The University of Kentucky’s Office of Public Affairs and Strategic Communications provides a weekly health column that may be used and reprinted by news media. This week’s column is written by UK Healthcare Integrative Medicine Health Certified Acupuncturists Dennis Kim and Nora Charles.
Lexington, Kentucky (August 16, 2023) — Acupuncture involves inserting needles at specific points on the body. In Eastern terminology, it helps stimulate the flow of Qi, the life force, along the body’s meridians.
In Western terminology, it helps send nerve fibers to the spinal cord, brainstem, hypothalamus, and pituitary gland. These fibers help release neurotransmitters such as endorphins, the body’s natural painkillers, and enkephalins and noradrenaline, which inhibit neural pain fibers and reduce pain.
Acupuncture does not use drugs. Even if a patient has symptoms that do not respond to medications or has not fully recovered from physical therapy or other types of therapy, we may be able to improve their symptoms. We have noticed that we receive many referrals from physicians who are trying to help patients with primarily acute and chronic pain find alternatives to drug therapy.
The most common conditions we treat with acupuncture are musculoskeletal problems such as fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, carpal tunnel, and arthritis. These and other conditions treated here include neck pain, lower back pain, or any type of musculoskeletal problem.
During your first acupuncture treatment, we will ask you many questions. Typically, patients come to the clinic with a chief complaint, but acupuncturists need details about what brought them to the clinic. Your health care provider typically asks questions about other aspects of your health, such as your medical history, sleep, digestion, and mood. This can help healthcare providers make a better diagnosis from an acupuncture perspective.
Another benefit of trying acupuncture is that it can treat multiple conditions at once. If a patient has insomnia and back pain, there is no need to treat them separately. We take time to talk with our patients at the beginning of each session to understand what’s going on with their overall health.
Acupuncture treatment takes approximately 20 to 30 minutes with the needles inserted. Follow-up sessions will be scheduled as needed.
The effects of acupuncture are cumulative. Patients who come to the office with lower back pain may find that their symptoms are reduced after one session, but they may notice further relief as the sessions progress. Although everyone’s physical condition is different and the symptoms vary, at our clinic, patients receive three acupuncture treatments to see if their symptoms improve.
