Just north of Canvey Island is the area of Essex known as Benfleet. The total population of Benfleet, broken up into North and South, is around 60,000 as of the 2001 Census. Benfleet is the second-largest area of Essex, within an hour’s commute of London but situated more closely to the English coastal towns of Southend-on-Sea and Basildon.
Acupuncture treatments were not common in the UK until sometime in the past twenty years, as this traditional Asian medical practice was studied and found to be productive in the treatment of a variety of chronic conditions. Citizens of Benfleet now have easy access to acupuncture therapy for a wide range of diseases and painful conditions. Acupuncture is also becoming a common aspect of treatments for things like fertility and women’s health.
Chronic Pain Acupuncture Treatment
Depending on which study you read, anywhere from 1% to 6% of the UK population suffers from some form of chronic pain, which may be caused by a disease such as diabetes or an injury to the spine or other major nerve center in the body. In Benfleet, those numbers mean a few thousand people deal with chronic conditions that cause pain and discomfort on a daily basis.
Standard Western medicine treatment for chronic pain is a dicey business. For the most part, doctors prescribe various pain medications to mask or hide the symptoms of chronic pain. These medications have a number of side-effects, from damage to the liver to addiction to drowsiness and sedation. In many cases, Western medicine is unable to treat chronic pain sufficiently, or to cure the underlying cause.
Acupuncture therapists have a completely different way of dealing with chronic pain patients. The idea behind acupuncture treatment for chronic pain is to stimulate various parts of the body using fine needles (as well as heat and therapeutic electricity) to increase and regulate blood flow. In many cases, chronic pain patients who receive acupuncture treatments find the source of their pain vanishes entirely; others say acupuncture helps relieve pain better than painkilling drugs and with fewer side effects.
The Science Behind Acupuncture for Chronic Pain
A recent study of 29 different groups of chronic pain patients at Sloan-Kettering Hospital in New York as well as hospitals in the UK and Germany shows that a significant majority of chronic pain sufferers reported decreased pain after acupuncture treatments, some in as few as ten treatments total. As medical science backs up the claims made by acupuncture therapists, who rely on thousands of years of traditional Asian medical practice, citizens of Benfleet who suffer from chronic pain should consider the therapeutic benefits of acupuncture.
Thousands of Benfleet citizens suffer from conditions which cause pain and discomfort every day of their lives and acupuncture can be a useful therapy for those who don’t want to be reliant on pharmaceutical painkillers.
