Learning new ways to help ease and treat the painful swelling and stiffness of arthritis is always catching my attention since most cases start in people between 40 and 60, with more women than men affected. An article in the Fall 2023 Boom Magazine in Athens, Georgia has been a great source of information. There are two main types: Osteoarthritis and Rheumatoid Arthritis, and treatment with acupuncture can help increase blood flow and expedite healing with procedures that are quick and painless (30 to 45 minutes). While symptoms can develop gradually or suddenly, the pain can come and go or persist over time.
Osteoarthritis is the wear and tear of your joint’s cartilage which can cause changes in the bones and deterioration of the connective tissues that attach muscle to bone and hold the joint together. Rheumatoid arthritis is where the immune system attacks the lining of the joint capsule (the synovial membrane), which then becomes inflamed and swollen.
Nancy Sencil is an acupuncturist with 5 Points Acupuncture in Athens Georgia who performs a physical exam to check for swollen joints and loss of motion so she can customize a comprehensive treatment plan, customized for your arthritis symptoms. She says “I began reading about Chinese Medicine/Acupuncture and a whole new way of looking at health, wellness, disease, aging, and longevity opened up for me. I fell in love with acupuncture and started a journey which led to Acupuncture school and continues to this day. My focus now is helping people with chronic conditions have greater vitality, less pain, more mobility, less risk of falls, and feeling more like themselves. In short, happier, more active lives, as people harvest the rewards of their senior years.”
As the ancient practice of acupuncture started in China approximately 3,000 years ago, the results have long been documented to re-establish health, so if you haven’t given it a try yet… why not now?