What is the difference between the effects of acupuncture and massage?

I have been working in the physical therapy industry for almost ten years, and the most common question I encounter is which one to choose between acupuncture and massage. To put it bluntly, the biggest difference in effect between the two is the accuracy and level of action. Acupuncture can directly reach the deep disease points, while the relaxing effect of massage is more towards the superficial and middle soft tissues. Last week I met a girl who works in design. She has been suffering from piriformis syndrome for almost half a month. Her buttocks and legs are numb. She goes for massage every day to relax. She feels comfortable for two hours after each massage. After sitting for half an hour, her heels are numb again. I touched the deep part of her piriformis muscle and there is... There was an obvious hard knot, which happened to be stuck on the sciatic nerve. She inserted it with a 3-inch needle. She said at the time that the numbness went directly to her toes. After leaving the needle for 20 minutes, she got up and walked around twice. She said that the numbness was 80% gone. Later, it consolidated twice and it was completely cured.

Of course, this does not mean that massage is useless. If you have just climbed Huangshan Mountain last week, or ran for ten kilometers, and your muscles are as tight as a tightened towel, and you just want to relax, then the massage experience and instant relaxation effect are much better than acupuncture. There was a girl who ran a marathon last month. After the race, her thighs and calves were as hard as rocks and she couldn't touch them. She didn't dare to prick them for fear of needles. I gently kneaded them for an hour and she was able to squat down and tie her shoelaces when she got up. She said it was much more comfortable than her previous stretch after the race.

There are many different opinions in the industry now. Some people say that as long as the masseur's technique is good enough and the force can penetrate into the deep periosteum and tendons, the effect is no worse than acupuncture. This actually makes sense. I have also met old masters with particularly good techniques. The accuracy of pressing deep trigger points is no worse than that of a needle, but after all There are few such masters. It is difficult for most ordinary massages to bypass the surface muscles and accurately hit the deep compression points that are only the size of a needle tip. After all, the contact surface of the hand is much thicker than the needle, and the force is easily dispersed on the surrounding soft tissue. To achieve the same amount of stimulation, it is easy to rub the surface muscles to ache. To use a very simple analogy, you can think of the muscle fascia on our body as more than a dozen layers of cotton wool stacked together. The surface layers are kneaded into lumps, and they can be loosened by rubbing them with your hands. If the cotton wool in the layer closest to the bones is tangled into small knots, , it also got stuck on the thin nerve that passed through the middle. I couldn't touch the knot even after pressing it for a long time. Now I used a thin needle to prick it gently, which was just enough to break open the knotted knot. The surrounding cotton wadding couldn't touch it at all, and the accuracy was much higher.

There is no need to separate the two so far. In many cases, we will combine them. For example, for patients with stiff neck, first loosen the tense trapezius muscles on the surface, and then insert two needles into the deep spasm points to get better faster. If you only have tight muscles after sitting for a long time without any clear tingling or radiating pain, massage is enough. Lie down comfortably for an hour and your whole body will feel relaxed. ； If you have been in pain for a long time, have clear pain points, or even have numbness in your arms and legs, and are restricted in your movements, then acupuncture will most likely take effect faster. Of course, there are also many people who are naturally afraid of needles and feel dizzy when they see them. There is no need to bear it. Find a masseur with good skills and massage it a few times to achieve similar results. However, the treatment may only take two or three days. There is no standard answer to physical therapy. The best one is the one that suits you.