Alternative Medicine

As people over the world fall prey to dangerous illnesses almost everyday, the remedies to these ailments have to be made more effective and with lesser side effects. With new discoveries being made daily in the field of medicine, smart researchers have found a better solution. They have taken age old much ignored therapies and turned them into more meaningful practices. The older known remedies have an advantage of causing less side effects compared to the regular medicinal procedures.

The branch of medicine which does not follow the conventional healing techniques is called Alternative Medicine. This sphere of medicine deals with eliminating the use of common place drugs and at the same time giving a more effective and healthy way to improve your health. Alternative Medicine procedures were discovered as early as the 16th century and only recently has it been given the kind of importance it deserves.

Alternative medicine can be classified into:

1. Whole medical systems.
2. Mind-Body interventions
3. Biologically based therapies
4. Manipulative Therapy
5. Energy therapies

The best known and the most sought after techniques used all over the world for therapeutic purposes are Acupuncture and Acupressure. Surely, almost everybody is familiar with the names of these procedures, but what they are used for exactly and how it can have a healing effect on a patient is discussed below:

1. ACUPUNCTURE
Acupuncture was developed by the ancient Traditional Chinese Medicine. They believed that the human body was a channel which attracted energy from outer sources and through which energy flew in and out of, thereby maintaining a stable and healthy body.

Now in case this flow of energy is blocked due to an ailment, acupuncture is used on the patient to re-invigorate the blocked channels and prevent harmful chi (energy) from staying back in the body.

The basic procedure involved in an acupuncture session is the insertion of minute needles into the skin based on the location of certain points responsible for the flow of energy. The practitioner performing the acupuncture first diagnoses the ailment by inspecting the patient and feeling for the symptoms. Indian sildenafil citrate in 4 strengths.

He then inserts the needles into predetermined areas where blood flow and energy flow is maximum. The needle penetrates up to 3 to 5mm of the skin which causes a slight tingling sensation in the patient, after which the patient either experiences relief or expresses discomfort to the needles. Acupuncture is widely used for treatment of headaches, body pains, backaches etc.

2. ACUPRESSURE
A closely related technique to acupuncture is Acupressure. It is a healing art which was also developed by the Traditional Chinese Medicine. Acupressure uses fingers and other instruments to press specific points on the body in order to release tension which tends to block energy flow.

Acupressure is the no-needle version of Acupuncture where chi is regulated by manipulating different parts of the body. In this method, gentle but firm force is maintained on points for a small amount of time to relax muscles and promote blood circulation. Fingers are used or this purpose but at points for which fingers are too thick a blunt long object is used which applies pressure on the part to be treated.

Acupressure can be very effective in relieving headaches, sore body muscles, stressed backs, neck pains, arthritis etc. It is safe to practice by a beginner as it requires no insertion of needles or any other object. Points to be pressed can be learnt easily by trial and error methods.

Both Acupressure and Acupuncture are very beneficial in reviving body energy and healing various aches and pains. There are no side effects as there are no drugs involved in these procedures. This reason makes them the most practiced Alternative Medicine Techniques.