By Maria Rainier, Guest Blogger
Natural healing remedies are healthy ways to find solutions to physical ailments without looking into medical doctors and traditional medicines. There are many alternative ways to heal the body without drugs whether you’re looking to cure a physical, mental or spiritual ailment – natural paths are effective, less expensive and healthy healing for your body.
Acupuncture and Healing
Studies have shown that acupuncture can help to deal with many physical ailments: respiratory, mouth, eye and gastrointestinal and also headaches and migraines. Acupuncture may also help control pain and minimize physical ailments via the insertion of fine needles into specific pressure points on the body. There are 2,000 acupoints located on the body where these needles can be inserted. Acupuncture and the insertion of these needles stimulate the central nervous system, which causes the body to release pain-relieving chemicals into the specific areas that are induced with pain.
According to the National Cancer Institute, there is evidence to believe that acupuncture may cause a response from nerve cells in parts of the brain to act as a natural medicine, releasing hormones and proteins into the body in order to render normal body functions. Research suggests that acupuncture affects blood pressure and boosts the immune system, which causes endorphins to be released thus curing the body naturally.
Studies Proving the Positive Effects of Acupuncture:
The National Cancer Institute has ongoing clinical studies that test the effect of acupuncture on various diseases, pains and ailments from 1998 to present day. In a clinical study updated recently, the table results shows seven clinical studies that have been reported to use acupuncture for cancer treatment. Three studies were randomized and four were case series.
One of the randomized trials showed that patients in the acupuncture groups experienced significant improvements in their quality of life after 10 days of treatment. In a non-randomized observation with the use of acupuncture, studies showed that 20 patients using traditional treatments and medications were still experiencing pain but after acupuncture was applied to their ear and in some cases left in for 35 days; after 60 days of treatment, all 20 subjects noticed a decrease in pain or stability in pain.
A case later involving 183 cancer patients treated with acupuncture showed 52% were relieved of long-term pain after 1-4 weeks of treatment.
A case study with 29 patients who were suffering with malignant tumors received acupuncture treatment and all patients experienced relief – another case study showed very similar results.
Tables and results of these studies can be found on the National Cancer Institute Website. According to the National Cancer Institute, even though these results are significant for the study and practice of acupuncture and its affects on pain, there is still more need for standard outcome measurements and proper randomization in order to scientifically prove that acupuncture is an affective method for natural healing of pain and physical ailments. The study, however, shows the positive effects on pain in cancer patients, which shows that acupuncture is a natural and affective way to assist in curing and decreasing pain in physical ailments.
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About the author of this blog entry: Maria Rainier is a freelance writer and blog junkie. She is currently a resident blogger at First in Education where she writes about education, online universities, and what an online degree means in an increasingly technological world. In her spare time, she enjoys square-foot gardening, swimming, and avoiding her laptop.
Cited Sources:
National Cancer Institute
Human/clinical studies. (2011, February 03). Retrieved from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/acupuncture/healthprofessional/Page5#Section_63
Questions and answers about acupuncture. (2010, December 09). Retrieved from http://www.cancer.gov/cancertopics/pdq/cam/acupuncture/patient/Page2#Section_73
