Dealing with arthritis comes with a range of challenges for the patient, including sharp and persistent pain on body joints, bones, and muscles. Further, treatments to eradicate the condition are still widely unavailable, meaning that the only option is seeking pain alleviation medical care. Subsequently, you want to explore the options available for you or your loved ones, including acupuncture. At Trinity Acupuncture, you can expect to work with skilled and highly trained professionals who are happy to deliver the services according to your medical needs. Moreover, each patient is treated with compassion and receives comprehensive care to ensure their arthritis condition is well managed. Thanks to the acupuncture treatments you receive, you can look forward to a better version of life free of intense discomfort.

What Acupuncture Treatment Entails

Treatments involving acupuncture can be traced back to ancient Chinese medicine, which spread over time to the rest of the world. Under the traditional Chinese medicine structure, their qi regulates a person’s well-being. Through the qi, your life energy flows through the body and maintains a balance that allows you to thrive.

However, this life energy flow can be disrupted from time to time, leaving you feeling unwell and in pain. Subsequently, an acupuncturist’s role is to help you retain proper qi flow and restore your wellbeing by subjecting known acupuncture points to needle-based stimulation.

Therefore, acupuncture entails identifying the crucial points on the body to insert needles and doing so to stimulate your life essence flow. Chinese traditional medicine provides at least two thousand acupuncture points in the human body to be targeted during treatment so that eventually, pain and discomfort ends.

Reconciling Traditional Chinese Medicine and Modern Medicine Explanations

While restoring the qi flow in the body dictates acupuncture in Chinese traditional medicine, modern scientific explanations have been developed to reconcile the ancient treatment process with real scientific data.

Among the most important factors to understand is that the treatment works primarily by inserting needles on specific areas in the body. Doing so will stimulate your spinal cord to send nerve signals to the brain where neurotransmission occurs. The two identifiable neurotransmitters stimulated by acupuncture are enkephalin and endorphins, which help alleviate pain.

Furthermore, acupuncture stimulates Cortisol production that is associated with controlling and reducing inflammation in the body. As a result, the primary objective of acupuncture procedures is to regulate the inflammatory response system in your body. Once it is suppressed, you will experience a significant reduction in pain and discomfort.

On top of this, your blood flow improves with correct acupuncture, allowing your muscles to replenish with nutrients supplied through the blood. This way, you can also avoid regular muscular tension and pain that often accompanies arthritis.

How Acupuncture Helps Patients Living with Different Types of Arthritis

Notably, arthritis affects patients differently because symptoms manifest in various ways. As a result, a patient living with one type of arthritis may benefit on a larger scale than another living with a different type of the condition. Hence, you want to understand the success rates of acupuncture with your condition before committing to the treatment to help you save on treatment costs.

The following are the outcomes of acupuncture treatment of different arthritis conditions:

Rheumatoid Arthritis

Rheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune condition causing your immune system to attack the body. The main target areas are body muscles, joints, and bones, especially at the ends. Consequently, you may experience body stiffness when moving, accompanied by significant pain in the affected areas.

The condition provides no curable options, so the patient will have to settle for pain management treatment. As a result, trying acupuncture for Rheumatoid arthritis is recommended to help you explore the benefits and stick to it for long-term wellbeing.

Patients who receive acupuncture to manage Rheumatoid arthritis report feeling significant improvements after several sessions. This includes pain relief and a lower frequency of discomfort. As a result, you can consider acupuncture to determine whether the process works well for you.

Consulting your medical service provider is also recommended to help you discuss the preparation and treatment strategies applicable to your condition. This is because Rheumatoid arthritis may vary in severity, translating to the need for different treatment options for a wide range of patients.

Osteoarthritis

Additionally, patients with Osteoarthritis can benefit from acupuncture treatment, provided it is administered correctly. The condition arises when the tissue surrounding the ends of your bones begin to wear out. Subsequently, your bone joints are stiffened, creating the probability of friction between the joints.

The effects of Osteoarthritis are often difficult to deal with, particularly if you suffer from the severe version of it. Hence, acupuncture will help you reduce the pain intensity by triggering anti-inflammatory and pain relief hormones, as discussed above.

While acupuncture is always an excellent treatment option for parties suffering from Osteoarthritis, you should note that the pain relief expected after treatment is low. This is because the condition affects tissues surrounding the ends of bones, so you are bound to feel recurrent discomfort,

Furthermore, pain relief hormones stimulated and released in the body can only provide limited relief, as your bones are spread through various body parts. Thus, you would only enjoy the reduced pain for a short period before requiring a stronger pain management option.

Fibromyalgia

Lastly, Fibromyalgia is a condition affecting your muscles, leading to increased tenderness and pain in the different muscle groups. Patients dealing with the condition also report signs of inflammation, which may indicate an accumulation of lactic acid in the tissues. As a result, acupuncture would be an excellent option to explore, as the treatment specializes in alleviating pain and inflammation from the body.

Patients who undergo the treatment process for Fibromyalgia often report positive outcomes, with many observing reliable pain relief outcomes. The findings indicate that patients may prefer acupuncture to conventional medical solutions like prescribed pain medication. Therefore, you can expect beneficial outcomes upon receiving several acupuncture sessions.

Advantages of Acupuncture Treatment

The premise of administering acupuncture treatment for patients is to enable them to receive significant pain management with minimum reliance on medication. Although the benefits discussed below are associated with acupuncture treatment, you should note that they are not guaranteed for all patients.

This is because you may have varying underlying conditions affecting the effectiveness of treatment. Subsequently, you want to consult your acupuncturist to discuss your condition and the expected outcomes.

Some benefits associated with acupuncture treatment include:

Improved Quality of Sleep

It is noteworthy that arthritis patients may face challenges gathering sleep or sustaining a healthy sleep pattern. The primary cause for this is the continuous pain that may spread across the body throughout the day. Furthermore, when you lie down and try to gather sleep, you are more likely to be conscious of the body pain, translating to difficulties in falling asleep.

Therefore, enjoying pain relief from acupuncture sessions will also translate to better sleep quality for patients, as long as the body responds well to treatment. Although the discomfort will not subside at once, you will notice a gradual improvement with repeated sessions. Ultimately, the goal is to help you attain a better quality of life by eliminating the pain associated with arthritis.

Reduced Stress Levels

As mentioned, acupuncture stimulates the release of various hormones to relieve pain and stop inflammation. Among them are Oxytocin and Endorphins, which also help with stress relief and pain management. Thanks to continuous acupuncture treatment sessions, you will notice a significant increase in your mood and ability to deal with challenging situations than before.

However, patients with underlying conditions like depression may fail to observe a drastic improvement in their stress and mood levels because depression requires intensive care. Moreover, prescribed drugs are more useful in stabilizing patients with a mental illness on top of arthritis. Hence, exploring these options would produce better stress relief results than reliance on acupuncture alone.

Significant Pain Relief

The expected outcome for acupuncture treatments is pain relief for the patient's arthritis. This can only be achieved if your acupuncturist understands the specific parts of your spine to insert needles in for nerve fiber stimulation. Once the correct fibers are activated, your body can block pain signals to achieve the desired relief outcome.

You should remember that the pain relief does not necessarily begin immediately, as some patients' response systems are delayed. For example, acupuncture will not deliver the required outcome if you live with an undiagnosed nervous condition, acupuncture will not deliver the required outcome. Seeking alternative medical solutions is therefore encouraged in these situations.

Effects of Acupuncture Treatment

Naturally, patients undergoing acupuncture treatment will experience several side effects as the procedure involves inserting needles into the body at various points. The human body responds to skin trauma and pain at insertion in various ways, including:

Bruising at the Injection Point

Your skin is made of layers that are sensitive to invasive processes like injections, meaning that bruising may occur during these procedures. As a result, acupuncture exposes you to multiple bruises depending on the number of needles inserted and the frequency of insertion.

For example, a patient receiving treatment a month is more likely to have more bruising than a patient who only receives treatment once. It is also not uncommon for the bruising to include some pain as your skin tries to heal from the small pokes.

However, the pain should not be overwhelming or last for more than a few days at a time. If so, you want to contact a medical professional to examine the potential cause of increased pain in the bruised areas. Sometimes, the findings may reveal an infection, attracting additional complications if not treated on time.

Fainting and Dizziness

Additionally, some patients may find the repetitive pricking on the skin too much, resulting in dizziness and fainting in extreme cases. The side effect is often reported among patients with an extreme fear of needles, as their fear may blow the experience out of proportion. Therefore, you want to calm down before the treatment by taking some breathing exercises or medication to calm you down.

Nausea

Further, you may experience nausea for several reasons, including anxiety before and during treatment. Some patients also experience nausea and subsequent vomiting as a response to hormonal imbalance, mainly if their bodies are not used to the newly found sensations.

Upon experiencing these effects, your acupuncturist is happy to help you manage nausea by offering to slow down the process or administering medication. Nevertheless, you should note that nausea is often a response to different body triggers and should subside on its own.

The Cost of Acupuncture Treatment

When you or a loved one decides to receive acupuncture treatment, one of the primary considerations is the cost involved. Learning the information will help you make an informed decision that does not impose significant financial constraints.

Typically, an acupuncture session costs between $75 to $200, depending on location and the professional’s experience. While the prices may be relatively low than other medical solutions like hospitalization and physiotherapy, the costs may quickly add up with additional sessions.

Hence, you can explore several payment options, including using your medical insurance cover to cover part or the entire amount. You can discuss the treatment costs and payment availability with your insurance service provider to help you reduce potential expenses.

Contact an Acupuncture Specialist Near Me

When the pain from arthritis interferes with your quality of life, you may explore multiple treatment options to manage your condition. However, few provide the type of relief that comes with an acupuncture treatment. Upon beginning sessions with a qualified acupuncturist, you can look forward to obtaining improved health overall, provided your body responds to the treatment. With Trinity Acupuncture, you can expect the best treatment services available to patients dealing with arthritis in Torrance, California. We have worked with hundreds of patients over the years to help them manage their arthritis pain, with positive results. If you or a loved one would like to begin acupuncture treatment for arthritis, call us today at 310-371-1777.