Health Intuitive

Cosmetic acupuncture is an anti-aging treatment which involves sticking very thin needles in your face to reduce the signs of aging like wrinkles. The treatment is performed by a licensed acupuncturist who specifically specializes in cosmetic acupuncture. Cosmetic acupuncture is supposed to be an alternative treatment to facelift.

Like most acupuncture treatments, cosmetic acupuncture also has its benefits. Its main benefit is promoting blood and lymph circulation. Due to the increased circulation, the peripheral blood vessels are dilated for better oxygen and nutrient distribution for cellular regeneration. Another benefit of cosmetic acupuncture is that it rehydrates the skin’s external layers by stimulating the secretion of the sebaceous and sweat glands to encourage the regeneration of healthy skin cells. Exfoliation is another benefit that aids in the proliferation of new skin cells thus increasing nutrition build-up to the skin’s surface. The improve quality of the skin would result to a more healthy glow. Cosmetic acupuncture also allows healthy breathing of the skin to increase the skin’s protective ability to prevent clogged pored and infection. With increase oxygen consumption on the external layers of the skin, this could result to fast carbon dioxide and nitrogen release at the cellular level. This will help keep the skin deeply clean and contribute to the reduced accumulation of excess grease on skin’s surface. The most useful benefit to softening and reducing the wrinkles is cosmetic acupuncture’s capability to stimulate the production of four collagen proteins and elastin. Skin integrity is improved since cosmetic acupuncture can relax and reduce the tension in the muscles and nerves thus resulting to an improved overall facial appearance.

Cosmetic acupuncture is facelift without going under the surgeon’s knife. A lot of people wouldn’t mind looking a few years younger but the thought of having a surgeon to take a knife to your face can be quite scary. Cosmetic acupuncture is a non-surgical alternative that can give-off a fresh faced radiance while reducing the signs of aging. Plus, the treatment will address the underlying causes of aging and at the same time masking symptoms of invasive procedures.

Cosmetic acupuncture has attracted the attention of the media. It has been recently acclaimed by the Irish Times as “a viable alternative to cosmetic surgery and the effects can run much deeper than simply improving appearances”. It is a remarkable treatment that can erase as much as five to 15 years from the face.

Using acupuncture to improve the physical appearance has started 800 years ago during the Sun dynasty when the when the emperor and empress’ concubines used it to maintain their youthful appearance and glow.

It is no wonder that this ancient technique is becoming so popular nowadays. Virginia Doran, the world’s leading acupuncturists has been very in introducing the technique to modern western culture. Her treatment protocols have been featured on major television networks and even on famous TV shows like Sex and the City. it comes as no surprise that New York and LA waiting lists for cosmetic acupuncture are flocked with the rich and famous like Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Cher.

It has been proven that acupuncture back pain is possible. This ancient technique helps relieve not only acute back pain but chronic back pain as well. It is better than the usual standard care such as medication or physical therapy.

According to study researcher Dan Cherkin, a PhD and a senior investigator at Group Health Center for Health studies in Seattle, he said, “Acupuncture-like treatments had a positive effect overall on people’s chronic back pain. It didn’t matter if you inserted the needle or superficially poked the skin.”

The study that Cherkin conducted was published in the Archives of Internal Medicine. In his study he assigned 638 men and women with chronic low back pain who never had acupuncture before to one of four groups.

• Individualized acupuncture group consisted of patients who received acupuncture treatment on a customized prescription for acupuncture points.
• Standardized acupuncture group were patients receiving treatment that was considered effective by experts for chronic low back pain.
• Stimulated acupuncture group were patients receiving treatment that mimics the acupuncture treatment. Instead of using needles, toothpicks were inserted in a needle guide tube without penetrating the skin.
• Usual care group consisted of patients that continued to take their usual treatment such as pain medicine or continuing their physical therapy.

The study is basically comparing acupuncture and the usual care. According to Cherkin, all three groups apart from the usual care group showed positive results. In fact they resulted with the same effects which were even better that the usual care group.

Researchers found that those getting acupuncture treatment were getting more meaningful improvements in their activities of daily living basically improving their dysfunction scale. In fact only 39% of the usual care group compared to 60% of the acupuncture treated patients has found improvement in their dysfunction scale.

The study conducted had shed some light that acupuncture can help on back pain treatment. For the most part acupuncture is very safe and Arya Nick Shamie MD, an associate professor of spine surgery at the University Of California David Geffen School Of Medicine, has been recommending it to his patients with chronic back pain. As a spokesman for the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons, he added that the above-mentioned study shouldn’t confuse readers on how acupuncture works but it should at least show that acupuncture can truly help patients.

Although the group treated with toothpick for acupuncture back pain was a result of a placebo effect, Shamie says that, “Even going and talking to your doctor could have a strong, positive effect on your health. When people have chronic illness, they want to feel that someone cares for them, and that basically unloads the mind of the burden of disease.”

As a rule, before engaging in any forms of alternative medicine for chronic back pain, the condition should be duly evaluated by a specialist or a physician. It is after the rule that has to be followed for any underlying medical problems.