In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture is very popular. Do you know what acupuncture is used for? What are the precautions for acupuncture? What are the benefits of acupuncture for the body? Let's take a look at the magical effects of acupuncture!
Acupuncture has been widely popular throughout history, and many people like to use it to relieve their physical ailments. But is acupuncture really that amazing? Let's see what the benefits of acupuncture are!
A young man had a blocked ear, and the old Chinese doctor used acupuncture on this point
Last week, a young man came to see me, saying that he suddenly felt his ear was blocked when he woke up in the morning. Until now, it still hasn't eased, and he always feels stuffy inside his ear, as if there is a cotton ball stuck inside. Sometimes, he even feels like he's hearing sounds through a layer of membrane, accompanied by occasional roaring tinnitus, which is very annoying.
I asked him if he had a cold in the past few days, and he nodded, saying that he had been coughing for the past two weeks and also had a runny nose with pus. As he was about to speak, he coughed several times, and his coughing sounded like phlegm coming from his trachea, accompanied by a heavy nasal sound.
After listening to him, I roughly understood his whole course of illness. I prescribed him medication and also used acupuncture on his ear. He instantly felt much better and was instructed to come back after finishing the medication. Three days later, he came for a follow-up visit, and when asked about his recovery, he said he had improved a lot, and his expression was much more relaxed.
This kind of feeling of ear blockage is very common in clinical practice, especially in people who have been coughing and having a runny nose for a long time. In Western medicine, it is called eustachian tube dysfunction, while in Chinese medicine, we call it "ear congestion and ear closure," which is mostly related to inflammation in the respiratory tract.
For example, long periods of coughing, lasting for one or two weeks or even months; or long-term chronic nasal cavity and sinus inflammation, constantly blowing the nose without complete relief in a few weeks, or even months or years. These inflammations from the upper and lower respiratory tracts continuously stimulate the eustachian tube, including behaviors that easily change the pressure of the eustachian tube, such as repeatedly blowing the nose, which can cause eustachian tube dysfunction. When the tube that should open doesn't, you will feel that your ears are closed, blocked, or stuffed. If the eustachian tube on the left side doesn't open, you will feel stuffiness in the left ear, and if the eustachian tube on the right side doesn't open, you will feel stuffiness in the right ear.
Acupuncture can promote the circulation of meridians
From the perspective of traditional Chinese medicine, this situation occurs because the meridians that connect the ears to the nasal cavity and throat are obstructed, and the circulation of Yang Qi in the meridians is hindered. The saying "if it is not open, it is blocked; if it is blocked, it is not open" applies here. If the ear meridians are blocked due to external factors such as wind or cold, the method of dispelling wind and removing cold will be used. If the meridians in the ear are blocked by internal factors such as phlegm or dampness, the method of resolving phlegm and promoting dampness will be used for treatment.
The key point in the treatment of this condition in traditional Chinese medicine is to restore the circulation of Qi and blood in the ear meridians. For patients with a relatively short duration of ear blockage or stuffiness, such as only a few days, using Chinese medicine and acupuncture techniques can achieve good results and often have an effect in a relatively short period of time. However, if the duration is longer and the blockage in the ear meridians is more severe, the treatment time will be relatively longer.
In addition to the above-mentioned issues, the feeling of ear blockage is also commonly caused by blockage of the external ear canal, which is commonly known as "earwax" or "cerumen." If a diagnosis confirms that it is caused by earwax blockage, an ear, nose, and throat specialist should be consulted for assistance, such as cleaning the external ear canal, etc. It is common for people to suddenly experience a feeling of ear blockage after swimming or bathing, which is directly related to the expansion of earwax after being soaked in water.
However, it should be noted that if the feeling of ear blockage persists for a long time, especially if it is very obvious in one ear, and there is fluid accumulation in the ear after examination, it is necessary to consider the possibility of nasopharyngeal cancer or nasal cavity tumors.
