Pain For Relief

I have been wanting to go for my acupuncture therapy on a daily basis but I am unable to because of some pain on my butt (like beaten by a cane) that I am experiencing. You see, my acupuncturist uses a eight points needle system wherein eight needles are inserted at various acupoints. Thereafter, eight electrodes are connected to the end of each needles. The other end of electrodes are in turn connected to electronic device powered by batteries. This form of acupuncture is called electro-acupuncture.

In my present case, my acupuncturist placed two needles, one on each side of my butt, two needles on the back of each knee joint and four needles around the waistline on my back. When the electrodes are connected to the needles, the patient can control the strength of the stimulation by adjusting each analogue dial on the device so that enough voltage stimulus for the patient to feel it; often this will be a pulsating sensation because of the waveform generated by the device that is perceptible. For me, I prefer a higher voltage stimulus for better therapeutic effect but the downside is that it is more painful. Most of the pain on the acupoints dissipates over time but not on the butt.

Yesterday evening just before dinner time, I was feeling a little unwell. I have a stomach upset, possibly due to digestion problems. It came about just after I took supplements. I just have too many to take in a day. After applying some Wind medicated oil, I felt much better. Last night, I did not sleep very well and looked kind of haggard today.

Electro-Acupuncture
Electro-acupuncture, the application of a pulsating electrical current to acupuncture needles as a means of stimulating the acupoints, was developed in China as an extension of hand manipulation of acupuncture needles around 1934. The procedure for electro-acupuncture is to insert the acupuncture needle as would normally be done, attain the qi reaction by hand manipulation, and then attach an electrode to the needle to provide continued stimulation. The benefits of using electrical stimulation are:

- It substitutes for prolonged hand maneuvering. This helps assure that the patient gets the amount of stimulation needed, because the practitioner may otherwise pause due to fatigue. Electro-acupuncture may also help reduce total treatment time by providing the continued stimulus. During electro-acupuncture, the practitioner can attend to other patients.
- It can produce a stronger stimulation, if desired, without causing tissue damage associated with twirling and lifting and thrusting the needle. Strong stimulation may be needed for difficult cases of neuralgia or paralysis.
- It is easier to control the frequency of the stimulus and the amount of stimulus than with hand manipulation of the needles.