ACUPUNCTURE IS SO GOOD AT CONTROLLING PAIN.
brain perceives the pain.” These needles have the ability to regulate hormones, stimulate damaged nerves, break up scar tissue and heal the body from the inside out, so life can continue pain free.
When living with chronic pain, especially in the back, you begin to believe that this is it. This will be my life. And there are many people who are unable to be present in their lives because their minds are tethered to chronic pain. Recovery takes work, and releasing pain is a synchronistic activity: The mind needs to let the pain go so acupuncture can accelerate healing.
Dr. Brian Healy of Fort Myers Acupuncture and Massage, where I continue my acupuncture treatments today, reinforces the idea that that the mindbody connection is important in quelling pain. “Acupuncture is so good at controlling pain because it has been shown to increase the body’s ability to produce endogenous opioids (i.e., opium-like substances the body creates itself). We generate our own 'Valium' and all sorts of different chemicals. Whether it is the result of an acupuncture treatment or the result of a belief system, it’s the same end result. People go through guided visualizations of their body healing, and their body heals.”
I am as still as possible, lying here on the table, envisioning the pain being pulled away from me like sticky black tar. I also visualize my body without back pain, running with my dog, picking up shells on the beach and sitting again at my easel.
Life can continue without chronic pain.