The Benefits of Combining Acupuncture with Massage Therapy for Pain Management
Acupuncture and massage, by themselves, are both effective treatments for managing pain. When combined, however, the two complement each other in a way that alleviates pain from multiple directions. Together, these holistic approaches to healing treat not only the pain itself, but also the underlying cause.
What Are the Chief Benefits of Combining Acupuncture with Therapeutic Massage?
Enhanced Pain Relief
The insertion of thin needles into specific points of the body (or acupoints), stimulate the nervous system to influence a surge of natural pain killers such as endorphins and enkephalins. Mindful touch also triggers the release of hormones that suppress the sensation of pain, such as serotonin. Additionally, the removal of knots relaxes tense muscular tissue while enhancing blood circulation – two benefits contributing to pain relief.
Applied together, acupuncture and massage therapy target both nerve-related and muscular pain.
Faster Healing Process
Massage therapy, in addition to promoting healthy blood flow, also encourages lymphatic drainage – both of which assist with efficient tissue healing.
Acupuncture helps to regulate the body’s immune response, and efficient immunity sets off a purposeful inflammatory response which destroys pain-causing pathogens. The combination of these treatments speeds up recovery from soft tissue injuries, muscle or tendon strains, and ligament sprains.
Decreased Inflammation
While inflammation is the first step of the body’s natural recovery process, chronic inflammation causes physical pain.
Both acupuncture and massage therapy reduce inflammation, but in different ways. As mentioned earlier, acupuncture does this by regulating the immune response. Massage, through its promotion of lymphatic drainage, flushes the metabolic waste that causes inflammation as well as swelling.
By treating inflammation from different angles, a combination of acupuncture and massage reduces pain and stiffness from inflammatory conditions such as arthritis, tendonitis, gout, or bursitis.
Balanced Nervous System Functioning
Persistent pain can be emotionally stressful, and emotional stress can cause further physical discomfort through tensing the muscles. It’s a vicious cycle.
Acupuncture and massage both stimulate the nervous system, but each plays their own role in its parts. While acupuncture helps to regulate the autonomic nervous system, massage activates the parasympathetic nervous system. The ANS is a network of nerves responsible for the functioning of involuntary processes such as breathing, digestion, and heartbeat. The PNS controls the “rest and digest” to relax the mind and body. When both systems are balanced, the body is less prone to pain caused by distress.
Improved Mobility and Joint Range of Motion
Internal obstructions such as blood stagnation, cold/heat blockages and organ system imbalances can all lead to restricted mobility – acupuncture is able to reduce these blockages by stimulating the acupoints associated with them. Therapeutic massage removes knots from tense fascia and muscular tissue, which encourages the muscle fibers to lengthen and the joints to regain fuller range of motion. Applying both acupuncture and massage can be particularly helpful for people experiencing chronic pain related to mobility limitations.
Long Lasting Results
Though both techniques can offer immediate pain relief, the effects may wear off if the underlying cause isn’t treated. Massage therapy can do this by incorporating add-ons such as proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation to target mobility restrictions or lymphatic drainage to remove waste. Acupuncture can also address those examples, but it can reach the underlying issues leading to pain on a deeper level. It does this by targeting energy imbalances and internal pain pathways, which can prolong the relief provided by massage when the two are used together.
Which Conditions Benefit the Most from Combining Acupuncture with Massage Therapy?
As long as a doctor has given both treatments the green light, here are some pain conditions that can especially benefit from a combination of massage therapy and acupuncture:
- Back and neck pain
- Chronic or acute
- Stress-related muscle tension
- Sciatica
- Arthritis
- Headaches and migraines
- Fibromyalgia
Now You Know!
Let your body heal and maintain its relief through acupuncture and massage. Experience the longer lasting effects brought on by energy balancing and adhesion removal. Your body will thank you.
Katrina Jenkins
Author, Licensed Massage Therapist
Katrina Jenkins graduated from Towson University in 2013 with a Bachelor’s Degree in Health Science and worked as a nurse’s aide briefly before pursuing her true passion. She graduated from the Massage Therapy Institute of Colorado in April 2016 with honors and completed the Touch of Healers Scholarship Program the following summer. She has been a part of the Moyer Total Wellness Team since the summer of 2017.
Resources
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Moyer Total Wellness