What Are the Treatments for Shingles With Acupuncture?

Many people think of chicken pox as a childhood disease, but it never goes away entirely. Such things as aging, injury or stress can trigger its return in later years. It doesn’t come back as chicken pox, though. It comes back as shingles. The blistering shingles rash is always accompanied by pain so acute that the touch of a bed sheet is excruciating. Anti-viral medications can shorten the duration of the rash, but the pain can linger long after the blisters themselves are gone. That’s where acupuncture can help. Traditional Chinese medicine has long recognized its value in treating intractable pain. Acupuncture has even been employed successfully as surgical anesthesia on conscious patients. An acupuncture treatment for shingles is performed by inserting from 15 to 25 extremely thin metal needles into the skin to a depth of about half an inch. Their exact placement will depend on the location of the pain. The needles will remain in place for 20 minutes before being removed. A shingles patient will normally receive six weekly treatments, but some sufferers experience complete relief after as few as two. Acupuncture could be the solution for your own shingles pain. A consultation with a professional acupuncturist can help you find out for sure.