How Massage and Acupuncture Compliment Each Other

Massage and acupuncture, two of the oldest treatments in the world, still work to help heal patients today. Although each helps patients with many ailments individually, these two treatments are uniquely suited to work as a team. Together, their complimentary points of attack work to maximize a patient’s healing and pain relief.

massage therapy

Holistic medicine is built on the principles of treating the whole body by addressing underlying issues. Rather than just masking symptoms, holistic medicine helps your body work as a whole to heal itself. It aims to solve the true root of a problem. This requires multiple, natural treatments that work in harmony to support different systems and promote your natural healing abilities. Few treatments work so well together as massage and acupuncture, and even fewer work to combat so many ailments.

Nerves and Muscles


Although massage and acupuncture may seem like similar treatments, in truth, they treat different parts of your body. Massage predominantly treats muscles. It works to relax tight areas that may be putting strain on specific nerves, and helps your body operate the way it was designed to. Acupuncture, on the other hand, treats your nervous system. It can remove blockages and works to manually reset your body’s system. It can solve nerve issues that may tighten muscles and helps your nervous system communicate more efficiently with your entire body. Neither treatment should be especially painful, but each goes a long way to relieve pain. By pairing them, you attack any problem from two points. Since each treatment works with different parts of your body, they each help release different hormones and chemicals. This can solve preexisting issues and help your body recover from a range of issues.

Trigger Your Body’s Healing Process


Your body’s natural healing process kicks into overdrive when it senses damage. By stimulating your body’s pain and pleasure centers through both massage and acupuncture, you jump-start your innate healing abilities. Since neither massage nor acupuncture cause damage, there is no new injury for your body to heal, so that burst of healing energy goes to fight other, preexisting problems. While massage or acupuncture alone could do this to a certain extent, these two treatments work together to give your system the ultimate jump-start.

This practice is particularly effective against pains and problems that are difficult to diagnose, such as hand pain, chronic headaches, and other convoluted maladies. Such pains often arise from a combination of factors, making them impervious to regular treatments. Massage and acupuncture work in tandem with medicine and offer a safe, additional treatment option for those who choose to pursue a varied treatment plan.

If you are currently going through massage or acupuncture treatments, speak to your doctor about adding the other to your treatment plan. These two treatments are safe for the vast majority of patients, no matter what medicines they take, and pairing them offers superior results. Both treatments use external methods to trigger your body’s natural healing process. Together, however, they become far more powerful. Give your body the help it needs and talk to your doctor today.