Hand Massage

Have you ever had to sit in one place longer then you’d like, as in an airplane or in a classroom?

 Have your legs ever felt like they’ve gotten stiff from sitting there to long?  According to reflexology or Korean hand acupuncture you can easily affect those stiff areas by applying pressure to your hands.

The hand is a micro system of your body, it’s an extension of your being and therefore it’s intrically connected to the rest of you.  According to Korean hand acupuncture your hand is like a mirror image of your body. Applying pressure to the hand will direct better blood circulation and release hormones throughout the body, which can improve multiple systems at once.

Above is a diagram of where each organ and body part lies in your hand, if an area is bothering you its good to apply pressure to that area a few times a day for a few minutes. Although, just massaging the entire hand or even just squeezing the tips of each finger on a daily basis can and will help the rest of the body maintain a level of balance.

Hand Massage is one of the easiest ways to promote relaxation and good health through out the body. If you work with your hands a lot too, a daily two-minute hand massage will bring about better circulation throughout the joints and tendons of the hand keeping them limber and strong.

A hand massage doesn’t take long and can feel pretty good with the right pressure, making it a habit and doing it on a daily basis can over time bring relief to troubled areas.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this week’s article, if you have any comments or questions please let me know. Otherwise I hope you have a great week ahead.

How To Improve Digestion

Ever just eat a little too much and get a little bloated and felt tired afterwards? Well I do, especially after every holiday.  Although in every day life when you eat that wrong thing or just had one too many pieces of chocolate. You might get a little nauseous, or have some uncomfortable acid reflux.  Here is a simple acupressure massage technique to improve digestion.

There is an acupressure point just below the knee on the lateral side of the shinbone (tibia) that can do wonders for the digestive system. The point is called Stomach 36 , or Leg Three Mile or  Zusanli in Chinese. This point is actually one of the most used points during most acupuncture treatments because of its ability to strengthen digestion and has a very strong ripple effect upon all other organs and the body as a whole.

The point lies one hand width or four fingers width below the knee cap on the outside of the shin.  A good way to massage this point is to just cross your leg over the other and to squeeze the area with your fingers and hand. Don’t worry about being accurate; the stomach channel passes down the whole outside of the tibia, so you’ll be creating an effect on the stomach even if you’re completely off of the point.

Within 5 minutes of doing this massage you should be able to feel or hear your stomach grumble, especially after eating. In general this point is good for a great variety of issues, which include stomach pain, GERD, indigestion, nausea, vomiting, hiccups, bloating, gas, diarrhea, constipation, mastitis, depression, asthma, cough and even insomnia.

Good digestion is key to over all good health; doing this a few times a week can help keep a body healthy and balanced.

Thank you for your time, I hope this has been a useful and interesting read for you. Please leave any comments or questions below and I hope you have a great week!

Does Acupuncture Work?

I hear this question all the time. The answer is yes acupuncture works, but its effectiveness depends on many factors.  Age, general health, well being, how long and severe the issue is, along with diet and lifestyle all have to be taken into consideration.  

Acupuncture can do wonders for issues that haven’t been around to long like the common cold or any acute injury. If its something more severe like chronic back pain then acupuncture can and will help, but it will take more treatments.

The best part of having an acupuncture treatment is that there are no negative side effects, matter of fact acupuncture can help reduce unwanted side effects from medications. It works because acupuncture works in conjunction with the bodies own healing system, placing needles in specific points all over the body stimulate the central nervous system to release hormones and natural pain relieving opioids.

 In general these same hormones and opioids are released during the sleep state. Due to this acupuncture is really good for issues like stress because the release of these hormones force the body to relax and heal itself.

Here is a short list of how many treatments it may take for various issues:

Headaches- May go away with only one treatment

Recent injury-  1- 5 treatments

Acute back pain- 1-6 treatments

Allergies- 6-12 treatments

Insomnia-  6-12 treatments

Chronic back pain-  20- 30 treatments

Arthritis- research had shown a 50% pain reduction in 3 treatments, 10-15 treatments

Stroke- 25-30 treatments with in six months after stroke

Anxiety- 10-15 treatments

Depression- 10-20 treatments, with occasional follow up treatments

I hope this article has been an interesting read for you, please leave any comments or questions below. Thanks and have a great week!