Is acupuncture for back pain real? Interestingly, whether it is fake or genuine, it can actually work in relieving back pain. Researchers from Germany revealed that the human body may actually react to the stimulus presented by needle pricks, specifically the ultra-thin needles used for acupuncture. Researchers believe that it may either be due to placebo effect or that the pain messages that travel through the nerves are actually blocked by other similar stimuli. In the study, patients reported a reduction in pain and improvement in mobility.
Acupuncture is one of the main branches of traditional Chinese medicine and still commonly recommended for relieving pain, including those caused by inflammatory arthritis and as a tennis elbow treatment. It is also used to help alleviate nervousness and stress.
The actual mechanism that makes acupuncture for back pain work is not clear. Its practitioners believe that acupuncture helps restore the smooth flow of mine, an unseen form of energy that flows throughout the body. When this flow is interrupted or blocked, it results to illness. To restore good health, the fine acupuncture needles are inserted at specific points or 'meridians' in the body that correspond to a particular organ or body part.
In the case of back pain, for example, about 20 needles are used to target specific areas until the patient feels a localized numbing sensation. Sessions are repeated until satisfactory results are achieved. In the aforementioned study, patients experienced improved mobility and pain relief after several weeks of treatment.
Acupuncture is not a cure-all, although it has shown to work in many patients suffering from ailments as varied as inflammatory arthritis, headaches and cramps. It can also be used to complement conventional treatments and therapies. Someone on a lupus diet, for example, may use acupuncture in conjunction with prescribed drugs and treatments. Or someone looking for a tennis elbow treatment may also combine acupuncture with more conventional physical therapy sessions. The key to ensuring safety is seeking treatment only from a trained and licensed acupuncturist and having sufficient understanding about how the treatment works and what its limitations are.
As negotiators at the recent United Nations climate change conference in Cancun wrapped up their work, alone problem concentrating minds enough to secure a partial deal was the spread of disease on the coat-tails of global warming. Infectious diseases are spreading to regions where they were previously absent, driven by warmer temperatures and changing rainfall patterns. Europe and North America have been seeing an increase in cases of West Nile disease, which as the name suggests thrives in tropical and sub-tropical regions. Warmer temperatures are allowing the mosquitoes that carry the disease to roam further north. It’s a similar story for diseases such as dengue fever or tick-borne encephalitis (which causes brain inflammation).
The UK is by no means an exception to this trend. A recent study from the University of Plymouth concluded that the most dangerous climate-change linked threat to Britain’s environmental health could be vector borne diseases (such as Leishmaniasis – carried by the sand fly) which could spread to new areas because of warming temperatures. It concluded: “Environmental change could in turn lead to changes in the epidemiology of communicable disease within the UK.” And there is also the potential for disease being caused by extreme weather conditions, potentially associated with climate change, such as the 2004 flooding in Boscastle, Cornwall, which caused an outbreak of Ecoli 0157. Worldwide, in 2008 the World Conservation Society identified a ‘Deadly Dozen’, 12 animal-borne diseases that may more likely to spread due to climate change. The list includes bird flu, tuberculosis, Ebola, cholera, babesiosis, parasites, Lyme disease, plague, Rift Valley fever, sleeping sickness, yellow fever and red tides (algal blooms).It is well established that climate change is a fundamental factor in the spread of infectious diseases, said Dr Richard Ostfeld, a disease ecologist at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, in New York. The classic example is malaria moving upslope in the East African highlands, in Zimbabwe and Mozambique with the warmer temperatures. Another is dengue, a disease also transmitted by mosquitoes that has been increasing in severity in urban areas in developing countries. If all other factors (such as migration and population) remain constant, the World Health Organization predicts that an additional 2 billion people could be exposed to dengue (also called break-bone fever) by the 2080s. Ostfeld says the case is often made that clean buildings and sanitation will cancel out the effects of climate change on the spread of diseases – an argument he does not agree with “It is misleading to be too sanguine about our infrastructure being able to protect us against diseases,” said Ostfeld. Speaking to Environmental Health News, he cited a West Nile disease outbreak in California during the bursting of the housing bubble to make his point. Mosquitoes began breeding in the slimy green soup in abandoned swimming pools of foreclosed homes. And the H1N1 pandemic is still fresh in the public memory. However, establishing a relationship between disease and environmental factors is a far step from associating those environmental factors with climate change. The cholera epidemic in Haiti is probably related to a rise in temperatures and salinity in the delta where the epidemic began, said Dr David Sack of the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins University, Maryland, USA. But determining the role of climate change is another story. In an article in the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr Emily Shuman agrees that climate has a strong impact on vector-borne and water-borne diseases. Droughts, for example, often cause West Nile disease epidemics because the birds and mosquitoes carrying the disease are driven to scarce water sources, enhancing transmission. The drought also kills off natural predators of mosquitoes. Madeleine Thomson, a senior research scientist at the International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI), also in New York, said the challenge lies in determining whether climate change plays a role in this drought, and what other factors were involved. “The focus of climate change and disease tend to be transmission,” she added. It is important to think about how climate change impacts the poor in developing countries, who are relying on rain-fed agriculture for food and income. Climate change also leads to poverty and food insecurity. Both are major drivers in ill health, which increases susceptibility to infectious diseases. Already inadequate health services in many developing nations will be hard pressed to accommodate an increase in diseases, not to mention the problems that new and unfamiliar diseases will pose. Other studies warn of the possibility of new types of mosquitoes that may be more effective at spreading the disease. Another challenge is the lack of data. There is often not enough long-term disease data. Climate change is measured through mathematical modeling, and may not always be used correctly by scientists studying disease. However, the gap between epidemiologists and meteorologists is closing, with an increase in combined research said Thomson.
As much as there are many success factors to consider in order for you to make it in life, there are those that simply stand the test of time. One ingredient of personal growth is having self esteem. Sir Nathaniel B. once said: To trust one's mind and to know that one is worthy of happiness is the essence of self-esteem.
Which are the most important success factors that define true joy in life? The secret is simple; you only need to prove to yourself that you can. You do not have to prove it to anyone else. You would rather be a fool to the common eye and achieve your goals, than impress others and lose yourself in the process of pleasing others. You do not need to have someone else to tell you that you are strong or beautiful so as to be. Oscar Wilde reiterates that: To love oneself is the beginning of a life-long romance.
In as much as listening carefully to advice is good for you; realize that others may be out to discourage you. Some habits that are detrimental to your personal growth only start from having a low self-conception and self esteem. The victims easily fall prey, owing to the excitement of having someone commend them for doing risky acts, only to regret later. A good success factor to consider, it is better to be alone than in bad company.
It is prudent to know that you do not have to listen to others in order to know who you are or what to do. The big question is, how much then can you believe and trust yourself? This is a call to integrity which is also among the vital aspect of success factors in life. Integrity is the act of doing the right thing even when no one is watching. One Albert Einstein never ceases to inspire for he said; "Few is the number that think with their own minds and feel with their own hearts."
You must never lose yourself even when you encounter problems. The best approach would be to face obstacles head on since they are meant to build you. "Without self-knowledge, without understanding, the working and functions of his machine, man cannot be free, he cannot govern himself and he will always remain a slave." These words belong to G. I. Gurdjeff.
Find more detailed Success Factors by following the links below.
Students’ society is a special organization of young people united not just in accordance with the program, but also to interests, lifestyle, and others. The student’s subculture is a state inside another country. It has its individual traditions, and an unofficial administration. It functions in accordance with certain principles.
The Problem of International Relations
There was an issue of interrelations between overseas college students and US students. Some people think that there is no such issue as the United States is the country of multiplicity. American people got accustomed to overseas cultures, religions, ways of life. US students know they speak the international language. American students are considered to have a global consciousness. They are really open to everything new. And that's why there is nothing to bother about foreign students.
Others believe such problem existed constantly. Its display may be different though the essence is the same. Just imagine that one Asian learner wishes to study in a university of the United States of America. He/she is sure that he/she knows American culture perfectly, speaks English fluently, etc. But when he/she comes to the United States, he/she finds out that it is not so easy to absorb with American students and American way of life. He/she understands he/she is to reside in special foreign dormitories and mess with students of his/her nationality.
An overseas student should be completely involved in the way of life of US college students. This means that he/she has to take part in various American activities, take part in all parties which American learners organize, speak only English, even with other overseas students. In other word, if an international college student would like to be a part of US student subculture, he/she must forget his/her national culture.
Nevertheless, a lot of international students blend with American ones easily.
