So I recently found out my health insurance gives a preferred discount of 25% to certain local certified massage therapists / "Eastern" Complementary Medicine Practitioners (Acupuncture).
How often, if ever: Do you kids go to massage therapy sessions (not spas!)
What particular reason? I think I'd go for stress :| Even though I'm 21, but serving tables is making my back sore - ung.
Oh oh, and I'm extremely intrigued by acupunc. someone spill the beans and tell me if it makes any sense to try a session/how much did it cost you/would you do it again?
For several years I got a massage once a month or about every six weeks. Wow, if I could afford it I'd do it even more often. Lately I've gotten out of the habit only because the massage therapist I liked the most moved her business farther from me and it's a pain to get to her. She does deep tissue massage and NMT (neuromuscular therapy). Right now I'm doing more foam roller and other self massage stuff and that's not quite as good.
My chiropractor has done acupuncture on me a couple of times. I don't know a lot about it, but I know if I have some tendon pain and he does it, I don't hurt when I leave! It doesn't hurt to have it done. You just lie there.
Can't remember where I read it, probably NYT, but they found that acupuncture did help, but that it didn't make any difference whether they used the classic points or just something in the general vicinity. Rob
I've had one acupuncture session and it did wonders for me. I had it for female problems (endo pain) and it worked incredibly well, or at least I think it was the acupuncture. I had a session and two weeks later my period was due...usually I have terrible cramps a few days before it starts but I did not that time. I knew I wasnt pregnant and could not figure out why I was not having cramps...then I remembered the acupuncture. I think that is what helped because I did not change anything else.
A few years ago I slipped a disc and had lots of pain. Not wanting to take pain pills I went to see an acupuncturist. My insurance would cover it ONLY if I went to an MD....and we have one here who does acupuncture. I called her, there was a several month wait. So I went to a person in town who has a good rep but isn't too "out there".
My first session was odd. She had me strip down to nothing and lay on the table (I was covered up). She poked me with her hands for a bit then started with the needles, all 32 of them. Some, that were placed in my lower back and butt, made my butt/thigh muscles quiver - that was odd, my leg was "frogging" around. I went 2x/wk for 6 weeks. As I continued to go my pain subsided to nothing.
During that time I went to see a back doc, who gave me a handful of scripts. I told him that I was seeing an acupuncturist - and he freaked. I thought he was going to give me a lecture, he praised me for trying it. Heck, it worked and I enjoyed the time on the table.
Not sure if it was just the placebo effect or not but my pain went away. Sitting on the acu's table, covered by a sheet was very calming. Some soft music playing, a little fountain in the background running in a really peaceful little space. Once she took the needles out and told me to rest a bit, she was in no hurry. I laid back down - and slept for 4 hours. Woke up, it was dark.
She also gave me body weight massages after the end of each session. She'd have me lay down on my back and she'd put her hands/arms under my back and would massage me that way, using my bodyweight as the force. She is fairly petite (maybe 5', 90#) and couldn't give me a good massage the normal way. The body weight massage worked. I'll tell you wait, the massages themselves were worth the cost of the visit!
My sessions were 60/each for singles, 50/each if I did 2/wk. Pills would have been cheaper but I had a problem with pain pills once (sort of started to get addicted) and I couldn't drive while on them. Acu worked for me and worked well. I didn't think it would because I considered it to be new agey stuff but it convinced me otherwise.
So I recently found out my health insurance gives a preferred discount of 25% to certain local certified massage therapists / "Eastern" Complementary Medicine Practitioners (Acupuncture).
How often, if ever: Do you kids go to massage therapy sessions (not spas!)
What particular reason? I think I'd go for stress :| Even though I'm 21, but serving tables is making my back sore - ung.
Oh oh, and I'm extremely intrigued by acupunc. someone spill the beans and tell me if it makes any sense to try a session/how much did it cost you/would you do it again?
hap.
I am not sure about acupuncture, but I love deep tissue massages and try to get them as often as possible. Whether its stress, back pains, or health problems I would recommend everyone getting massages!
So I recently found out my health insurance gives a preferred discount of 25% to certain local certified massage therapists / "Eastern" Complementary Medicine Practitioners (Acupuncture).
How often, if ever: Do you kids go to massage therapy sessions (not spas!)
What particular reason? I think I'd go for stress :| Even though I'm 21, but serving tables is making my back sore - ung.
Oh oh, and I'm extremely intrigued by acupunc. someone spill the beans and tell me if it makes any sense to try a session/how much did it cost you/would you do it again?
hap.
I get accupuncture done once every 2 weeks it is absolutely the best thing I have done for my shoulder and lower back simply awesome I recommend it to anyone and everyone.
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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity.
If you are seeing an acupuncturist who uses 32 points in one session, go find another therapist. I won't say too much, but if the person has a strong foundation in TCM and knows his/her stuff about meridian theory/Jing-Luo the practitioner certainly will not come close to using 30+ points. The maximum I ever use in acupuncture (for a multitude of issues and with local distal focuses for pain and then organ imablances all together) would be 12ish. Some of the greatest Chinese doctors I have learned from and been treated by can treat the whole body and many conditions with less than 3 or 4 points (with incredible results). Using that many points is ridiculous (just my opinion though). Manual therapies are totally different though, so for shiatsu treating 200+ points is not uncommon before focusing on MITA etc.
As for pain, most of the time acupuncture needles should not hurt. There a some points which may hurt a bit more, but I'd say most points should not cause pain. I'm a needle phobe and still shake when recieving treatment; aside from when working locally on my shin splints, the needles rarely elicit pain. The only specific form of acupuncture that tends to be more painful in general would be auricular acupunture.
I started in the western side of medicine and it didn't take me long to gravitate toward the eastern side of things. It isn't for everyone, but some people get great results. I'm a big fan of combining manual therapy with acupuncture and find that tends to work best. There are some conditions that respond better to one form of treatment than another, so your best bet would be to talk with an experienced practitioner and see what he/she can suggest.
ps: I can empathize with waitressing. I did it for a couple of years to help get through school. Good shoes!! Get 'em lol! And another biggie is to remember to stretch after your shifts. Good luck! If the treatments are covered, I say go for it!!
I have read that massage and acupuncture have (at best) only short term effectiveness. I would personally stick with the massage as acupuncture seems to be based on a lot of B.S.
I have read that massage and acupuncture have (at best) only short term effectiveness. I would personally stick with the massage as acupuncture seems to be based on a lot of B.S.
The way the links are formatted in the post and/or look like they're in the signature are suspect, but good to know you're a real person, so no worries
(Spammage is rampant around these parts.)
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Helfrick: I'd do some more looking as there is a lot of research on the effectiveness of acupuncture & TCM. As someone who comes from a western-based scientific approach, I can absolutely understand how it can seem a bit hokey and far fetched. But a system that has been used for over 5,000 years and been proven to treat varying musculoskeletal to internal issues cannot simply be written off as bull just because you can't understand it. Maybe it's just bull that you cannot understand the concept and premise of how the system works?
Just voicing my opinion as I'm respected and educated in both western and eastern sides. Not to turn this into a poo-slinging match. Though Phaedrus, we should follow the monkies and be true to our inhibitions. Some are believers and some not. I will state that I've shocked many a non-believer with what TCM can do (and not the placebo-type effect either).
I went to an accupuncturist who also did massage therapy and cupping. I was curious about it and wanted to try it. she used all three modalities on me so it was hard to tell what was the most beneficial.
__________________ It all starts with the mind, but the thoughts, the intention aren't enough. Action needs to come next. Dream it, believe it, plan it, execute it, celebrate it. - Wendy
The only way to start this is a brief medical history. For perhaps a decade, I've been plagued by foot pain--- unpredictable and difficult to explain, except for some instances that have had a clear cause. One of these was a bout of winter psoriasis with lesions of the sole that became painful fissures. Haven't had that in 4 or 5 years however. Another instance was gout, a couple of times annually, for a day or two, with the pain pretty much controlled with NSAIDs of various strength. But the serious stuff has steadily increased in several respects--notably the length of the episodes, their frequency, and their intensity. Until about three years ago I "treated" this malaise by ignoring it. My wife, I might mention, has a strong Teutonic belief in mind over matter, which translates into her conviction that if I just put my mind to it and stood up straight and didnt slouch I would manage the pain.
Here's what I've done. First, I saw a podiatrist and was fitted for orthotics. It helped, briefly. But then the pain increased significantly and I saw another podiatrist, who diagnosed plantar fasciitis, and put me on a regimen of exercise and nocturnal corrective footwear. Then it was a massage therapist, weekly, who really did some good I think. Then an osteopathic doctor. I think he helped too. A chiropractor did me no perceiptible good.... I hated his phony cheer.
Lately I have had almost constant pain in my right foot, like I had stepped on a nail and still had it in my heel. The pain came earlier and earlier when I walked. The problem began seriously to affect my way of life and my relationships with family.
At last week's session with my massage therapist she suggested that I try acupuncture and recommended her person (who also has my osteopath as a patient). I made an appointment. It was pretty much a desperate, last measure. I'm somewhat familiar with the intellectual framework of this school of medicine.... ying/yang, balancing opposites, chi, and so on... but a glance in my bathroom medicine cabinet is pretty good evidence that I subscribe to western not eastern theories of medicine.
And there's another reason that acupuncture never had much appeal. I am almost pathologically needle-averse. Being stuck is an absolute horror, and the idea of deliberately allowing needles to be stuck here and there on my body is most unappealing.
Nevertheless, I spent 2 hours with Debra B, the acupuncture practitioner my massage person recommended. She spent half an hour explaining chi and so on, then started with the needles. First a row of them across the small of my back. Then one in the forehead and another in the top of my skull. Then some at various locations in both feet and legs. Finally, stuck like a pin cushion, I was left to lie for half an hour and try to relac. Then I made an appointment for next week and left.
On the way home I stopped at a big box liquor store for a bottle of gin and then at a grocery store. Ordinarily, walking that much on concrete would bring on pain, but it didn't. For the first time in months, the nail in my foot disappeared. Something else... the stairs in our 200+ year-old house are very steep. There's a rail on their left and a banister to the right... and lately, for the past several months, i've been holding on for assistance when going upstairs, essentially using my arms to supplement the lefitng action of quads and hamstrings and knees. Yesterday I climbed the stairs standing upright, with no arm action.
This morning I walked a couple of blocks first thing. No pain! I sm convinced that this stuff WORKS! I'm still sceptical about chi, about the supposed theory behind the pragmatic fact that for me, as for some others, getting stuck with needles works better than a pain pill. I'm not quite sure what the explanation might be. It seems reasonable that acupuncture might stimulate the brain to manufacture natural various chemicals.. opiates, serotonin... that relieve pain, and thus facilitate a body stance that does not complicate pain. Ten years ago after cancer surgery I was on morphine for several days, and my current freedom from pain has a familiar ring, a kind of chemical echo. (BTW, withdrawal from the morphine was a dilly of an experience... I hallucinated jungle cats stalking the hospital at night!)
I remain a sceptic at ground level, a longtime convinced disciple of David Hume. The entire notion of causation and causality is shaky territory, although we use it constantly in ordinary reasoning. More damage and harm are done in this world by believing too much than in believing too little. (Think of the belief that God hates the idea of gay marriage!) The spleen and its meridians may have nothing whatsoever to do with serious pain of the extremities. But today I am free of the pain that was close to crippling me in recent months and that is, quite simply, a fact.
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Later note: It's now two days since that first treatment... there's still not a trace of pain. Acupuncture clearly works for me... at least. I have another session scheduled for this coming Monday. I believe that there's also been improvement in posture and stamina.
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"It is impossible to defeat an ignorant man in an argument." William Gibbs McAdoo. US Vice-President under Woodrow Wilson.
Paula: TCM is an abbreviation of traditional Chinese medicine. TCM does include cupping (which I absolutely LOVE... on man... I oil the cups up and use them on the intrascapular area and it removes adhesions like an industrial vacuum working on the muscles and fascia) and massage (often tuina). I rarely do pure acupuncture and will include at least one or two other modalities depending on the person.
Gardener: It's always great to hear about anyone who's benefited from the therapy. I seem to see a lot of people with plantar fascitis and a couple with a history of chronic gout. I can totally understand the scepticism as I've had my moments of doubt. Glad to hear something worked for you
In conjunction with other treatments, I received acupuncture 2x/week for herniated and degenerative discs (2 herniated, 2 more degenerating). Doctors told me I'd never row again.
I can't say for sure what helped, but I do know that my grandfather, a retired neurosurgeon, is the one who convinced me to seek acupuncture, and I'm so glad I did. If it's covered, even partially, by insurance, why not at least try it?
I would also add that my acupuncturist was able to work his magic with, on average, 5-7 needles per session (occasionally he'd add one if I had an unrelated issue, like a headache or something).
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Acupuncture/Massage Therapy
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