FitSugar -- Healthy, happy you.

Got Cramps? Try Acupuncture

FitSugar — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 02:30:00 -0800

Menstrual cramps are no fun, but for some women, the pain can be so unbearable that it prevents them from going to work, or even getting out of bed. Instead of popping pain meds, new research from Germany shows that acupuncture treatments may be beneficial in helping to ease menstrual pain.

The study tested 201 women with dysmenorrhea, a condition that causes achy and throbbing cramps. The women were randomly assigned acupuncture treatments or no treatment. After three months, 63 percent of the women who received treatment (about 10 sessions) had at least a 33 percent improvement in their pain. This sounds like a pretty good treatment option, as long as you aren't freaked out by needles.

Source

10 Ways to Never Get Sick Again

FitSugar — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 11:05:00 -0700

Sick of getting sick? Join the club. I will do anything and everything it takes to avoid getting sick this winter, and so I was thrilled to find this list of 10 practices that will help you stay away from hospitals, feel healthier, and live longer.

See a Chiropractor
Laugh hard
Scatter your workouts
Sleep at least seven hours a night
See an acupuncturist
Meditate
Perform cardiovascular exercise at least four times a week
Stretch
Eat organic food
Be wary of medications

I regularly do almost everything on the list aside from meditate and see an acupuncturist. What about you guys — how many things on the list do you do?

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Five Alternative Treatments That Work

FitSugar — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 17:15:00 -0700

It's hard to decipher all the hype about alternative medicine. How do we know what works and what doesn't?

Well, CNN got the lowdown from experts in the field on which alternative treatments actually work for what.

Here are highlights:

Acupuncture for pain: Hands, down, this was the No. 1 recommendation from our panel of experts. They also recommended acupuncture for other problems, including nausea after surgery and chemotherapy.
Calcium, magnesium, and vitamin B6 for PMS: When pre-menstrual syndrome rears its ugly head, gynecologist Dr. Tracy Gaudet encourages her patients to take these dietary supplements. "They can have a huge impact on moodiness, bloating, and on heavy periods," says Gaudet, who's the executive director of Duke Integrative Medicine at Duke University Medical School.

There are more so

What's the Deal With: Naturopathic Doctors?

FitSugar — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 09:30:00 -0700

I'm sure you've also used natural remedies to heal yourself. Peppermint tea or ginger for a tummy ache, aloe for a burn, and tea tree oil for poison ivy or acne. These remedies all come from Naturopathic medicine, which is based on the healing power of nature. It is often used in conjunction with conventional medicine.

Naturopathic doctors (also called Naturopaths) seek to improve their patient's health, treat illness, and prevent disease with natural methods that support the body's own healing abilities. Naturopaths also help their patients make lifestyle changes (through diet and exercise) that are necessary for the best possible health.

These doctors have a holistic approach, which means they care for the whole person - body, mind and spirit. They don't just treat the symptoms of illness, they try to figure out what's causing those symptoms in the first place. For example, if you were to have stomach pains every time you ate, instead of taking Pepto Bismol after every meal, a Naturopath may have you go on an elimination diet, to see if a certain food was to blame.

Naturopaths prefer not to use invasive surgery or most synthetic drugs, but rather use different forms of natural medicine to treat and prevent disease. These methods include acupuncture, homeopathy, nutrition, aromatherapy, counseling, herbal medicine and massage therapy.

Fit's Tips: If you are thinking about going to see a Naturopath make sure that they are licensed, and that they graduated from an accredited university. Also check to see if your state has licensing laws that govern the practice of Naturopaths. To locate a qualified Naturopath in your area, contact the American Association of Naturopathic Physicians (AANP) at 206-298-0125. Or visit their website at www.naturopathic.org.

Source

Needles and Back Pain

FitSugar — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 14:30:00 -0700

When it comes to dealing with back pain, especially the day in, day out chronic kind, people seek relief in many types of alternative methods. Many turn to the East and experiment with the needles of acupuncture.

Two recent studies provide some interesting insight into this alternative treatment. A recent German study found that acupuncture treatments helped ease the pain of 47% of participants and the effects lasted through the long term. Another recent study found that random needling, meaning needles were placed in areas not recognized by Traditional Chinese Medicine as "points" for back pain relief, was nearly as effective. Forty-four percent of participants in a study performed by the Archives of Internal Medicine found long term relief after "fake" treatments. Both real acupuncture and fake acupuncture out performed conventional treatments, mostly medication, used in Western medicine. Only 27 percent of those participants using standard medical care experienced relief from the pain.

One theory is that pain messages to the brain might be blocked by the competing stimuli of the needles. Another theory is the "placebo" effect. People believe that acupuncture will help their back pain, but have little faith in Western medicine when it comes to relief.

How about you? Have you ever used acupuncture to treat pain? Tell me all about it in the comments section below.

Source

What Type of Alternative Medicine are You Using Now?

FitSugar — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 14:00:00 -0700

SourceWestern medicine's pills and prescriptions can keep us healthy, but most of the time they just deal with the symptoms. Alternative medicine on the other hand, tries to get to the root of the problem, by working with the body's energy.Many people have found great success with healing therapies such as Acupuncture and Chiropractics. So I want to know...

Acupuncture Face Lift

FitSugar — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 09:30:00 -0700

What do Madonna, Cher and Gwyneth Paltrow all have in common? Well, according to eDiets these celebs are all fans of Acupuncture facial rejuvenation. Yep, it is alternative medicine meets cosmetic surgery.

Popular in the U.S. for the last twenty years, Chinese women have been using acupuncture to keep looking fresh and sensual since 960 AD. One element of the acupuncture philosophy is to restore balance and imbalances in the organs or muscles can create wrinkles on the face. So needles are placed where imbalances occur and needles are not just used on the face. If the spleen is out of whack needles will be inserted in the spleen area or meridian (energy line). Licensed acupuncturists know how to read the body, and ones specializing in "facial rejuvenation" will examine your body and identify the root cause of your wrinkles.

It is believed for the treatments to work, they need to occur on a weekly or bi weekly basis, for several weeks. A typical acupuncture visit can be anywhere from $50- $75. The side affects are generally improved energy (a bonus) and the risk factors are nil when compared to invasive, plastic surgery.

Sounds interesting to me. Would you be willing to give acupuncture facial rejuvenation a try? Tell me in the comments section below.

Source

Yoga for Fertility

FitSugar — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 12:30:00 -0700

I call it the conception conundrum. As women, it seems like we spend much of our adult lives trying NOT to get pregnant, and if we have trouble conceiving when we do decide to start a family, it feels like an evil cosmic joke. Getting pregnant when you finally decide you are ready to become a mom can be more complicated than just forgoing the birth control.

In these situations, there is the medical route, which can be very expensive, invasive and doesn’t always work. Since people think of these practices (like IVF) as the last resort, many want-to-be moms are turning to alternative practices to optimize their chances of getting prego, such as acupuncture and Fertility Yoga classes.

Is there scientific proof or research that these alternative therapies work? To find out

Applied Kinesiology: It's All About Your Muscles

FitSugar — Tue, 03 Apr 2007 15:45:00 -0700

The other day my friend said "My chiropractor used applied kinesiology to discover that I had too much mercury in my body. They did some tests on my muscles to find out." Huh? This was news to me and I was intrigued, so I went home and hopped on the beloved internet to find out more about it.

Applied Kinesiology is a newcomer to the field of healing, but its roots can be traced back through centuries of ancient Chinese medicine. It involves studying a person's movements as a way to examine how his or her body is functioning (or not functioning).

Using muscle testing, they assess your posture, your gait (the pattern of how a person walks), and test your body's range of motion. If they find a muscle that is unbalanced, they'll work to figure out why it's not functioning properly.

This information is analyzed along with standard methods of diagnosis such as your clinical history and laboratory tests. The hope is that by studying the WHOLE person, the doctor can then determine the best form of treatment for you.

Treatments include joint manipulation or mobilization, various myofascial therapies (this involves gentle sustained pressure to injured or inflamed muscle tissues), cranial techniques, meridian therapy (like acupuncture and reflexology), evaluation of environmental factors, and nutrition.

This is definitely considered an alternative approach to healing. Only people trained in applied kinesiology are allowed to perform it. Many chiropractors, naturopaths, medical doctors, dentists, nutritionists, physical therapists, massage therapists, and nurse practitioners are becoming trained to complement their current practices, so if you are interested in having a session, ask around to find out who is the most qualified.

I'd like to think that since your muscles are part of your body, there has got to be some truth to studying them in order to encourage healing. Of course, many people think applied kinesiology is just a bunch of pseudoscience garbage, but it's worth a shot, right?

Let's Get to the Point About Acupuncture

FitSugar — Thu, 04 Jan 2007 03:54:27 -0800

Acupuncture may be thousands of years old, but how it works remains a mystery to Western doctors. However, they do know that it does work for some ailments. Studies indicate that it may provide a number of medical benefits — from reducing pain to helping with chemotherapy-induced nausea.

A Mayo Clinic report states:

Because of the difficulty of conducting valid scientific studies of acupuncture — numerous past studies have been proved inadequate — it's hard to create a definitive list of the conditions for which acupuncture might be helpful. However, preliminary studies indicate that acupuncture may offer symptomatic relief for a variety of diseases and conditions, including low back pain, headaches, migraines and osteoarthritis. In a 2006 Mayo Clinic study, acupuncture significantly improved symptoms of fibromyalgia.

Having grown up with Western medicine, acupuncture seemed more than a bit "woo-woo" to me. But having seen several Pilates clients and friends benefit from regular acupuncture for treating pain, dealing with PMS issues, migraines and chemo side effects, makes me a believer. Check out Acupuncture.com to find a practitioner near you.