Use of acupuncture on MS patients
While working with equine veterinarians I've been able to see the amazing effects acupuncture can have when treating illness and injuries in horses. Although skeptical at first I've slowly become extremely interested in this unique medicine. Recently I've learned about its use for treatment on multiple sclerosis patients through a family friend who has a late stage of this disease and found a interesting article on the National MS Society web page here.
Acupuncture is a form of traditional chinese medicine and consists of using needles to stimulate specific points on the body. These points are found along "meridians" which are separate organized pathways that energy flows in throughout the body. In chinese thought, disruption of this energy flow causes an imbalance in the body causing disease. In more modern western thought it is believed these points are hot spots where certain nerves are located that can be stimulated in certain ways to help fix specific body abnormalities.
In MS patients acupuncture has been used to relieve pain, spasticity, numbness, tingling, fatigue, depression, anxiety, bowel, and bladder symptoms. According to this article, out of the 20-25% of MS patients that have had sessions of acupuncture half say they will continue to go. My family friend has had great experience with it and continues to go monthly. Although it cannot replace standard medical treatment, there are no proven side effects of its use and it has gained a lot of popularity in recent years.
Update:
I'm not exactly sure how to explain how acupuncture works specifically and I feel its too hard to sum up in a short paragraph but this website has a lot of really good information. As some of you pointed out, acupuncture is not covered by medical insurance and is definitely still considered alternative medicine here in the US. Hopefully as it increases in popularity insurance will help cover costs for acupuncture sessions. Although there are no cases I'm aware of where it has been shown to treat an illness, it has definitely shown to help.
Emily Bell (week 4)
posted by PWH @ 8:59 PM
9 comments
9 Comments:
Wow, very interesting. I always wanted to learn more about acupuncture because i have hear it helps so many people. I'm glad you explained it from the Chinese and biological point of view.
-Katie Cyr
How does acupuncture exactly help the biological pathways? Does it stimulate the nerve impulses to work better or inhibit them so there is less pain? Very curious as to more specifics of how it works biologically. Really interesting article!
Posted by Maura Mulvey
Interesting and i hope it really does work for your family. I've always wanted to try it and if it relieves pain or other problems and even if there is a chance why not, it's a harmless procedure. No real trials have been done on this yet?
Samantha DeBiasio
I've heard that acupuncture can ease many pains, but I had no idea it was so powerful. I wonder how long ago they determined which points relieve various pains. My friend's father had acupuncture done on his head to get rid of his migraines and they really helped. It relieves stress, it gets rid of migraines, and it can help with MS... acupuncture truly is a great thing. I'm definitely going to get some done soon.
-Calin Darabus
Its great to see some eastern medicine being practised in the USA. Yoga is another method of healing the body similar to acupuncture that helps with the stimulation of energy flow. They even have yoga for pets and babies and it has proven to help many diseases similar to acupuncture. the only downfall in the US is that health care does not cover alternative medicines, despite their positive outcomes. Do you know if the US recognizes acupuncture as a sustainable ailment for MS?
Rachael Carlevale
Very interesting blog. I wonder if there have been any more scientific studies done to try and better understand the theraputic use of acupuncture? I always wondered what it felt like to have it done but I never knew anyone who had done it. It is good to see that people suffering from MS can get relief from this practice.
-Alex Pavidapha
nice article. although acupuncture is a good way to relieve the symptoms have they been able to document in any case where it has been able to cure any diseases?
-Lysander Ning
I've heard much about acupuncture and how it is able to relieve chronic pain. I am really interested in how it works. I am thinking it does not work very well for everyone since half of the MS patients that tried said they would continue and the other half would not.
Very interesting.
--Shonneau L.
Great read; makes me honestly want to try acupuncture. I find that alternative medicine seems to be very hard to find in the US. From what I've read it is because most doctors apparently frown upon alternative forms. I don't really understand why, but hopefully as alternative medicine branches out so will the acceptance of it.
-Conor Stenerson
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