Acupressure

What do you guys know about this? Does it work? Worth trying? Can you do it yourself?

Accupressure when done right, can be really good. its a form/relative of shiatsu. Eastern philosophy sort of stuff.

Basically the body has channels/meridians through which energy flows. By touching/manipulating specific points on these meridians, it is thought to help a variety of symptoms depending on where they are located.

I learned some in massage therapy school last year. Would have liked to have learned a lot more.

for me, I found if only parts of the full accupressure routine were done, I'd get really angry and tense like stuff needed to be let out. Also it helps if you can relax with people touching you in a non-sexual way like massage.

Feel free to IM me in world or email me at [email]cserpentine@comcast.net[/email] ifyou want more info.

I'll try and post some good links.

I only do accupressure on my pee-pee. At least thats what I call it.

Again, I am reminded of why I avoid you in-world now.

When I was in school there was a visiting professor in the department of anesthesiology from China, an accupuncturist. I watched him "anesthetize" a patient for major surgery with nothing but accupuncture. Really.

I assume that accupressure, done correctly, is based on the same theories, so after that experience I'd certainly consider it if I had the need.

Maggie

Hmmph! You can't avoid me if I'm never there.

Since you didn't finish the story I have to ask: did it work?

I've experienced a little acupressure and it seemed to work on the principle of creating discomfort to distract from greater discomfort. Seems to work well enough for nausea but if I'm going to have major surgery I want three kinds of gas and a giant cartoon mallet to the head.

My brother is an accupuncturist, and he also does herbalism, massage, and a few other things.

I don't know about accupressure, tho i do think that it's based on the same principals as accupuncture. I have had accupuncture for various things, and at least 90% of the time it has worked, tho it wasn't for anything major at all, just colds aches and pains etc.

i'd say it's worth trying Darwin, but i wouldn't try it yourself.

Acupuncture is mostly a bunch of crap.
It's based on the ancient philosophy of primitive eastern people that knew no real science.
However, real science has shown that you can release the body's own anesthetics (endorphins) through acupuncture. Right now the field of acupuncture is sort of torn between oriental crackpot philosophies and cold hard science. Give it a couple of decades and maybe someone will come up with an efficient method of releasing our body's own anesthetics, that is totally unrelated to silly ancient philosophies.
I dont know anything about acupressure but I would wager it's the same effect.
Oh, btw, take this endorphin mumbo jumbo with a grain of salt. You can probably induce a greater release of endorphin through a good old fashioned wank

Well, you can releasing endorphines from listening to music or eating, really.

Here's the jist of what I emailed Darwin about Acupressure.


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Here is some acupressure information. I've got some book sources, a few web links, and some class notes.
My background - I went to CCMT - CT Center for Massage Therapy. Graduated in Dec 2003. In the process of getting my license in CT. I did a 5 semester (aprox 640 class hours) of combined theory and hands on classwork. Our 5th semester had an acupressure class. I did not particularily like acupressure, but that was mostly because I was having a really bad personal time during that period.
The way we learned acurpressure was to do routines based on the meridians of the body, and then incorporating it into our own massage routines.

For the book sources I would suggest trying to get them through interlibrary
loan through your local public library. If you are in school, then your college
library interlibrary loan department. (I say this because I work in libraries
fulltime)

Book sources:

Acupressure for Common Ailments by Chris Jarney and John Tindall
(Fireside/Simon&Schuster, c1991, ISBN 0671731351, $12.95)
- This is an excellent book. Seems short but it has a great deal of information about some of the theory.

Tsubo : Vital Points for Oriental Therapy by Katsusuke Serizawa
(Japan Publications Inc., c1998, ISBN 087040900X, $25.00)
- A good book explaining the idea of 'tsubos', which are vital points along the meridians. Shows just about all the points on the body and how to effectively manipulate them. It is a good accessory book to 1st one I listed.

Shiatsu : the Complete Guide by Chris Jarney and Gabriel Mojay
(Thorsons/HarperCollins, 1999, ISBN 0722539142, $19.95)
- Another book by Chris Jarney. We used this for our acupressure class instead of the other one he wrote (annoyed me.) It's a very good shiatsu book, but keep in mind shiatsu is a bit different from acupressure. Some of the verbage is the same but it is more of a routine of massage.

Bodywork Shiatsu by Carl Dubitsky
(Healing Arts Press, c1997, ISBN 0892815264, $24.95)
- Another Shiatsu book, but a good read on the subject.


Some places to look on the web for information:

-General Massage Information:
American Massage Therapy Association
http://www.amtamassage.org/infocenter/home.html

-Nationally known school of acupressure:
Acupressure Institute (Berkeley, CA)
http://www.acupressure.com/



I think the best way to explain the difference between acupressure and shiatsu, is that acupressure is pressing specific points along a meridian usually in a more focused way (and usually with more pressure) than shiatsu.

The Meridians are :
Lu Lung (Yin)
LI Large Intestine (Yang)
St Stomach (Yang)
Sp Spleen (Yin)
H Heart (Yin)
SI Small Intestine (Yang)
B Bladder (Yang)
K Kidney (Yin)
HP Heart Protector (Yin)
TH Triple Heater (Triple Burner TB) (Yang)
GB Gall Bladder (Yang)
Li Liver (Yin)
CV Conception Vessel (Yin)
GV Governing Vessel (Yang)

Basically the meridians are energy or Qi pathways in the body.
Yin meridians start at the feet and go up the body, since Yin energy comes from the earth. Yang meridians are numbered from the head downwards since Yang energy comes from the sun. The Conception Vessel is the Yin qi reservoir from which the others draw from, the Governing Vessel is the Yang qi reservoir from which the others draw from.

some attributes of the meridians:
http://altmedangel.com/acumerid.htm

an okay page of information (not the greatest)
http://www.crystalinks.com/acupressure.html

general shiatsu/acupressure info:
http://www.holistic-online.com/shiatsu/hol_shiatsu_intr.htm

this one shows some points and has some info on acupressure:
http://www.compwellness.com/eGuide/acupre.htm
If you want more information just email me and I'll go over what each meridian is thought to do and its significant points.

Also, if someone mentions trigger points, they are something related but completely different.

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I'm a very skeptical person about eastern or western 'sacred teachings,' 'cure-alls', etc. But I find massage as both a giver and receiver to have some very beneficial effects on me and those I've worked on.

Mwa HA HA, there you go again! My trigger point is my pee-pee!