“Acupuncture has been used to treat the symptoms of many conditions, but current evidence from clinical trials mainly supports its efficacy (compared with placebo) in alleviation of nausea,7 and relief of various types of pain. Its activity in these different symptoms suggests that acupuncture does not have a single mode of action but a range of effects on various functions which increases the complexity of both understanding and researching acupuncture.
The main therapeutic effects of needling are achieved through stimulation of the nervous system (sensory stimulation), with some overlap with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation and spinal cord stimulation. Acupuncture needling has local effects through local antidromic axon reflexes, releasing neuropeptides such as calcitonin gene related peptide and increasing local nutritive blood flow, improving, for example, the function of salivary glands. In the spinal cord and brain, there is well established evidence that acupuncture causes the release of opioid peptides and serotonin. The clinical effects on musculoskeletal pain are best explained by inhibition of the nociceptive pathway at the dorsal horn (segmental effects) by activation of the descending inhibitory pathways, and possibly by local or segmental effects on myofascial trigger points.”
The Massage Lab is a small team of proud bodywork professionals who take soft tissue therapy VERY seriously! We seek to continually improve our ability to address and redress your needs. We individually invest hundreds of pounds each year in learning new techniques, updating our knowledge, opening new channels of therapeutic intervention, advice and home care.
Medical Acupuncture is just one more tool in our therapeutic tool box. It helps to desensitise painful areas so as to allow your movement patterns to return to normal and kick start the ability of the body to heal itself. It helps us access deeper relevant layers of tissue once the acute spasm has been deactivated. The list goes on, but simply put: IT MAKES US MORE EFFICIENT AT WHAT WE DO!