Acupuncture for Golf

Getting ready to hit the links?

 2019 Golf Pre-Season

Acupuncture Treatment Plan

 Benefits of acupuncture for golf include:

 Increased rotational flexibility… it’s all in the hips!

Increased range of motion

 Loosening of tight muscles

Increased Focus

Increased Presence and mindfulness

Decreased stress

Booking now for the 2019 Pre-Season

Pre-Season plan consists of 3 or 6 specifically tailored treatments for optimizing your body & mind for the upcoming golf season. Limited availability.

Appointments available Monday - Saturday

Understanding the Seasons & Your Body- Happy Autumn Equinox!

The summer sun has faded and our schedules are back into full-time mode. The kids are back in school, summer Friday's are over (RIP!), and the days are slowly getting shorter.

With this change in our routine also comes a change in the season. ENTER Autumn Equinox!

Some of you might be thrilled that the temperature has begun to decline, and some of you are already counting down the days until your next beach vacation. Whichever season you prefer, here's some advice for preparing your body and mind for a productive fall season ahead. 

1. Let it Go - Traditional Chinese Medicine classifies autumn as the season to let things go. It's time to reflect, recenter, and rid ourselves of the things in our lives that no longer serve our purpose. Try a deep autumn house cleaning to make your surroundings less cluttered, cleaner, and more organized for the upcoming winter months. Consider donating old clothing or possessions you don't use anymore.  Are you experiencing any stressful or negative emotions that you're having trouble with letting go?  Now is the perfect time to achieve better balance in your life by ridding yourself of grudges, stresses, judgments, and anxieties. 

2. Strengthen for the winter months ahead- Are you the type of person who gets a cold every fall when the weather starts to change? Now is the time to stock up on warm and nourishing foods that we tend to neglect in the summer. These include root veggies, soups, stews, nuts, and spices such as ginger, cinnamon, garlic, and cloves. By incorporating these simple ingredients into your diet, you can help boost your immune system and protect your body from colds, viruses, and the flu. 

3. Cover up- Once the temperature starts to drop it's imperative to keep our bodies warm and protected. Say goodbye to flip flops & tanks, and hello to your favorite scarf. Stay properly covered, especially when exercising outdoors. Sweating exposes our bodies to the elements, leaving us vulnerable to colds, flus, and viruses. 

Acupuncture is wonderful way to stimulate the immune system and assist the body in ridding itself of not only colds and viruses, but also negative energy that can keep us feeling held back. Flow Point Acupuncture offers comprehensive treatments unique to your body's needs for this fall season. Feel free to contact us with any questions about how acupuncture can help you strengthen your body & mind, and most importantly, let it go!

Treating Anxiety with Acupuncture

We've all felt it before- suddenly our heart races and we begin to panic. Or it feels like there is a frog in your throat. Anxiety- a very common disorder, can be mild or debilitating. Work, relationships, and overall quality of life can be negatively impacted if anxiety is not managed. 

Some of the most common symptoms of anxiety include:

• Feelings of unease, worry or fear
• Inability to relax
• Insomnia
• Confusion
• Dizziness
• Palpitations
• Shortness of breath 

Feeling these symptoms once in a while is normal. However, when they start to interfere with your day-to-day functioning and happen consistently, it might be a sign of deeper issues such as phobias, panic disorders, post-traumatic stress, or a generalized social anxiety. 

Mainstream treatments for anxiety include psychotherapy and certain medications. If you're looking to try an alternative to traditional therapy that is drug free and has very little side effects, acupuncture might be for you. 

How does acupuncture work for anxiety? 

Quite simply, acupuncture works by regulating the central nervous system, thereby releasing "feel good" hormones called endorphins. Endorphins act as the body's natural painkillers, which can help calm the mind promote an overall feeling of well-being. 

Acupuncture also has profound effects on releasing tense muscles. Often times when we are anxious the first physical response our body has is to tense up, resulting in very tight muscles. When our muscles are relaxed our mind becomes more relaxed as well. 

Furthermore, clinical research has shown acupuncture's positive effects on treating anxiety. For example, a 2007 study found that the patients in the trial receiving acupuncture felt less anxious, less depressed, had fewer cravings for substances and were better able to resolve difficulties than the control group.

If you're wondering whether acupuncture might be right for treating your anxiety, call us at 732-889-9228 to talk further. 

How Acupuncture Can Help Your Back Pain

Many of our patients have issues in their backs- lower, upper, middle- you name it! Whether it is muscular or structural, back pain is an extremely common, and often debilitating ailment. Traditional medicine often prescribes muscle relaxers or over-the-counter pain medicine to help with back pain symptoms. However, such treatments do not address the root cause of what's causing pain in the first place, and therefore symptoms do not go away.

"31 million Americans experience back pain at any given time. Low back pain is the single leading cause of disability world wide"- acatoday.org

How can acupuncture help your back pain? First, acupuncture helps promote circulation and helps to prevent or release muscles from become "stuck". A common technique used in back pain treatment involves releasing tight bands of muscle fibers that are causing pain and inflammation. Once these muscle fibers have a chance to relax, so too will your pain!

Furthermore, back pain can also be exacerbated by stress. Have you ever noticed that when you are overworked, overtired, and just feeling overall stressed out that your back muscles start to act up? In addition to working directly on the muscles, acupuncture promotes a deep sense of relaxation and calm. Less stress= less pain!

A healthy lifestyle is key to maintaining good spinal health. Call us at 732-889-9228 to see whether your back pain might benefit from acupuncture treatment!

How Acupuncture Can Help Your Sleep

In the sleep series Part 1 we discussed a few tips on how to better manage your sleep. Part 2 will discuss acupuncture's role in helping to regulate sleep. 

Clinical research proves that acupuncture plays a beneficial role in sleep quality. How does an acupuncture treatment achieve this?

The first step will be identifying what's causing you to have bad sleep in the first place. For many people this could be: stress related, digestion related, medication related, environmentally related, etc.  

A thorough intake will help us reveal what's going on internally. Once the "root" of the issue is identified, a unique treatment plan is developed to meet your body's needs. 

So what happens when your lying down and relaxing with the acupuncture needles? Acupuncture stimulates the parasympathetic response of the body, thereby promoting our essential "rest and digest" function. The parasympathetic nervous system promotes relaxation and general feelings of calm and well being.  

In addition, by focusing the treatment on the root cause of the sleep disturbance, we can address the culprit and treat it so that the pattern of bad sleep does not continue. 

Furthermore, research shows that acupuncture increases natural melatonin secretion and reduces anxiety and insomnia. Those patients who participated in the study and received acupuncture were able to fall asleep faster, were less stressed, and felt less awake at night.  

The positives?

Acupuncture does not require the use of any drugs or medications that could have potentially harmful side effects. Your body will be led to self-regulate itself, helping to prevent the unhealthy sleep triggers to happen in the first place. 

Want to know more about acupuncture? Check out some of the most frequently asked questions.

How Sleep Can Affect Your Health and What You Can Do About it: The Sleep Series Part 1

Raise your hand if you've ever hit that 3pm slump? As your eyes become heavier, and your gaze slowly creeps toward the coffee machine.... 

How many hours of sleep did you have the night before?

Sleep is essential for proper brain activity. When we hit the pillow and drift off into a deep restful state our body is recharging for the next day ahead. 

Countless studies prove that a good night's sleep can improve your learning and enhance your creative and problem solving skills. When we have a good night's sleep we can pay attention more clearly and make more sound decisions. 

Lack of sleep takes a toll on our system, going so far as to alter brain activity. When we're sleep deprived we can act irrationally, have a tough time making decisions, forget things, and can even become depressed or anxious. 

The solution? Get more sleep and get better sleep.

How? 

1. Make a bedtime routine: Having a ritual beginning 30-60 minutes before hitting the sac can help start the process of calming the mind and preparing for rest. Try listening to classical music, doing a simple guided meditation, or reading a book. Each of these activities should be done separate from your bedroom so that your bed becomes exclusively associated with sleep. 
2. Put down the phone, shut off the TV:  Electronic devices such as cell phones, computers, and TVs emit blue light, which studies prove interfere with your sleep cycle.  Try limiting your time on electronic devices as your bed time approaches. If it's simply not possible to cut them out all together, try lowering the brightness or adjust the blue light settings which can be accomplished through some some electronics.  
3. Eat two to three hours before bed: Maintaining a healthy diet can help greatly improve your sleep quality. Avoid sugary, caffeinated, spicy, or acidic foods too close to bed time. 
4. Meditate: Research continuously shows the powerful impact that meditation has on our stress, clarity, and sleep quality. Crafting a daily meditation habit will help you stay focused, relaxed, and present throughout your day. Not sure where to start? Check out some of the best meditation apps of 2017.

Beginning with these 4 tips can help start a positive shift in your sleep routine.

How can acupuncture help with sleep function?

Stay tuned for The Sleep Series Part 2