Which treatment is better, acupuncture or massage

There is really no absolute superiority or inferiority. It all depends on the problem you want to solve and your own acceptance. I have been working in the field of traditional Chinese medicine and external therapy for eleven years. These two methods are used interchangeably every day. When I meet a patient, I ask which one has better results. I usually ask him to explain where he is uncomfortable and what level of stimulation he can accept.

I picked up a 28-year-old programmer last week. His waist had been stiff for almost two weeks. He had to hold on to the table even when he straightened his waist. The erector spinae muscles on both sides of his waist were as hard as frozen pork belly. I didn’t dare to insert an acupuncture directly for the first time. I gave him a 40-minute waist massage first, which rubbed out most of the superficial tendons, and he was able to walk out straight on the spot. But he still had radioactive numbness in his left lower limb for more than three months. After three consecutive treatments, the numbness was reduced by less than 20%. Later, he was given acupuncture at Yaoyangguan, Weizhong, and Chengshan acupoints, and electroacupuncture stimulation was added when the needle was retained. After the second acupuncture, he said that the numbness in his leg was reduced by 80%.

Patients often get massage while standing, saying that there is no need for injections and there is not so much psychological burden, especially for simple muscle strain or muscle soreness after exercise. When you rub it, you can feel the hard knots dispersing little by little, and it is so comfortable that you will almost fall asleep. The effect is very intuitive. There are also many people who firmly believe in acupuncture, especially when it comes to nerve entrapment, deep-seated aseptic inflammation, or problems such as functional dysmenorrhea and facial neuritis that require regulating qi and blood and nerve response. The strength of massage is difficult to penetrate to such a deep level. When the meridional sensation of acupuncture is transmitted, the tingling and numbing sensation cannot be achieved by massage.

In fact, there are different voices in the industry. Some senior masseurs have practiced their techniques to a certain extent, and their strength can penetrate deep into the muscle nodes, and the effect of relieving deep-seated pain is no worse than acupuncture. There are also acupuncture doctors who believe that non-professional massage is prone to risks, especially at the cervical spine and vertebral artery. If the massage is not gentle, accidents are more likely to occur. After all, these two are originally the "right and left hands" of traditional Chinese medicine. There is no distinction between them. Just like whether you use a screwdriver or a corkscrew to open a can, it depends on the mouth of the can in your hand.

A while ago, an aunt in her 60s had a stiff neck. Her neck was so painful that she could only tilt her neck to one side. When she heard that acupuncture was needed, she kept waving her hands. I pressed the trigger points of her trapezius muscles and shoulder wells first. After relaxing the muscles, I added warm acupuncture to the acupuncture points on the back of the neck. Only two centimeters of the needle body was inserted, and there was basically no pain. When the aunt left, she laughed and said that it turns out that she doesn’t have to choose one or the other. Just use a mixture of them to get better results.

If you are really confused about which one to choose, it is better to find a regular medical institution for evaluation first. If you are just stiff from sitting for a long time, your whole body is tight, and you are afraid of needles, you are right to choose massage first; if the pain is deep, or it involves internal function adjustment, don’t be too resistant to acupuncture. The one that suits you will have the best effect.