Maternity Acupressure Benefits
Acupressure is an ancient Chinese technique that uses various pressure points in the body to release the blocked pathways of healing life energies. It is now widely accepted for its many uses especially in treating age related disorders and women’s medical conditions. It is beneficial for naturally inducing labor as it helps in getting the baby to naturally descend by dilating the cervix and regularizing the contractions. In fact acupressure makes sure that the child birth is successful and minimizes the risk for any complications.
With acupressure, you do not have to resort to any drugs or medication. The pain is naturally lessened and the labor becomes relatively stress free. It also shortens the delivery time. It has been observed that women who receive acupressure at the time of delivery have shorter delivery time than the average woman.
Acupressure helps in strengthening contractions and also maintains better dilation. It also prevents any feelings of nausea. With acupressure, the chances of having a normal delivery increase significantly. In fact, if the baby has turned posterior, acupressure can help turn it so that the delivery is normal.
There are three main pressure points in our body to induce labor. The first point is on the ankle, at the inner side of it, a little above the bone of the ankle. The second pressure point is slightly above the buttocks and the third one is on the skin between the thumb and the index finger.
These are delicate pressure points and should be used only after a lot of practice. Practice these pressure points thoroughly on another person before you use them on yourself. Use only the first two fingers to exert pressure on the first point. For the second pressure point, apply direct pressure on the pressure point using only your thumbs. You can also use your thumbs in circular motion to exert the pressure. To apply pressure on the third point, use the index finger and the thumb of the same hand. When you apply pressure on the three points, the points will begin to feel sore. The points might also go numb but not before a feeling of warmth emanates from the points and engulfs you. Acupressure is not directly given to the pregnant woman, a little bit of preparation needs to be made. Before you begin applying pressure, help the pregnant woman take a warm bath. Help her to relax by making her lie down on her side. Prop her up on soft pillows to allow better circulation throughout the body and induce relaxation.
Acupuncture Therapy For Ears
Acupuncture is an alternative therapy that many swear by, and not only relieves you of temporary stress and pain but helps you achieve general well being and improves over all health while doing so.
It is believed that there is a universal life energy that flows through our bodies. Acupuncture aims to channel this energy and remove blockages so that this energy can flow freely. Our bodies have channels through which this life energy flows and it is these channels that an acupuncture practitioner identifies for each individual before beginning the actual therapy. An acupuncturist inserts needles at specific energy points of the body where the nerves or muscles are depressed and thus blocking the energy channel. The ultimate aim is to start the flow of energy and keep it stimulated.
The origin of acupuncture, just like acupressure, was in China. While acupuncture itself is about two thousand years old, auricular acupuncture is relatively new and originated only about fifty years ago.
Auricular acupuncture, in simpler terms, is the acupuncture of the ear. The Chinese had a belief that all our bodily systems and their functions are somehow mapped. This map, a blueprint of the mechanics of the body can be found, according to the Chinese, at the surface of the human ear. It is believed that by inserting needles in the different pressure points of the ear, the different body parts that correspond to the particular pressure point can be stimulated.
The practitioner is usually a medically competent person and starts by asking your medical history so that exact causes of problems and therefore exact pressure points can be identified. The health of the energy channels is also determined. The practitioner usually does it by probing on the pressure points on your wrists. Once the practitioner feels sure about your ailment, the process of healing begins.
The treatment usually carries on for a period of forty to forty five minutes. If you feel excessive pain during your session, inform the practitioner so that your treatment can be altered. If you do not take kindly to needles, there are simulations that can be used to achieve the desired result without using needles.
Auricular acupressure is usually used to cure headaches, sleep disorders and fatigue. Recently this technique has been successfully used to cure substance abuse and addiction. Its many benefits are making auricular acupressure increasingly popular in both the UK and the USA. In fact right now, there are several studies being carried on to check whether this technique can also be used to cure degenerative disorders like Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s.
Pressure Point Healing Technique
Pressure point therapy is a term sometimes used to describe forms of treatment based in traditional Chinese medicine (often abbreviated to TCM). The focus is on certain definite points in the body, usually called acupoints, where it is possible to manipulate the flow of “energy” through the body. Traditional Chinese medicine works upon the basic idea of the existence of meridians in the body, through which energy flows, and pressure points, through which it is possible to control the flow of this energy. The known anatomy of the human body does not support any such ideas, and the theories of traditional Chinese medicine are generally regarded as an example of a protoscience – a school of thought that was developed before the scientific method was developed, and has not been adequately or successfully tested and validated. The scientific method involves various established practices to test the validity of any idea or theory, such as testing under controlled conditions, properly recording and measuring results, and being able to reproduce the results independently. When tested under such conditions, pressure point therapy has for the most part failed to show any positive results. Some studies have been inconclusive, others have shown no efficacy, and the few that have shown positive results did not have reliable standards of testing.
However, neuroimaging studies have shown that stimulation of acupoints does result in increased activity in certain parts of the brain, which may be related to certain organs or physical functions. This of course is not evidence that meridians exist, or that acupoints work in the manner claimed by TCM. The association of a certain pressure point with a certain organ may simply be due to the fact that a particular part of the brain gets stimulated when that pressure point is stimulated. This stimulation will not necessarily affect the organ in question, and there is certainly no evidence of meridians and energy flow.
Some consolidated reviews of the research done on acupuncture and acupressure has indicated that these treatments may be effective as a supplementary treatment for certain conditions, usually involving pain. This may simply mean that pressure point therapy works in the same way a massage does – by soothing and relaxing the body. If this treatment seems to work in other cases, it might simply be due to the placebo effect. It is therefore not advisable to use pressure point therapy for serious conditions. It is better to go by established, tested knowledge of disease, and only use pressure point therapy as an additional measure, if and when it is needed.
Acupressure Technique for Weight Loss
Acupressure is a form of traditional Chinese medicine, and is a sort of variation of acupuncture. While acupuncture uses fine needles to achieve results, acupressure uses physical pressure, which can be applied by the fingers or other parts of the body, or even by special devices such as acupressure balls and acupressure mats. Like all traditional Chinese medicine, acupressure is based on the theory of meridians or channels that run through the body, and the forces of yin, yang, and “chi” (sometimes understood as spiritual energy). While there is no scientific evidence for the existence of any of these forces, acupressure practitioners believe that most health problems arise from an imbalance of these forces or an obstruction to their flow.
Based on this idea, acupressure is used to treat a wide variety of ailments today, and obesity is one of them. In order to achieve weight loss, acupressure aims to control the appetite and the digestive system, expel unwanted heat and moisture from the body, nourish the blood and the chi and improve their flow. For appetite control, you need to massage the appetite control point which is located near your ear. The point is located near the bottom of your ear, where your jaw begins. A few minute spent massaging this point daily is supposed to reduce one’s appetite. The acupressure point for your spleen is located on the inner side of your leg, approximately two inches above your ankle bone, and the stomach point is located approximately two inches below your knee cap, slightly towards the outer side of your leg. These two points should also be massaged daily for a few minutes. About six inches below this stomach point is another stomach point, and this second point should also be massaged daily. You are also advised to massage the large intestine acupressure point, located at the inner end of your elbow crease.
As mentioned earlier, there is no scientific evidence for any of this, and it is all based on traditional ideas that existed before the scientific method was developed. To the extent that these ideas have been tested scientifically, they have mostly proved to be useless, or at best have shown inconclusive results. Obesity is the result of a number of factors such as an unhealthy diet and a sedentary lifestyle, and can also be influenced by hereditary factors or caused by some health condition. These are the areas that must be addressed if you want to lose weight – simply massaging certain points of your body is unlikely to have any significant effect on your weight.
