Post-Surgical Healing With Acupuncture
- Posted on: May 5 2017
While mankind is fortunate to have surgical capabilities, surgery can be a harrowing experience for both the mind and the body. Once a patient finds out he or she needs surgery, they are faced with a lot of stressors. Acupuncture can help the patient every step along the way.
Step 1- Finding out that you need surgery is nerve-wracking even if you knew you had an illness that may require it at some point. Surgery can be very scary, but fortunately acupuncture is a fantastic modality to help calm the mind. In addition, that anxiety can cause restless sleep which acupuncture can help with. Many acupuncture patients will even fall asleep while the needles are in them.
Step 2- Patients need to prepare for the surgery in some way or another. One important pre-surgical component is to stay healthy. Unless the surgery is an emergency, it will not be performed if there is an infection. Acupuncture can give the immune system a boost and help keep you from getting sick.
Step 3- After surgery the body kicks into healing mode. This consists of several possible components:
- Many patients get nauseous after having general anesthesia, and clinical studies have proven an acupuncture point near the wrist to be highly effective in reducing the nausea. See https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/19370583.
- Usually surgery results in some degree of swelling in the surgical area. A cardiovascular surgery can induce swelling in the legs because the vascular system has been compromised. Acupuncture can help reduce swelling quickly, which is especially helpful if the swelling is hindering mobility.
- Acupuncture has the capability of increasing blood flow and promoting new tissue growth. Any incision will take time to heal, but acupuncture can speed up the recuperation time. A potential complication of incisions is infection as well as healing properly. If it doesn’t heal properly, the scar can affect the surrounding area can negatively affect the muscles or bone often resulting in pain.
Surgical patients who get acupuncture before and after surgery are doing their body a favor. Why make it harder than it already is… come in for acupuncture and get some relief!
Posted in: Acupuncture
