It’s becoming more and more common for parents to look for natural and effective treatment options to deal with childhood health concerns. Acupuncture is a great option for those looking to keep the whole family healthy in both mind and body. It really doesn’t matter how old you are, young or old, families can benefit greatly from regular acupuncture treatments. continue reading
Neuroscientists have uncovered a previously unknown direct connection between the brain and the immune system — a finding that could have significant implications for the treatment of brain disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, multiple sclerosis and autism.
The discovery came as a surprise to Dr. Kevin Lee, chairman of the University of Virginia’s neuroscience department.
“The first time these guys showed me the basic result, I just said one sentence: ‘They’ll have to change the textbooks,’” Lee said in a press release Monday.
The study’s lead author, Dr. Jonathan Kipnis of the University of Virginia’s Center for Brain Immunology and Glia, echoed the sentiment.
“When we discovered the lymphatic vessels we were very very surprised, because based on the textbooks — these vessels do not exist,” Kipnis said in an email to The Huffington Post.
A direct connection. While previous research held that there was no direct connection between the brain and the lymphatic system, the new findings, which were recently published in the journal Nature, present a model of the lymphatic system that includes the brain.
Though not a part of the immune system, the lymphatic system carries lymph, a clear fluid filled with white blood cells that helps remove toxins from the body. The lymphatic system is connected to every other system in the body, and was believed to end at the base of the skull.
But the researchers noticed something strange while looking through their microscopes at slides containing the membranes of mice’s brains. They saw lymphatic vessels, which had never before been observed above the base of the skull.
While the observation was made in mice, the same anatomy is believed to exist in humans as well.
New questions. A next step of the research is to determine how the vessels might be involved in diseases involving the brain and the immune system, such as multiple sclerosis and Alzheimer’s.
“We believe that for every neurological disease that has an immune component to it, these vessels may play a major role,” Kipnis said.
Though the findings are preliminary, the researchers hope they’ll open up a number of new possibilities for treating these and other neurological disorders through therapies that target the lymphatic vessels of the brain.
For example, Kipnis explained that the findings could shed light on why large protein chunks accumulate in the brains of Alzheimer’s patients. “We think they may be accumulating in the brain because they’re not being efficiently removed by these vessels,” he said.
Other members of the scientific community have expressed excitement about the discovery, while cautioning that the findings have not yet been replicated or confirmed.
“With further research, the findings could help scientists to target inflammation in the brain, which is a factor in many neurological conditions,” James Nicoll, professor of neuropathology at the University of Southampton in England, told The Guardian.
It seems that the answer these days is a resounding “YES!” Western medicine relies on hard facts, and with the US Library of Medicine listing more than 23,000 studies on acupuncture, the evidence of acupunctures efficacy is undeniable. Another part is the desire/need for alternative treatments that are holistic, non-invasive and painless solution to a variety of health issues.
How does it work? A typical treatment involves the painless insertion of very thin needles on key points of the body in order to stimulate the body’s natural healing process. These key points run along channels called meridians in which energy known as Qi (chee), flows to all parts of the body including our organs. When a meridian is blocked, the organ at the end experiences distress and can cause pain or illness. Unblocking the meridian causes the body to release natural chemicals like endorphins, serotonin and relieves inflammation.
What are some common health issues that acupuncture can help?
Chronic back pain affects about 80% of us at one time or another and is the second most common cause of disability in America according to a study by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association. Another study showed that patients arriving at an Emergency Room in Melbourne Australia showed that patients treated with acupuncture experienced the same amount of pain relief as the ones that were given drugs.
With headaches, acupuncture has a long track record for relieving pain from migraines and tension headaches. A recent study showed that acupuncture cut in half the number of day’s patient experienced migraines. When they did have one, the pain was greatly reduced.
With asthma and allergies over 25 million Americans have asthma. That includes 6.8 million children. Research shows that ongoing treatment reduced asthma symptoms and use of inhaled steroids. When acupuncture treatment stopped, symptoms and inhaler use returned to previous levels. Similar results were found in a separate study on allergies and antihistamine use. Of particular note was that if a health problem is controlled in childhood it is less likely to become chronic in adulthood. As a plus, acupuncture for children rarely requires the uses of needles. Since their Qi flows very close to the surface of their skin, usually all that is required is a light brushing or rubbing along the meridian path to get things flowing along. Kids usually love it and respond very well.
With digestive problems, acupuncture has been used successfully to treat colic in babies, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), morning sickness, and post operative nausea caused by anesthesia and chemotherapy. The World Health Organization notes that acupuncture relieves nausea better than atropine injections.
Continued Wellness takes a lifelong commitment to fitness, acupuncture should be used on a therapeutic level for one’s life. Doing this will ensure a lifetime of maintaining good health and keeping our bodies operating at optimum levels.
If you are just beginning to look into acupuncture, you will be exposed to language you probably aren’t familiar with. One of the first phrases you might come across is the term “meridian.” Meridians are defined as the invisible channels through which qi (or energy) circulates throughout the body. The acupuncture points are the locations where the qi of the channels rises close to the surface of the body. continue reading
Research tells us that acupuncture has been beneficial in treating a variety of conditions including high blood pressure, stress and anxiety, and headaches, just to name a few. And the good news is, you can add allergy symptoms to that list as well. continue reading
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