Based on a clinical study done by University of Gothenburg researchers in Sweden, women suffering from PCOS (polycystic ovary syndrome) can greatly benefit from physical exercise and acupuncture.
Polycystic ovary syndrome is a condition caused by a disorder in the endocrine glands causing it to produce an excess of male hormones. Up to 10 percent of women of childbearing years suffer from PCOS. Some of its symptoms include excess hair growth, dark skin patches, weight gain (sometimes excessive), acne, and severe pelvic pain. People with PCOS usually also suffer from infertility. Longstanding complications can bring about high blood pressure, heart disease, type II diabetes, and endometrial cancer.
Comparing Western and Eastern Solutions to PCOS
For PCOS, Western doctors usually prescribe hormonal therapies such as contraceptive pills to make menstrual cycles more regular. Based on the patient’s symptoms, doctors may also recommend drugs to lower insulin levels. Physicians may suggest laparoscopic ovarian drilling for women who have problems conceiving. This is an outpatient procedure and it involves puncturing the ovary’s outer layer with an electrode to improve the chances of ovulation and to reduce the production of the male hormone, androgen.
Still there is another more natural and safer option. The Swedish study showed that menstrual bleeding patterns and hormonal levels in PCOS sufferers got a lot better in groups that were either treated with acupuncture treatments or did exercise three times a week than the control group that that didn’t received any treatment.
The results of the study indicated that acupuncture and exercise and can help women with PCOS avoid drugs and surgery.
Why Acupuncture Works
Traditional Chinese Medicine which acupuncture is a part of sees diseases and conditions as manifestations of imbalances and blockages to the flow of chi or life energy that may arise in one of the seven organ systems: liver-gallbladder; heart-small intestine; spleen- stomach –pancreas; kidney–bladder -adrenal; pericardium-triple warmer ; and lung-large intestine. Those organ systems form energetic partnerships within the body. The chi moves throughout the body via channels called meridians in a similar way to blood in the circulatory system. People who have been trained in TCM therapy resolve any imbalance as an interaction between these systems.
According to TCM, any condition affecting the reproductive system is associated with kidney chi, the job of the acupuncturist is balance that through the use of herbs and acupoints attached to the kidney. The adrenals are usually over-stimulated in PCOS conditions, causing the person to experience “the fight or flight response, that can be due to a constant state of low-grade stress. Also, the blood and liver chi tend to be stagnant causing chi deficiency in the pancreas /spleen.
For ovarian cysts, practitioners may prescribe traditional Chinese herbal formulas to detoxify the patient’s various bodily systems. Diet recommendations as well as determining factors such as like EMF emotional issues and radiation can greatly improve impact the overall health of a person with PCOS.
From the viewpoint of Chinese medicine, Western medicine’s habit of prescribing hormones is actually counterproductive. The Chinese pathologies related to PCOS can exacerbate when pills are taken in the long term. Caution needs to be taken when using other commonly used products since they can negatively impact potentially aggravating PCOS and other hormone-related condition such as PCOS. It’s important to avoid pesticides since they can act like a synthetic hormone that can throw the body off balance.
Get Moving
Both exercise and acupuncture are very helpful in the treatment of PCOS. As a standalone or complementary type of treatment acupuncture in Bellingham helps a lot in resolving PCOS symptoms but to maintain the benefits, you need to exercise as well.