What is the difference between acupuncture and massage

The core functional difference between the two is simply that acupuncture focuses on regulating the inside, while massage focuses on the outside. Most of the differences in effects between daily conditioning and clinical diagnosis and treatment cannot circumvent this core logic.

I treated a young man who worked on the Internet a while ago. He had a stiff neck and a headache. He stayed up all night for three days and couldn't sleep the whole night. The first time I came, I gave him 40 minutes of shoulder and neck massage. After the massage, his neck could turn to a normal angle, and most of the headache disappeared. He said at the time that he didn't need any acupuncture. But when he came back the next day, he said that the relaxation was great, and he could still keep his eyes open until three o'clock in bed. I pricked Jiaji, Shenmen and Sanyinjiao on his neck and left the needles in for twenty minutes. He yawned while the needles were pricked. When I went back at night, he reported that he slept for six hours just by touching the pillow, and even the remaining stiffness in his neck was gone. This is a very intuitive difference. Massage can directly loosen the tension and spasm of superficial muscles, and the immediate relief of soreness, swelling, and pain is particularly obvious. However, when it comes to deeper Qi and blood problems such as nerve excitement and endocrine disorders, it still needs to be regulated by the stimulation of acupuncture through the skin and into the meridians.

Of course, this is not absolute. There has always been a saying in the industry that "those with sophisticated techniques can perform massage and massage as effectively as acupuncture." I have also seen a master who has been doing muscle management for more than 30 years. His fingertips can penetrate the deep muscle knots next to the third transverse process of the waist. He can save the patient five to six times by pressing it three to five times. After years of lumbar muscle strain adjustment, the effect is no worse than conventional acupuncture. Essentially, as long as the amount of stimulation can reach the corresponding level, there will be a lot of overlap in the effects of the two. Therefore, there has always been controversy about which one is more effective. In fact, it is not necessary. The core depends on the level of the operator.

Talking back to the differences that ordinary users can perceive, if you have just finished climbing a mountain and your legs are so sore that you can't lift them up, or if you have sat on the high-speed train for ten hours and your shoulders and neck are as hard as stone slabs, you can just go to a regular massage shop for an hour and you will feel 80 to 90% slower when you get up. In this case, there is absolutely no need for acupuncture. The massage is non-invasive and highly acceptable. The advantage of instant relaxation is particularly obvious. But if you not only have stiff shoulders and neck, but also have pain every time you go to bed, always suffer from migraines, and have poor digestion, then massage alone can make you feel comfortable for most of the day at most. The underlying problem still needs to be sorted out with the distal adjustment of acupuncture. After all, it is difficult to accurately stimulate deep acupuncture points with the power of hand pressure. It is even more difficult to achieve the same effect as acupuncture. Pricking Hegu on the hand can relieve toothache, and pricking Zusanli on the leg can relieve stomach pain. This kind of distal conduction effect cannot be achieved by ordinary massage.

Nowadays, many clinics are actually used to combining the two. They first loosen the superficial muscle stiffness, and then insert the acupuncture to get Qi faster and have better effects. They are originally the same external treatment methods of traditional Chinese medicine. There is no need to compete, just choose according to your own needs.