You may want to consider acupuncture to help prepare yourself before and after surgery if you’re planning to have a major operation soon. Major surgeries can imply a considerable rehabilitation period as the process can be quite debilitating. When you have acupuncture before surgery, it may help cut down the time needed for you to fully recover from the surgery and help you get back on your feet in the soonest time possible.
Before Surgery Acupuncture Treatment
What benefit does one get in getting an acupuncture treatment before undergoing a surgical process? Well, some researchers believe that acupuncture has the ability to strengthen the immune system when certain acupuncture points in the body are stimulated. Well, having a very strong and healthy immune system prior to surgery may just help speed up your healing and quicken your recuperation period.
Moreover, acupuncture has been proven to relieve the tension and stress that patients naturally feel prior to an impending surgery and this can aid them both physically and emotionally.
After Surgery Acupuncture Treatment
When you get acupuncture treatment after your surgery, you may be able to recover quicker than people who have not had the benefit of the treatment. Depending on the type of surgery that was performed and the recovery period involved, recovery time may be anywhere from a few weeks to two months shorter.
Of course there may be a number of factors involved that will determine how fast a patient recovers from an operation. There are also various types of rehabilitative processes that can aid in the recovery. One of the most ideal of these rehabilitative treatments is acupuncture as well as physical therapy that may help accelerate recovery and help remove pain as fast as possible.
Acupuncture is so safe that it can be administered a day after surgery. Licensed and qualified acupuncturists use distal acupoints to help boost flow on the surrounding areas where the surgery was done. It can also be used to lessen swelling and relieve pain. Lastly, as with the preoperative acupuncture treatment, postoperative acupuncture works on enhancing the function of the immune system to speed up healing. The best acupuncture treatment results usually involve the inclusion of physical therapy to encourage circulation and blood flow.
For some unknown reasons, the scientific community has not yet conducted extensive studies on acupuncture’s use as a pre-surgery and post-surgery treatment and the scientific evidence supporting the treatment’s benefits for surgery are not well-documented either. As long as it is used in conjunction with other approved therapies it is not likely that acupuncture will pose any harm to a patient. But as with all treatments, you need to talk to your doctor if you’re planning to avail of the treatment for your pre-surgical and post-surgical needs.