Compared to Acupuncture, Reiki and Homeopathy?

Thanks for the help!

There are a few comparisons, but mainly what they have in common is they are natural medicine and not allopathic.
Reflexology, massage, and Reiki are classified under manual medicine, because the practitioner touches a person.

Reflexology is NOT a from of massage.

Reflexology is an art, a science and a skill that uses gentle pressure and manipulation of the feet, hands, body and ears. Many Reflexologists believe that the foot, ear or hand mirrors the body. A compression technique is used on specific spots on the hands and feet that energize and re-balance all organs and parts of the body.

Restore your sense of well-being and health; Release tension and stress; Relieve pain, discomfort and symptoms of disease; Enhance your vitality and energy; Improve your muscle tone; Promote relaxation and improve your sleep; Boost your immune system; Improve your circulation; Stimulate low energy and depressed areas; Reduce over-energy and over-stimulated areas; Restore your system’s balance; Develop healthy body image; Feel great because it feels great!

That’s what Reflexology is or can be depending on your practitioner.

Massage is a "hands-on" treatment in which a therapist manipulates muscles and other soft tissues of the body to improve health and well-being. Varieties of massage range from gentle stroking and kneading of muscles and other soft tissues to deeper manual techniques. Massage has been practiced as a healing therapy for centuries in nearly every culture around the world. It helps relieve muscle tension, reduce stress, and evoke feelings of calmness. Although massage affects the body as a whole, it particularly influences the activity of the musculoskeletal, circulatory, lymphatic, and nervous systems.

Acupuncture is a method of encouraging the body to promote natural healing and to improve functioning. This is done by inserting needles and applying heat or electrical stimulation at very precise acupuncture points.

Acupuncture pierces the skin, and is in a filed of its own. Compares with Reflexology in that referral areas and zones are used to help.

Homeopathy is a system of medicine which involves treating the individual with highly diluted substances, given mainly in tablet form, with the aim of triggering the body’s natural system of healing. Based on their specific symptoms, a homeopath will match the most appropriate medicine to each patient.

Best thing I can suggest is have a session of each, and make the comparisons for yourself.

Take care,

I have a tight shoulder on one side and had acupuncture this past week and a massage.

Are the benefits cumulative in terms of you need several visits to help with problematic muscular areas.

Actually, that muscle felt tense after having the treatments.

Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

It depends on the number of muscles and connective tissues involved and the knowledge, skill and effectiveness of the massage therapist. As a follow up, you could try contrast therapy alternating ice and heat at the pain site. And/or you could try a different therapist.

I have a little discoloration in my legs, nothing too serious other than a few bruises that never fully healed and a few veins. Would acupuncture help even it out some?

No. Acupuncture doesn’t do anything. It doesn’t work beyond placebo in rigorous clinical trials. Meridians and Chi have never been shown to exist.

I had my first acupuncture session today for the platnar fasciitis in my foot but as yet I have not felt any difference. I am also taking Chinese herb capsules too and I have another acupuncture session in two weeks.

Thanks for your help xx
Wow, so much negativity! I thought this was the Alternative Medicine category? I was expecting positive answers especially as I know people who have benefited from acupuncture!

Acupuncture is supposed to work through mechanisms that are inconsistent with what we know about physiology (how the body works) and anatomy today. But because people have reported benefits from them, attempts have been made to see if these methods work anyway.

Many diseases waxes and wanes (Regression to the mean), so if an acupuncturist says it can take some time to work he will be correct in many instances, but not because of the acupuncture. Part of the effect some people experience from getting acupuncture is attributable to the placebo effect (Attributable to expectation, conditioning, endorphins etc.). To know if acupuncture works beyond waxing/waning and placebo you have to do "Randomised blinded placebo controlled studies". When you do that, it turns out, that it can’t do anything that any other placebo can’t do.

I am an IVF patient, just started acupuncture I have had 3 sessions so far. I was wondering if anyone has a success story. How many treatments did you have and what’s you’re background story.

Not a success story due to my diagnosis but in 5 IVF cycles the only times I got pregnant were the last two when I was doing IVF in conjunction with acupuncture. I’d never gotten pregnant before. I was so skeptical but read many studies where others had success. I started going 3 months prior to my cycle. I followed all of my acupuncturist dietary and lifestyle suggestions (Lots of alkalizing foods, gentle exercise, took the herbs even throughout my injection and embryos went from poor/okay to "Beautiful"). I felt great too!

Feel free to contact me through my profile here if you have any other questions! Good luck on your cycle!!!

Acupuncture is becoming more accepted as a legitimate way to treat a whole host of illnesses. It is yet still not completely accepted by everyone in the medical world. This is basically because of a lack of proper studies proving the effectiveness of acupuncture.

Acupuncture has been used to take care of a many different types of pain. It has in recent times been proven to be effective in treating lower back pain. Over the years it has been used to care for arthritis related joint pain, osteoarthritis, and knee injuries. Actually it is seen as most effective when treating pain stemming from injuries.

There are a lot of people who claim to get relief from acupuncture while others do not. The reason for this may be the nature of the pain and the skillfulness of the practitioner in diagnosing the problem. Understanding the former and choosing the latter may facilitate to effectively treat back pain.

Chronic pain is somewhat that a large percentage of the population suffers from. Many people lives through the pain and unable to find relief in any way. Acupuncture for pain relief may now offer some patients a way to discover relief from chronic pain. Acupuncture for pain has now found acceptance in Europe as a rightful way to treat pain and is even covered by health insurance in Germany.

Nevertheless it has not quite received the same level of acceptance everywhere else in the world. Many still consider it as an alternative medicine though there are new trials and studies that show promising results. This could be the answer for people who have not been able to live devoid of pain for years.

Patellofemoral pain syndrome is a general type of knee pain; it is particularly common in young adults who are active in sports. It affects many people and there is no clear cause of it.

In spite of this seemingly clear link between knee pain and physical activity, yet there seems to be no clear link between the damage to knee cartilage and knee pain. Acupuncture chronic pain treatments are seen as an unconventional way to treat knee pain. It is preferable than by means of medication and may have long term lasting effects.

Acupuncture neck pain treatments are seen as a form of effective way to deal with neck pain. It is moreover considered more effective, even if marginally, than massage therapy. If the neck pain is happen to be caused by an injury of some kind then relief can be found within a few sessions.

Cindy Heller
http://www.articlesbase.com/alternative-medicine-articles/acupuncture-and-pain-reliefs-598944.html

Are you facing problems in getting pregnant and have lost faith in all the infertility treatments ranging from the most scientific ones to homeopathic and herbal therapies to treat infertility? Certainly, you, like many other couples must have tried and tested different methods that assure quick and uncomplicated cures to the problem of infertility.

However, if all your myths had to be shelved because these different remedies turned out to be ineffective, you need not worry anymore. With the evolution of medical science and technology, you can now go for treatment having a mix of both western and eastern cultures in the form of In Vitro Fertilization Treatment and the ancient Chinese discipline of Acupuncture. The use of acupuncture in the IVF Fertility Treatment helps in removing the imbalances in a woman’s body and increases the chances of conception substantially. Due to its positive effects and exceptional results in curing infertility, a large number of women with different infertility problems are encouraged to try out acupuncture in addition to their IVF treatments.

Though much has been said and heard about acupuncture, let us understand what it actually means. Essentially, it is a 400 year old Chinese method of treatment that has been passed on from generation to generation. It involves working on specific body systems and pressure points using thin needles, and stimulates and relaxes the areas that are required to put the body systems back into balance. The use of this method mainly aims at returning the body to a state of wellbeing.

After a lot of research conducted across different countries, it was found that women, who underwent the treatment of in vitro fertilization or IVF and complemented the embryo transfer process with acupuncture, had as much as 65 per cent more chances of pregnancy as compared to those who took no additional treatment.

So, if you too are looking to get an IVF treatment with acupuncture to make your dream of having a baby come true and want to get the best of treatments, you can visit our clinic at Thumos Health Center. Our team of specialists, Bryan Abel and Ganit Kriel of Thumos Health Center will work with your IVF physicians to coordinate before and after Acupuncture With In Vitro Fertilization and design your fertility plan such that it meets your specific problems and requirements. In addition, apart from acupuncture treatments, we offer a full range of Eastern medication including herbal fertility supplements. For more details, please log on to our website http://www.ivfacupuncturecenter.com/ and avail the best treatment at the most economical costs.

Bryan R Abel
http://www.articlesbase.com/women’s-health-articles/acupuncture-and-fertility-how-are-two-related-454707.html

Usually, science driven societies are optimistic about the ideas linked to acupuncture and their effectiveness. Even though this ancient practice has become more known in the past ten years, it is still a procedure that is not completely understood. By understanding how the process is done, the possible side effects and the outcome, you can determine if this ancient Chinese medicine practice is right for you.

The experience of getting acupuncture done, despite what many think, is not as painful as it looks. Acupuncture is generally painless when you are going through the process. Usually, the effects will be no more noticeable than a mosquito bite, but this is even considered rare. Most likely, going through the process of acupuncture will either give you more energy or cause you to relax into a state of meditation.

During the procedure, you can expect the acupuncturist to be prepared with several practical things. The needles that are used will generally be be of an inch to several inches long. The needles are made out of sterilized silver, stainless steel or copper and are considered safe by the same standards used in any hospital.

In order to ensure that the needles are safe, there are several places that will regulate what is being used. The National Commission for the Certification of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine has a specific department that ensures that all needles that are used are sterile and safe. If you want to be certain, you can make sure that the acupuncturist you go to have a CNT, also known as a Clean Needle Technique Certification. This will ensure that there are no problems with the procedure in terms of other health issues.

Of course, there are still other risks that may occur. By standards of other procedures, acupuncture is not as risky. The most serious problem may be a punctured organ. However, these are uncommon with most practices. This is the only major problem that one may run into. Beyond this, the only possibilities for problems may be things such as dizziness, nausea or bruising.

If you are considering acupuncture as an option for any possible reason, you will also want to make sure you know exactly what you are getting into. Overall, acupuncture is considered to be a safe process, as well as helpful in relieving any kind of imbalance or misguided energy. Before walking into this ancient Chinese medicine practice, you will want to make sure that you know the procedure and the possible outcomes.

Steve Hudson
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/is-acupuncture-for-you-80190.html

Also known as auriculotherapy, ear acupuncture involves the auricle of the external ear being treated with acupuncture needles to lessen pains, diseases or dysfunctions of the body.This practice is one of a series of so-called ‘holographic’ systems which theorize that the entirety of someone’s body can be represented in miniature within the body. Another example is Chinese nose acupuncture, or hand acupuncture developed in Korea.

All the features of the body are thought to be represented in the many curves and folds of the ear, a kind of inverted fetus drawing is often used to diagrammatically represent this statement. Over 200 specific points of acupuncture exist on the ear.

Taken from the ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture, a Frenchman by the name of Dr. Paul Nogier first developed this novel form of acupuncture, back in 1957.

All forms of acupuncture originated in China in the Yellow Emperors Classic of Internal Medicine that was constructed around 500 B.C. This book inferred that six yang meridians were attached to the ear’s auricle. Opposing this were six yin meridians that were indirectly connected with the ear through indirectly corresponding to their particular yang counterparts.

Dr. Nogier, a physician from Lyon in France, was initially interested in ear scars from patients that were treated successfully for sciatic pain by French lay practitioners. After developing the somatatopic map of the ear, his work was shown to begin with in France, later published in Germany by the German Acupuncture Society. Eventually this new acupuncture development was translated into Chinese. During 1958 a large study on the effectiveness of this acupuncture technique was conducted by the Nanking Army Ear Acupuncture Research Team. Dr. Nogier’s theory of an inverted fetus was accepted as clinically accurate, and during the cultural revolution so called ‘barefoot doctors’ were trained in the simple techniques of the ear acupuncture. Many Chinese were soon able to try this new form of healthcare.

Chinese and French auricular acupuncture points were used for many years until in 1990 the World National Organization conducted an international meeting and standardized the auricular anatomical names.

Ear acupuncture has more recently become used for recommending special Chinese herbal remedies. Auricular locations are chosen in accordance with:

(1) related regions of the body that have pain or pathology
(2) pathological reactive points sensitive to touch
(3) the teachings of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM)
(4) the theory of meridians
(5) modern western medical physiological theories
(6) other ear points that have shown promise in recent and past research associated with this form of acupuncture.

By 1995 the World Health Organization in tandem with the Chinese government defined the localization of 91 particular auricular acupuncture points.

Alex Rider
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/an-introduction-to-the-early-history-of-ear-acupuncture-82602.html

It used to be that a person had very few options when it came to what career they were going to be working in. In times past, children would follow in their parents’ career fields. Then, after a period of time, there was the freedom to choose any career path that one could possibly want.

Flying a plane, becoming a doctor, and learning to be a teacher were all options open to everyone. No longer would social status and class be a hinder to future employment. Children now are asked from the age of five on “What do you want to be when you grow up?” There probably are not that many children who would say that they wish to be an acupuncturist or practice alternative medicine, but the choice is there.

Acupuncture can provide positive results for many different groups of people, which can make the profession an attractive one. Those who train in acupuncture can eventually treat athletes and individuals involved in all sorts of sports, the procedure being widely recognized by coaches and sports therapists.

The psychological field also approves of acupuncture, as it has shown to relieve depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder. The medical field in general encourages the positive results of acupuncture, knowing it to easy sore muscles and sickness.

Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AOM) is a billion dollar industry. It is expected to double in size within the next twenty years, as more and more people turn to acupuncture to deal with health and mental issues in a different, more naturalistic way.

When more people begin to request a certain service, this leads to an increased need for practitioners. In the United States, the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) requires that acupuncturists be licensed and trained.

This training is actually quite extensive and can take many years, definitely not as easy as running down to the local city hall and picking up a piece of paper. It is training that teaches the student how to identify the patient’s problem, suggest a treatment plan, and then begin the process of treating the issue.

When looking for instruction in acupuncture, it’s very important to make sure the school or college you choose for training is accredited. No training without proper certification will be considered solid once you enter the acupuncture profession. What’s more, make sure to compare educational facilities for the quality of training they offer.

Is the material studied rich and in depth? Does the college provide hands-on training for its students? Is the length of the course enough to provide strong credentials? One thing is quite certain, though – acupuncture, with the right training, is a good career choice for the future.

John Edmond
http://www.articlesbase.com/non-fiction-articles/looking-to-acupuncture-as-a-career-for-the-future-118717.html