Eating disorders can impact people in more ways than one, especially affecting a person’s relationship with his/her loved ones. Eating disorder treatment is one way of making the person control the symptoms. An eating disorder has a strange way of engulfing the person completely. These type of disorders come in varied forms. The most well-known eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, a condition characterized by refusing to maintain a minimally normal body weight; and Bulimia Nervosa, characterized by repeated binge-eating episodes followed by compensatory behaviors such as excessive exercise, fasting, or purging (vomiting, overuse of laxatives or diuretics). Both Anorexia Nervosa and Bulimia Nervosa involve harboring a skewed up perception of one’s weight and body shape.
There is also Binge Eating Disorder (BED), which involves eating large amounts of food (more than is comfortable) without purging behaviors. Regardless of the specific diagnosis, eating disorders can be classified as an emotional struggle surrounding food, and this continuous struggle disrupts your quality of life.
The standard treatment protocol for eating disorders is psychological therapy, nutritional counseling, and medical evaluation, all important elements to thorough care.
How Acupunture Points Helps to Treat Eating Disorders
Chinese medicine is one holistic eating disorder treatment and has been used for thousands of years, and includes acupuncture, herbal medicine, meditation, and massage. Why does it work? Chinese medicine such as acupuncture is invaluable because it caters to the emotional and physical discomfort of a person.
Eating disorders lead to many health problems in the cardiac, gastrointestinal, and endocrine systems. It may disrupt your digestive system and cause problems such as nausea, abdominal bloating, constipation, diarrhea, abdominal discomfort, Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS), and acid reflux. These problems can make it more difficult getting back to healthy and normalized eating and stop you from getting back to your normal routine.
Acupuncture can help reduce the distress of recovery, enabling the body to recover. Chinese medical theory, believes that damage done to the organs and meridians of digestion leads to eating orders. Treatment helps restore flow and function. This holistic practice addresses symptoms such as nausea, abdominal bloating, diarrhea, constipation, and reflux.
Besides physical complaints, people suffer from emotional tendencies and imbalances which are an integral part of eating disorders. The mental and emotional distress is absolutely agonizing. There are emotional problems such as irritability, anxiety, depression, obsessive symptoms, insomnia, social withdrawal, and impulsivity. So, the first step towards wellness is reaching a state of mental and physical relaxation.
There are a few key acupuncture points to treat eating disorders. Work on these points to get better and recover faster. You can try at least one or two points to help recover fast.
Top Acupunture Points to Treat Eating Disorders
1. Point CV12
Find this point midway between the belly button and the bottom of the breastbone. While you reach the midline of the abdomen, the point is 5 finger width above the belly button.
It can treat acute abdominal pain, pain due to overeating, vomiting, sour stomach, gastric pain, belching, regurgitation, dysentery, diarrhea, distention of the abdomen due to flatulence and hiatal hernia.
2. Point ST36
Locate this point four finger widths below the kneecap, right outside of the shinbone.
This point has incredible benefits as it strengthens the whole body and also helps relieve allergies. It can help boost up energy, gastric pain, knee pain, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal distention, constipation, dizziness, mental fog and disorders, diabetes, poor digestion of proteins and carbohydrates, schizophrenia, arteriosclerosis, breast abscess, mastitis, pain and swelling in the breast, and side effects of radiation and chemotherapy.
3. Point SP6
This point is located on the leg, four fingers-width right above the inner ankle bone. It has some amazing benefits for health problems such as irregular menstruation, abdominal distention, loose stools with undigested food, clinical depression, uterine bleeding, amenorrhea, impotence, immune deficiency disorders, chronic fatigue, regulate hormone function, low sperm, sterility in men and women, low sexual desire in men and women, warts, pain in the external genitalia, varicose veins, hemorrhoids, PMS, insomnia, hot flashes, cold limbs, and treats radiation and chemotherapy side effects in cancer patients.
4. Point LI4
This point is located at the highest spot of the muscle, right on the back of the hand that protrudes when the thumb and index finger come together. Right between the thumb and index finger, approximately one body inch right above the web of the fingers.
The acupuncture point can help relieve pain and inflammation in the hand, shoulder, wrist, elbow, and neck. This acupuncture point can treat health problems such as headaches, red eye, pain in the eye, nose bleed, facial swelling, toothache, sore throat, fever, abdominal pain, constipation, delayed menstrual cycles, absence of menstruation in young women without pregnancy and other gynecological problems. This point helps balance the energy in the body and deal with the side effects of radiation and chemotherapy in cancer patients.
5. Point LI11
This acupuncture point is located right at the top, at the outer end of the elbow crease. Try to bend your arm, press your thumb into the hollow located right on the top and the outer end of the elbow crease, just above the elbow, between the elbow joint and the muscle.
This versatile acupuncture point boasts of tons of benefits for conditions such as diarrhea, food allergies, hives, vomiting, dysentery, fever, sore throat, pain in the elbow and arm, tennis elbow, and balances the energy in cancer patients. This is a miraculous point for treating allergies, inflamed skin disorders (such as hives and rashes), itching, and fevers.
6. Point P6
This point is located three finger width right above the wrist crease on the palmar side.
This point has numerous benefits such as treating nausea, palpitations, increasing appetite, vomiting, mental disorders, chest pains – emotional and physical, decreases panic attacks, stops several kinds of addictions such as alcohol, food, and drugs; helps with poor memory, and fights side effects of radiation and chemotherapy.
7. Point Ear Shenmen
This point is located at the bifurcation point of upper and lower arms of the triangular fossa, slightly veering towards the lateral side.
This point has some amazing benefits too such as it helps stop smoking, overeating, propagates a calm mind and removes nervousness; it’s a point particularly useful for people going for exams and interviews.
It always helps if you go on sipping warm water after the massage, to get rid of toxic substances in your body.
Note: You should always consult with an eating disorder therapist or a healthcare professional before practicing Acupuncture or starting any diet, exercise, Chinese herbs or various other supplementation programs.
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