Combining acupuncture jointly with massage is a classic blend of two modalities with an established history of success for many ailments including headaches, back pain, shoulder pain, neck pain, foot pain and more.
Throughout history these modalities have been made to be used together to create the most valuable and best effect for your patients.
Most Acupuncturists will join several of these modalities into every Acupuncture treatment. My personal experience is that 10-15 minutes in every unique Acupuncture session with my therapist at www.silverspringacupuncture.com (occasionally more as time permits and as symptoms order) has been used for bodywork treatments - Tui Na, foot reflexology, cupping and/or gua sha. I feel strongly that massage helps the body incorporate the dynamic treatment of Acupuncture into the physical symptom progress we're seeking to create. These bodywork treatments, which all fall under the broader group of treatment or massage from a Western viewpoint, can transfer Qi and Blood, relax and lengthen muscles, improve range of movement and thus reduce pain and improve function!
Advantages of Massage and Combining Acupuncture
By far, back pain and neck pain are the symptoms that consistently justify joining Massage and Acupuncture in my experiences.
You ever have that feeling like you've got an itch or a scrape can’t be scratched or healed by you alone? Or pain that feels like it's so heavy inside your hip, back or neck that while a massage feels amazing, it only feels like it can’t get better with a massage alone? This is frequently because the pain is in the joint itself, or because the smaller muscles are spasming, and your massage therapist has to go through all the shallow layers and simply can’t get deep enough.
When you join the advantages of massage and the advantages of Acupuncture, these gains are amplified and become more powerful and more lasting. Once you’ve gone to the origin of the issue and avoided those trivial degrees, the body relaxes and circulation improves. The massage treatment can go and get deeper to create positive change when you follow an Acupuncture treatment with Massage. In addition, it helps to incorporate the physical and dynamic changes to establish the treatment and allow it to be more successful and longer lasting.
The advantages of massage are similarly vast - enhanced circulation, enhanced relaxation, stretching, lengthening and softening of muscles. Traditional Chinese massage, or Tui Na, is like a fusion of Swedish, deep tissue and occasionally Thai, as there are special stretches advocated for particular physical ailments. This means traditional Chinese massage is exceptionally adaptable to any particular ailment or relaxation level.
When you join the advantages of massage and the power of Acupuncture, you experience a very powerful healing blend. For acute harm, particularly whiplash and back pain from car accidents, or for sports harm (I’ve had a powerful Iron Man and Ultra Running contingent!) Acupuncture combined with massage can be exceptionally efficient, quite transformative and thus highly recommended.