Everything You Need to Know About Acupressure Massage, Therapy & Pressure Points

Let's discuss the importance of Acupressure in our day-to-day life. From helping you in relieving many health problems to finally suggesting the best alternatives, acupressure treatment offers a handful of health benefits on an everyday basis. Below is a list of articles to provide information about the benefits of acupressure treatment. If you hold the interest in acupressure treatment and its uses with astrology, you can read the articles mentioned below.

What is Acupressure?

As many of you are unaware of the history of acupressure treatment. So, here is an overview about acupressure as a traditional practice of Chinese art. It is one of the oldest forms of chinese practice that is still in use today. Acupressure treatment is gaining popularity throughout the world, but there are a handful of nations that have accepted this treatment as an effective and test-trusted practice.

As per a recent survey, there is about 7% of the adult population that has gone through the phase of depression. In addition to the reports, 18% of the people are suffering from anxiety issues even more Americans, stating that they have experienced a prevalence of symptoms in the past few year. According to the latest survey, the issues of depression and anxiety in the United States of America costs you around $210 billion on a yearly basis. While we can roughly get a gist of the expenditure spent on various health problems.

Acupressure is an effective way to help you lead a healthy life, and has been connected to providing some health problems that arise from the issues of depression, stress and anxiety. While we think this issue should be kept on priority, we need to understand that everyone should take some time out or money to invest in the process of acupressure treatment.

The treatment should be practiced by pressing down on certain points on your body. The feather touch can turn your boring and frustrated mood into a joyful one. The mere touch of the hands of practitioner can lift your mood and help you get back to your day. Instead of other indulgences that may provide a momentary elevation in your mood, try acupressure points massage in order to turn a bad day into a cheerful one.

Known to have a smooth path in the practice of Traditional Chinese Medicine or TCM, acupressure is defined as an alternative-medicine practice in which pressure is applied on the body to improve the flow of life force energy. In other words, it is a method of charging the body's self-healing capability to treat various health problems.

Acupressure is same as reflexology, it is also based on the theory of vital energy which says that stress disturbs the flow of life force energy. The practice of reflexology is done on the feet and hands, and the method of acupressure is practiced all over the body. Reflexology, acupressure, acupuncture and are all methods that are believed to activate that life force energy.

You can learn to practice acupressure therapy from a certified specialist. Self-acupressure is can be done with a years of experience and practice, but even if you do it to yourself, you need to pay attention as what points help what and appropriate pressure timing and intensity.

How Does Acupressure Work?

The practitioners of acupressure use their elbows, palms, fingers or feet, or many other special devices to apply pressure on the meridian points of the body. There are times when the method of acupressure involves stretching or acupressure massage, as well as used many other methods.

During the session of acupressure, you are asked to lie fully clothed on a soft massage table. Then the next step is that the practitioner gently presses on acupressure points on your body. The massage treatment usually lasts for about one-two hour. You may also need several sessions for the desired results.

The prime goal of the treatment of acupressure or any other sort of Asian body massage is to restore balance of the body. There is also one more reason why we need to take the help of acupuncture treatment i.e. to regulate opposing forces of yang (positive energy) and yin (negative energy). There are some people who claim that acupressure not only regulates the level of energy fields but also controls your body, mind, emotion and soul. While there are some who believe that therapists have the power to transmit the vital energy to another person.

Acupressure Use in Ayurveda

Known to have a long history in Traditional Chinese Medicine, the acupressure treatment is also used in Ayurvedic Medicine. As many people are unaware about the fact that Ayurvedic acupressure is also known as Marma therapy and it can also be called as an ancient Indian practice that uses the purpose of healing human body. Prana in ayurveda is like qi or chi in TCM. For your information, Marma therapy uses 107 acupressure points, which are said to be access points to your mind, body and consciousness.

What is an Acupressure Point?

Also known as pressure point, acupressure point can be defined as a point on the body to which pressure is applied for therapeutic purposes.

What Are Common Acupuncture Points?

There are a handful of acupuncture points on the body -- hundred in numbers. Below are three acupuncture points that are mainly used by best-in-industry acupuncturists and acupressure practitioners:

• Spleen 6 (SP-6): This is about three finger widths above your inner ankle bone.
• Liver 3 (LR-3): It is located on the top of your foot up from the space between your big toe and next toe.
• Large intestine 4 (LI 4): This is in the soft, fleshy space between your thumb and forefinger.

What is an Acupressure Chart?

An acupressure chart is basically a pressure point chart. It shows all the points of the entire body that are also known as acupressure points. They can get pressed for curing various health concerns. To put in a nutshell, an acupressure chart is defined as the 12 main meridians of the body.

What is a Meridian?

An energy level through which energy or qui flows in the human body. There are a handful of channels in the human body that connects to major organ systems such as the kidney, liver and heart. Each meridian is consist of acupressure and acupuncture points along its path.

What is Acupressure Massage?

Acupressure massage is defined as a form of massage in which pressure is applied to specific pressure points of the body. This massage is also defined as a shiatsu massage. Talking about Shiatsu massage, it originates in Japan, and the goal of this massage is to remove blockages in the body by stimulating meridian points to help you activate life force energy in the body helping you feel better in both a physical, mental, and psychological term.

There are a handful of shiatsu practitioners who are widely known for their extraordinary practice. If you want to experience shiatsu massage, then you need to look for the best-in-industry shiatsu practitioners who are famous for their shiatsu massage practice. They know where to put more of an emphasis on the body's meridian lines and what intensity is used to press pressure points. In addition to their talent and years of practice, the fingers of shiatsu experts are likely to move in such a manner that their elbows, fists, knuckles, and even feet are best to apply pressure.

You may be surprised to know that acupressure or acupressure therapy can help you in a handful of different ways. You may also take interest in reading myriad of benefits of acupressure massage treatment. Here we are the top health benefits of acupressure therapy that can help you lead a healthy life. Acupressure is a popular traditional Chinese medicine, these days also used as alternative medical therapy. Acupressure is a technique or a group of techniques derived from acupuncture. With this therapy, physical pressure is applied to acupuncture points by hand, elbow and other important devices.

The Benefits of Acupressure

Acupressure is an essential scientific therapy and has gain immense popularity in many Western Countries for pain management, fatigue and treating other particular injuries. Therapists generally apply fingers, hands, wrists reducing pain from the body.

• Acupressure is very effective in minimizing musculoskeletal pain, and other joint pain, back pain, neck pain.
• This treatment is very helpful in reducing fatigue.
• Acupressure therapy is widely used most of the time in relieving pain as well as discomfort related to sports or athletics.
• Acupressure is good for nausea, sometimes related to pregnancy, spinal anesthesia, post-chemotherapy.
• Acupressure therapy is helpful to reduce arthritis pain. These days, the majority of people use various devices, like acupressure mat for alleviating back pain.
• Acupressure benefit is known to have during pregnancy. It also helps in reducing back pain, morning sickness and also labor pains.
• Studies have found that acupressure therapy is good for reducing chronic back pain, mostly upper and lower back pain.
• Weight loss is a generally issue these days, millions of people in the world suffering from over-weight issues. You can take acupressure therapy for losing weight.
• Acupressure therapy is good for lifestyle diseases.

Differences between Acupressure and Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a system of complementary medicine that uses needles on specific parts of the body, which are also considered as the lines of energy or meridians. Accupressure on the other hand, is an alternative medicine technique that is based on the philosophy of life energy that goes through the meridians in the body.

The word "acupressure" sounds exactly the word "acupuncture", but you may be amazed to know that this natural therapy doesn't relies on the use of needles. It is true that Acupressure treatment uses the same points on the body as acupuncture, but the philosophy comes from traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), the practice involves massage of the patient using the hands.

Acupressure points and acupuncture points are the same and both the practices use the same meridian lines. The huge difference is that acupressure applies bodily pressure to the points while acupuncture stimulates the points with needles. This pressure can differ from gentle touch to firm pressure. The aim of the treatment is to optimize energy flow in the body through the release of blockages.

There are a handful of health benefits of acupressure that include reduce body pain, face wrinkles, relaxes your body, reduces the need to take painkillers, heal faster, encourage blood circulation level, relieve tension muscles and prompt your body. It is considered as one of the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) used throughout the world. The whole process of acupressure is done with the help of palms, thumbs, and fingers on certain parts of the body.

There are a handful of health benefits of acupuncture that include relief from anxiety, depression, headache, migraine, obesity, sleeping disorders, postoperative pain, nausea, chronic pain and arthritis. It is considered as one of the popular practice used throughout the world. The whole process of acupuncture is all about penetrating the skin with small needles at certain points on the body. This helps in opening up certain nerve ending points of the body and help in relieving a myriad of health problems.

The Practice of Acupressure Therapy:

• The acupressure treatment is used to activate life force energy in human body. In China, life force energy is defined as qui or chi while in Japan it is defined as ki and in Indian it's called prana.
• Pressing acupressure points is known to stimulate the body's immune, hormonal, lymphatic, and circulatory systems. All in all, it is used to improve body's self healing natural ability.
• This treatment is considered non-invasive and does not involve needles during the process. Plus, it also does not require any additional equipment.
• Acupressure points have been pressed to heal various health problems including chronic pain like back aches, headaches, migraine, PMS, sleep disorders and nausea.
• It is always necessary to educate yourself and other on the practice of acupressure and what acupressure points are used to do which techniques before performing self-acupressure at your homely space or any other place.

Using Acupressure for Self-Care

You can use self-acupressure at home to cure various health conditions:

• Arthritis
• Emotional trauma
• Fibromyalgia
• Hypertension
• Chronic fatigue
• Neck and back pain
• Headaches
• Stress and anxiety

Precautions for Pregnant Women

If you are one of the women, who is pregnant, then there is something important you need to know i.e., the pressure points of the body. They are considered to be off-limits because they may encourage labor pain. A wrong pressing of a pressure point may lead you to face major problems. So, if you pregnant, you should keep a tab on your doctors before going for any acupressure treatment.

Note: Anyone with a serious medical problem or life-threatening condition should consult with their doctor before going for any acupressure treatment.