuncture is very relaxing.
Kelly- That’s pretty terrifying. It seems as though the solution nowadays is to just pump everyone with meds no matter what they’re actual condition.
This made me want to go get acupuncture, but unfortunately (?) nothing’s wrong with me right now.
When I worked in the natural health industry, some folks used the derogatory term “allopathic naturalist medicine”, as in, “this herb will fix this, this pill will fix that”, instead of a more holistic, balanced approach aiming to prevent underlying causes rather than fixing symptoms as they popped up.
Hi. I did acupuncture last year and liked it. I’m not sure if it was really physically beneficial for the issues that I went in for. But I did feel less stressed and calmer.
I totally agree that we need to focus on STAYING healthy in the first place. Instead of trying to fix all these problems that we cause ourselves by living an unhealthy lifestyle.