Healthy and effective blood circulation is an important component of life and body function for every human being. In addition to transporting oxygen-filled blood, the blood helps move nutrients and hormones from the food. Without these components, the cells in your body could cease to function. A poor blood flow or blockage can result in oxygen and nutrient deprivation in the brain resulting in serious medical conditions.
Poor blood circulation manifests in different ways, such as high blood pressure, claudication, and Raynaud’s disease. Poor circulation can be painful and life-threatening in severe cases. However, this does not have to be the case. In addition to changing your lifestyle, you can explore acupuncture, a proven way to treat the condition and minimize the symptoms.
Acupuncture treatment helps stimulate the release of antihistamines and leukotriene to dilate the blood vessels and reduce tissue swelling. This helps with blood flow to the oxygen-deprived parts of the body. To learn more about acupuncture and how it can improve your blood flow, you will need to visit an acupuncturist.
How Acupuncture Helps Boost Circulation
Healthy circulation is an important component of human life. Blood is not the only important thing. Fresh oxygen, nutrients, and hormones are transported as the blood flow through the body. Without these components, the body tissues become weak and unable to function effectively. A poor blood flow or blockage could cause oxygen deprivation in the brain.
Over the centuries, acupuncture has been used to correct circulation. The treatment technique stimulates sympathetic responses, which causes the blood vessels to dilate and improve blood flow. Although the increased blood flow is notable in the periphery, it can occur internally and facilitate nutrients and waste removal from your internal organs. Acupuncture is an alternative treatment choice for circulatory disorders such as:
Acupuncture for High Blood Pressure
Elevated blood pressure is one of the most common circulation disorders, and it affects up to one billion people in the world. When left uncontrolled, high blood pressure could result in serious health risks like stroke. Even for medical practitioners, controlling high blood pressure is a challenge because patients have different needs. Many people take medications or are forced to change their lifestyle to control their blood pressure.
According to Chinese medicine, acupuncture has proven to control pressure effectively. For many centuries, Chinese medicine practitioners did not have a way to measure blood pressure. Instead, they depended on the appearance and symptoms exhibited by the patients. Use of acupuncture will depend on the symptoms of hypertension that you experience, including:
- Fatigue
- Severe headache
- Dizziness
- Memory loss
- Vision complications
- Shortness of breath
Tradition Chinese medicine views dizziness as an effect of energy deficiency and blood stagnation. On the other hand, hypertensive headaches are viewed as fire energy originating from the intestines. Liver fire could result in chest distress and insomnia. When using acupuncture to treat hypertension, the TCM practitioners consider your emotional state relating to the body’s physical health.
Combining acupuncture and herbal medication, customize the treatment to fit each person’s symptoms. Acupuncture has a cumulative effect and its effects in reducing blood pressure last several days after you undergo the treatment. Managing hypertension takes a lot of commitment to make a long-time lifestyle change and regular monitoring. Incorporating acupuncture in your integrative care routine could help improve the symptoms.
Using acupuncture, the invisible pathways which connect different parts of your body are assessed with the needles used in this type of therapy. An impulse is sent to your rain to activate the areas when the pathways are stimulated. In addition to regulating the cardiovascular system, acupuncture therapy controls pain. Stimulation of the spinal cord with acupuncture and brain stem regulates adrenaline release making the heartbeat slower.
Acupuncture for Raynaud’s Disease
Raynaud’s disease is a common circulatory problem affecting individuals living in cold climates. The condition is associated with family history, emotional stress, and estrogen exposure in women. Raynaud’s disease causes a sudden constriction of the blood vessels that supply blood to the skin. This affects circulation to the fingers and toes. Cold temperatures trigger the symptoms of Raynaud’s disease.
Raynaud’s disease is characterized by numbness and pain in the affected areas. When there is poor circulation, blood rich in oxygen does not reach the affected areas, and they could change color to blue or pale. Although Raynaud’s disease is always mild, it can affect your quality of life and cause tissue necrosis and gangrene in rare cases. Gangrene is a medical emergency that requires extensive treatment.
For cases that require medical treatment, acupuncture could help improve circulation. Since the cold temperature is responsible for Raynaud’s disease, this could indicate that you lack the type of energy that could be equated to heat and expansion of the blood vessels. When your energy is low, blood circulation could slow down, causing the vessels to blockage. According to research, acupuncture uses the following mechanisms to relieve the symptoms of this condition:
- Increasing local microcirculation. The local microcirculation is a network that feeds the capillaries, arteries, and veins, which supply and drain blood from the tissues and organs in the body. Acupuncture stimulation has been reported to improve local microcirculation and has analgesic effects on your body. This is done by increasing the diameter of the blood vessels, thus improving the blood flow velocity in the arteries. With acupuncture, you experience minimal side effects when treating diseases that cause poor blood flow.
- Reducing inflammation. Acupuncture has been used to treat different inflammatory conditions over the years. Scientific research has proven that acupuncture therapy reduces inflation by promoting a release of vascular and immune factors. Acupuncture can reduce inflammation by stimulating the hypothalamus, which regulates the body’s response to stressful situations. Emotional stress is one of the common causes of Raynaud’s disease. Therefore, addressing your body’s response to stress could help relieve the condition’s symptoms.
- Regulation of endothelium vasodilators ad vasoconstrictors. Vasodilators and vasoconstrictors are mechanisms that facilitate the opening and closing of the blood vessels to enhance blood flow to different parts of the body. Any irregularities in these systems could tighten and narrow the blood vessels, thus impacting blood flow. With acupuncture, the stimulation helps regulate the vasoconstrictors and vasodilators in the epithelium and correct blood flow complications.
- Increase adenosine release. The compound adenosine is crucial to the effectiveness of acupuncture. Adenosine helps transfer cellular energy in the blood by facilitating the digestion of sugars in the stomach. Additionally, the compound signals various pathways and body functions. Adenosine acts as a depressant for the central nervous system. Adenosine helps decrease the antiplatelet action and heart rate in your heart. The antiplatelet action is responsible for reducing aggregation and preventing coagulation. Acupuncture helps stimulate the release of adenosine in the body.
Acupuncture can reduce the symptoms of Raynaud’s disease by acting on areas of your brain that can help promote relaxation and reduce pain and stress. Stress and anxiety can be major causes of poor blood flow. Therefore, the needling sensation of acupuncture could help relieve the tension.
With acupuncture, the Chinese medicine practitioner can choose to boost the energy moving through your body. This is done by applying moxa to your belly button, which is considered the center of your body. As the heat floods in this part of the body, your immune system receives an energy boost. The energy generated at the belly button is then distributed to other parts of the body to reach your fingers and toes. This helps eliminate the attacks associated with Raynaud’s disease.
Acupuncture can also treat symptoms of Raynaud’s disease that are associated with emotional stress. The acupuncturist can use needling to relieve pressure from particular points in the body, like the ear. The ear point helps induce tranquility, clear your mind bad reduce craving for drugs and other addictive substances. Although lifestyle changes such as keeping warm and consuming warm drinks could help, acupuncture could help with instant and long-lasting relief. If you experience the symptoms of Raynaud’s disease, you should consider finding an acupuncturist to learn how you can reduce the chances of suffering an attack.
Acupuncture for Claudication
When you walk or move, claudication is the pain you experience in your calf, buttocks, or thighs. Often claudication is a symptom of much more severe issues like peripheral artery disease. This occurs when your arteries are blocked, and there is reduced blood flow to the lower part of your body. In the first stages of the disease, you experience severe pain when you walk a short distance. With time, the poor flow causes oxygen and nutrient deprivation to these parts of the body, and you may be unable to move your feet.
Other claudication symptoms could include cold feet, pain, and a burning sensation in the legs and buttocks. When left untreated, the effects of claudication could increase your risk of suffering a heart attack or stroke. Claudication can be treated with medication, lifestyle change, or even surgery. However, all these forms of treatment could fail to provide instant relief to the painful condition. Fortunately, acupuncture can help relieve the symptoms of this condition.
Before you result to surgery or other invasive procedures, it would be wise to try out therapies such as acupuncture. For patients with PSD, acupuncture helps to reduce the risk of cardiovascular complications and improves functional status. Especially in older patients, laser acupuncture helps to improve the flow of blood through the peripheral arteries. Laser therapy administered to acupuncture points is an innovative non-invasive and pain-free method.
If you are an athlete or engage in intense exercise, you could experience muscle cramping, a burning sensation on your feet. Often the burning sensation is associated with the buildup of lactic acid. When too much lactic acid is in the blood, the oxygen is low, and your muscles could be less functional. Acupuncture alleviates patient symptoms associated with excessive accumulation of lactic acid in the cells. This is by clearing the lactic acid and allowing recovery of the cells.
Acupuncture for Poor Leg Circulation
Poor leg circulation is a health issue that should not be ignored. There are several reasons why you could experience poor circulation in your legs, including peripheral artery disease, diabetes, and varicose veins. When left untreated, poor leg circulation could be a life-threatening condition. When blood fails to circulate effectively, oxygen and nutrients cannot reach these areas.
Although some people who suffer from poor leg circulation do not experience any symptoms, you could notice cramping of the affected leg when you walk or move. Also, you could experience numbness and a tingling sensation on the toes. If you are experiencing poor leg circulation, you should consider acupuncture. According to Chinese medicine, poor leg circulation occurs due to insufficient energy to move the blood along with the system.
When you consult with an acupuncturist, they will evaluate your condition to determine the exact cause of poor circulation on your legs. Needling will release the pressure and stimulate blood circulation to the legs and other body parts.
Find an Acupuncturist Near Me
Poor circulation is an issue that affects millions of people around the world. Decreased circulation is commonly referred to as a silent killer. This is because poor blood circulation cuts off the supply of oxygen and other nutrients to the different body organs. Poor circulation is characterized by numbness, cold feet and hands, and irregular heart rhythms. Another complication associated with poor circulation is blood clots that could be fatal.
Modern medication and surgery can be used to treat poor circulation. However, this form of treatment could have serious side effects. Additionally, you may need to spend a while in the hospital undergoing recovery. Fortunately, there are other ways, such as acupuncture, through which you can relieve the symptoms of poor circulation. The acupuncture needles help regulate nitric oxide, a regulator of localized circulation.
At Trinity Acupuncture, we use acupuncture to treat different health conditions such as blood circulation complications and help eliminate the complications associated with the issue. If you experience the symptoms of poor blood circulation, you will need our expertise by your side. Contact us today at 310-371-1777 if you are looking for an acupuncturist in Torrance, CA.