Which is more effective, acupuncture or massage?

There is really no one who is more effective. I have been working in physical therapy for 11 years, and I meet three or five people asking this question almost every week. To put it bluntly, it depends on what problem you want to solve and your own tolerance.

Last week, a young man working in the Internet came in with a stiff neck. When he walked in, his neck was as crooked as a pinned goose. He had to move his entire upper body when he turned around. The upper trapezius muscle was palpated as hard as frozen meat and there were several trigger points. I pressed him for 20 minutes and slowly moved his neck while pressing. When he walked, he could turn his head normally. He also said that if he was not rushing to go to work, he would like to press for a while longer. For this kind of acute superficial muscle spasm, the effect of massage is indeed immediate. After all, it directly acts on the tense muscle fibers. As soon as the soreness and swelling dissipate, the mobility returns immediately. In this case, even if you get an acupuncture, the effect is not bad, but the physical relaxation is not as direct as that of massage.

But the situation is different. Last month, an aunt in her 60s came to see me. She suffered from trigeminal neuralgia for almost two months. She was afraid to touch half of her face, and it hurt when eating or talking. I used to get massages on the head and face, and it only took half an hour to feel comfortable, but the pain became more severe after the pain. I assigned her local acupuncture points and the distal acupoints of Hegu and Taichong. After three times of acupuncture, she said that the frequency of pain dropped by more than half, and now her eating and talking are basically not affected. For neuropathic pain, or problems that require regulating organ function, such as diarrhea due to chronic spleen and stomach deficiency, hot flashes and night sweats during menopause, most massages can only affect the muscles and fascial layers, and it is difficult to achieve deep stimulation of meridian acupoints. At this time, the advantages of acupuncture are revealed.

I have also encountered many people who fainted at the sight of needles, turned pale and broke out into cold sweats. In this case, acupuncture cannot be used even if it is suitable for the symptoms. Massage must be the first choice. Customers cannot suffer this fate. There are also patients in the acute stage of lumbar protrusion. If they encounter an inexperienced masseur, brute force and tugging may easily aggravate edema. At this time, the stimulation amount of acupuncture is more controllable and safer.

There are indeed different voices in the industry. Some people think that massage is "fooling people". It can only relax muscles and cannot cure the root cause. Others think that acupuncture is a placebo effect and relies entirely on psychological effects. In fact, there are relevant clinical research data for a long time. Taking common acute lumbar sprains as an example, the effectiveness of both methods can reach 8 More than 0%, acupuncture can relieve pain 1-2 days faster on average, and the muscle comfort after massage can last longer. Many times we use them together. For example, if people who sit for a long time have chronic lumbar muscle strain, acupuncture will first be used to eliminate deep-seated aseptic inflammation, and then used for ten minutes to relax the superficial tense muscles. The recovery speed is much faster than using either method alone.

To put it bluntly, these two are just like when you clean the house. Just wipe the floating dust on the table with a rag or two and wipe it clean. If there are old stains that seep into the wood grain seams, you have to soak them with detergent to wipe them clean. Each has its own applicable scenarios. There is no need to compare. The one that suits you is the best.