Exercise for PMS, depression & anxiety–A Chinese medicine perspective
December 15, 2008
Many women have read that exercise can improve premenstrual symptoms, depression and anxiety. Dr. Jerilynn C. Prior, professor of endocrinology at the University of British Columbia, has conducted several studies on the role of exercise in improving PMS symptoms. She hypothesizes that exercise may help with symptoms because of the mood-enhancing effect of physical activity, but she also believes that “exercise alters something in the hypothalamus, probably the core body temperature, that signals the pituitary gland and ovaries to bring a woman’s system more into balance.” (Click here to read more from this ivillage.com article on PMS and exercise.)
Exercise is also of major benefit for people suffering from exercise and anxiety. Research into this link suggest there may be a variety of reasons that exercise enhances mood. ”[Exercise] raises the levels of certain mood-enhancing neurotransmitters in the brain. Exercise may also boost feel-good endorphins, release muscle tension, help you sleep better, and reduce levels of the stress hormone cortisol. It also increases body temperature, which may have calming effects.” (To read more on this article from Mayo Clinic, click here.)
From a traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) perspective, a main component of PMS and depression is something called “qi stagnation”. When qi (energy) moves smoothly through the acupuncture channels, your body feels good and your mood is good. Symptoms of qi stagnation include pain, depressed mood, and digestive complaints. A really great way to move qi (besides acupuncture) is exercise.
For women with PMS, their complaint is “I feel awful when I have PMS. How am I suppose to exercise?” During a woman’s cycle, she is most stagnant in the week before her period. This means, start exercising at the beginning of your premenstrual week to move qi, before bloating and cramps set in. Once your period starts, give yourself a few days break to rest.
Treating headaches with traditional Chinese medicine
October 1, 2008
Acupuncture has been in the news recently for treating both migraines and chronic headaches. From a traditional Chinese medicine perspective, headache can be caused by both external and internal factors (walking outside in cold weather without a hat, for example, versus a headache after a bad fight with a loved one).
Both acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine can be used for treating headaches. For a practitioner using only acupuncture, the most important piece of information is where the headache is located. Many acupuncture channels meet in the head, and different areas correspond to different channels. To treat a frontal headache, the stomach channel is used; to treat a temporal headache, the Gall Bladder channel is used. If herbal medicine is also appropriate, it is important to look at the type of headache. For example, is it a splitting headache, a dull ache or does the head feel like it is tightly bound? Is it worse in the morning or in the evening? This type of information, along with other whole body symptoms, guide a practitioner in developing a pattern diagnosis.
Different headaches respond better to different treatments. In my experience, very chronic headaches that were either caused by trauma, seem to be related to a woman’s menstrual cycle, or are exacerbated by fatigue tend to respond better to a combination of acupuncture and herbal medicine. For headaches that are the result of muscle tension, acupuncture is usually the better choice.
Increasing your chances for a natural birth
September 27, 2008
More and more pregnant women are interested in natural childbirth and exploring various ways to help them achieve their goal. Some are interested in natural childbirth because of its health benefits to the baby, others see birth as an important rite of passage they want to experience. Whatever your reasons, it’s important to remember that birth is a challenging experience where the unexpected can and often does happen.
Too many women go into birth without enough knowledge of natural tools for pain relief and find themselves overwhelmed at some point by the pain of contractions. Other women may encounter problems during labor like irregular contractions or a baby with a posterior position and think that medication is the only option. Still others may have had a previous bad birth experience, or may be considered high risk, and find themselves pressured by medical staff or family. If a natural birth is important to you, consider prebirth acupuncture to increase your chances of having the birthing experience that you want.
What is Prebirth Acupuncture?
The use of acupuncture during pregnancy and childbirth is thousands of years old. Prebirth Acupuncture is a relatively new phenomenon that grew out of modern research and has been further developed by Debra Betts, a pioneering acupuncturist who trains midwives in New Zealand. Initially midwives were interested in using acupuncture during labor to help with pain relief. What they found is that women receiving acupuncture in the last few weeks leading up to delivery had better outcomes during childbirth. As Betts writes in her research study on Prebirth Acupuncture,
Feedback from midwives using acupuncture has consistently been that within their practices, it reduces the length of time women spend in labor, especially women having their 1st birth, and there is a noticeable reduction in medical intervention, including induction of labor, use of epidural anesthesia, and cearean delivery (Betts 2006).
Research on Prebirth Acupuncture
In 2004 Betts completed an observational study involved 169 women receiving prebirth acupuncture. The acupuncture was performed by 14 midwives in the Wellington region of New Zealand. The midwives found that mean labor time was reduced. For women having their first labor, mean labor time was 9 hours with 59% of women delivering within 10 hours. Mean labor time was 4.7 hours for women having their second birth or more, with 60.5% delivering within 5 hours. Just as important, the study authors compared labor results of women receiving acupuncture to an audit group from the same region of New Zealand and observed the following results:
- 35% reduction in inductions (43% for women having their first birth)
- 31% reduction in epidural anesthesia
- 32% reduction in caesarean deliveries
- 9% increase in normal vaginal birth
Prebirth Care at Whole Family Healthcare
Our Prebirth Care helps you move to a place of greater balance and calm in the last weeks of your pregnancy, gives you the strength and endurance for labor and delivery, and helps ease the postpartum transition. The Prebirth Package consists of 4 acupuncture sessions, beginning in your 37th week of pregnancy. We develop a specialized treatment plan that addresses any health issues you are experiencing as well as including acupuncture points from the prebirth protocol developed by Betts. In addition, you will have a one-on-one session with Leah to learn acupressure points for pain relief during labor, as well as acupressure points and home herbal remedies to help you during your postpartum recovery.
**If you would like to read a copy of Betts study, please contact us.
Acupuncture and arthritis
September 8, 2008
For many Americans of a certain age, arthritis is simply a fact of life. Does it really have to be that way? In July 2006, the Annals of Internal Medicine published a German study on acupuncture and osteoarthritis of the knee demonstrating the effectiveness of acupuncture. Since then, many Americans have asked themselves, is acupuncture right for me?
A new perspective
What we in the West call arthritis is known as a “bi syndrome” in Chinese medicine. Bi means painful obstruction. When qi is obstructed instead of flowing smoothly through the body, there is pain. There are several types of bi categorized by their symptoms, but they all tend to settle in the joints. For example, people whose symptoms tend to be worse in damp weather have “damp bi”. People who have swollen, red joints (more common in rheumatoid arthritis) have “hot bi”. Bi syndromes include osteoarthritis as well as rheumatoid arthritis, gout and sciatica.
Root and Branch
In Chinese medicine we often speak of root and branch treatments. For arthritis, a branch treatment would consist of several needles in and around the affected joints, as well as other major points along the channels that pass through the joint. The point of this treatment would be to open the channels and smooth the flow of qi and blood to alleviate pain.
Whenever possible, treatment should try to address the root of the problem as well its branch. What underlying disharmonies have allowed this obstruction to settle in and linger? Some might say the underlying disharmony is simply the aging process, and they would be correct to a certain degree because as we age our body tends to become more unbalanced. However, these disharmonies vary according to a person’s constitutional tendencies and his or her lifestyle choices. It’s here that one really begins to appreciate the power of Chinese medicine. Rather than simply treat the pain, we treat the individual, strengthening his body to make the recurrence of pain less likely.
Fountain of Youth?
It would be misleading for anyone to claim that acupuncture can completely reverse the effects of aging. However, it is responsible to state that most people suffering from osteoarthritis can have significant improvement in joint mobility and comfort, and that these improvements last for several months to years. Is acupuncture right for you? Schedule an appointment today.