Tinnitus is a widespread symptom. From the point of view of Chinese medicine, the cause may be a pathological excess of energy or an energetic void.
Doctors of Chinese medicine perform an extensive questioning, tongue and pulse diagnosis and then assign the symptoms to a syndrome. Then the symptoms can be treated with needle or laser acupuncture.
How do Chinese medicine explains tinnitus?
Tinnitus is an increasing problem in the population. Almost everyone has experienced ringing in the ears. It whistles, beeps, hums or buzzes for a moment in the ear.
This is quite normal. It only becomes pathological when the ringing in the ears is perceived permanently or repeatedly over a longer period of time. Tinnitus usually develops between the ages of 40 and 50.
Although it can occur at any age, the probability increases with age. The number of young patients has been increasing for several years due to leisure activities that are exposed to noise.
It is worthwhile to consult a doctor of Chinese medicine with these complaints.
Can acupuncture treat tinnitus?
Can acupuncture treat tinnitus? The short answer is: yes. But it can only treat tinnitus caused by specified causes, such as blood circulation problems. Well, everyone can deduce that acupuncture can’t cure tinnitus caused by stress.
In general, acupuncture is intended to bring the flow of human energy (called qi) into healing channels. The Cun, which is based on the width of the practitioner’s thumb, serves as a measure for locating the acupuncture points.
Diagnostically, the disturbed energy flow is first recorded. For this purpose, taking a medical history and assessing the tongue and pulse precede acupuncture for tinnitus.
The success of acupuncture for tinnitus is difficult to determine using conventional methods.
However, there is no doubt that a positive influence on tinnitus sensation is possible, and plant symptoms accompanying tinnitus symptoms (such as sleep and attention disorder) can be influenced in a favorable way by acupuncture and moxibustion.
Don’t miss: What pains can be treated with acupuncture?
Implementation of acupuncture for tinnitus
In the course of acupuncture for the treatment of tinnitus, the acupuncture needle is inserted into the skin at the appropriate points and, if necessary, additionally heated. In the case of additional heating of the acupuncture needle, it is called moxibustion.
In the case of acute tinnitus, acupuncture is embedded in the “conventional medical” diagnosis and therapy and serves as an accompanying treatment.
Acupuncture is a useful supplement, for example, as a support for manual therapy. In the case of chronic tinnitus, ear acupuncture can be particularly helpful in promoting the processing of the complaints. In the context of acupuncture treatment, chronic tinnitus should not be regarded as an isolated symptom, but other complaints and diseases of the patient should also be taken into account and treated if necessary.
Especially in the case of chronic tinnitus, acupuncture treatment should be very individualized and tailored to the individual.
Also read: Acupuncture for migraine: a reliable guide
What is the principle?
Acupuncture works by inserting needles into the skin. It involves working on specific points located on the so-called meridians, lines of energy flow through the body. In acupuncture there are 12 main meridians.
Each meridian refers to a specific organ or functional system in the human body. 361 acupuncture points are located on these meridians, almost as many as there are days in a year. One point is as wide as the thumb of the person being treated.
The doctor or alternative practitioner who performs acupuncture for tinnitus should therefore have a good training in acupuncture.
The principle of action of acupuncture is based on the idea that the needles redirect the flow of energy, also called “Qi”. Thus, tinnitus is not “pricked away”, not even with ear acupuncture.
By the way, this is a relatively new branch of acupuncture, developed by the French doctor Paul Nogier from Chinese acupuncture. In the case of tinnitus, the whole person is positively influenced with the help of a regulation of the energy flow, so that the self-healing powers become active and the tinnitus possibly disappears or at least can be better managed. Ear acupuncture is based on the assumption that the whole person is depicted on the auricle.
Therefore, if the ear is acupunctured, the whole person is treated.
