Just thirty miles east of London is an area known as Canvey Island, home to about 30,000 people. Canvey Island’s name is a bit misleading – it is separated from the English mainland by a series of creeks, but not exactly an island in the traditional sense of the word.
Canvey Island’s natural beauty made it one of the country’s top resort destinations throughout the 20th century, though these days the town depends more on the petrochemical industry for its income. Canvey Island is also a famous nature preserve, with entire sections of the town devoted to space for various wildlife refuges. Canvey Island is one of the most diverse parts of the UK in terms of the number and variety of animal and insect species, making it a popular spot for bird-watchers and nature-lovers.
Acupuncture therapy is catching on in a big way in the Western world. In just the past two decades, for many people, acupuncture has become an acceptable means of treating many common health conditions, though it has been used for centuries in Asia.
Acupuncture for Arthritis Pain
The National Health estimates that 1 in 5 adults in the UK suffer from some form of arthritis. In a town of 30,000 or so people like Canvey Island, that means a population of about 6,000 arthritis sufferers.
The good news for people in Canvey Island who have pain and difficulty in their daily lives from arthritis is that acupuncture is a simple, safe, and side-effect free alternative to traditional arthritis treatments.
If you have arthritis and you live in Canvey Island, your doctor may put you on a medication regimen or, rarely, some form of physical therapy to increase your range of motion in the afflicted parts of your body. Medication for arthritis is notorious for side effects; pharmaceutical painkillers prescribed for arthritis patients can cause sedation, constipation, and even addiction and other serious complications. Rather than take pills for your arthritis, consider having an acupuncture treatments designed to increase blood flow to the parts of your body that are affected.
Studies at the Cleveland Clinic in America have shown significant decreases in pain and discomfort from arthritis in patients who incorporate acupuncture into their medical regimen. In acupuncture treatments for arthritis, fine needles are inserted in specific parts of the body and manipulated, through heat or electricity to encourage the flow of blood to arthritic joints. Pain relief is one of the main benefits of acupuncture therapy, and since most arthritis patients list pain as their chief complaint, it’s easy to see how acupuncture can help soothe a patient suffering from arthritis.
If you’re one of the thousands of Canvey Island citizens suffering from arthritis, and the medication you’ve been prescribed to treat the disease or its symptoms isn’t working or has too many side effects, consider acupuncture therapy. It has been used for thousands of years in Asia to relieve pain, and unlike common Western medical treatments for arthritis, acupuncture doesn’t have side effects or require the expense and hassle of taking a daily medication.
