Acupuncture is an effective form of therapy that entails inserting small needles into certain parts of the body. There are different types of acupuncture which have differing underlying philosophies behind their methods. Here are a few explained:
Traditional Chinese Medicine Acupuncture
Traditional Chinese Medicine acupuncture can be effective for almost any condition but is most commonly used to treat anxiety, insomnia, infertility, hormonal imbalances, muscle and joint pain, as well as chronic migraines and headaches. This form of treatment is based on a philosophy that every person contains a life force (also known as Qi) that flows throughout our body along different meridians or channels which are specific to certain organ systems. In a healthy person, qi is flowing consistently throughout all meridians with no blockages. When a channel does become blocked or disturbed, this is when an imbalance occurs will result in pain or illness. A diagnosis is made based on your symptoms and often by looking at your tongue, and feeling your pulses at your wrists. Based on these tests a treatment is then applied accordingly, which often will result in acupuncture sessions and sometimes includes Chinese herbs and supplements. Traditional Chinese Medicine was studied extensively by the Doctors at the Dronyk Health Clinic and is the primary form of acupuncture done at the clinic. This is a very complete form of acupuncture which encompasses and treats the whole person in an individual way.
Dry Needling
Functional dry needling is used to treat movement impairments, pain, as well as issues pertaining to muscle and tissues and is based on western medicine principles. Needles are inserted through the patient’s skin into different areas of their muscles, often trigger points. The reason it is called dry needling is that because there is no liquid injected into the tissue, just the needle. Often the needles are stimulated, meaning that the needle is pulled and pushed in repeatedly. With this method often there is a release or a spasm, this is the trigger point releasing. It can momentarily be painful but the relief experienced after the trigger point has been released is tremendous and worth the temporary discomfort. This treatment aims to restore function in the tissue to decrease the level of pain the patient is experiencing. Often the sessions are fast and last only a few minutes depending on the practitioner. The Doctors at the Dronyk Health Clinic are trained in this type of acupuncture and will use it if indicated on patients.
Contemporary Medical Acupuncture
Contemporary medical acupuncture, also known as neurofunctional acupuncture focuses on stimulating the nervous system with acupuncture needles. Needles are inserted into certain areas of the body that are neurofunctional sites. These needles are then often stimulated manually (the in and out repeatedly method described in dry needling) or with electrostimulation. The purpose of this type of acupuncture is to modulate the overactive or underactive activity of the nervous system primarily, but also the endocrine and immune systems. It can work well on pain as well by increasing muscle activation, blood flow and joint and muscle mobility.
The Dronyk Health Clinic in Kitchener treats a lot of cases with very effective tool acupuncture. If this is something you think may be right for you or would like more information please call the clinic at 519-894-0024.
