Glossary

Acupuncture

Acupuncture originates from traditional Chinese medicine but has been used extensively in western medicine for decades. It is particularly effective as a complementary medicine in physiotherapy treatment.

How Does Acupuncture Work?

Acupuncture uses extremely fine, medically graded, needles which are inserted into and along the body’s energy meridian lines. In traditional Chinese medicine it was seen to undo blockages and release energy flows back along what are called, meridian lines. In contemporary medicine it is used to treat a host of acute and chronic conditions and can help reduce acute pain, inflammation and muscle dysfunction.
It is a technique we use at the Chronic Health Recovery Clinic to help promote muscle and nerve stimulation and to interrupt pain pathways as well as helping reduce muscle stiffness and improve joint mobility. (Gail to add here?)
Besides being used to relieve immediate muscular pain, Acupuncture has been used widely for sufferers of chronic pain such as migraines, persistent back and neck pain, severe fatigue, insomnia and even to help people give up smoking.

Cerebrospinal Fluid

Cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) is a clear liquid that surrounds and cushions the brain. It is contained around the brain by what is called, the ‘dura matter’, which forms a balloon like ‘watertight’ case to prevent leakage or loss from the cranium.

What does Cerebrospinal Fluid Do?

As well as helping dissipate shock to the brain from an impact it also provides critical nutrients to your brain, provides the right electrolyte balance to your central nervous system (CNS) and is responsible for flushing away toxins and hormonal waste out of your cranium. CSF is ‘pumped’ through the body by the lymphatic system and therefore is known to have a ‘pulse’. This pulse is indicative of how efficiently the CSF is being cycled through your body. A ‘slow CSF pulse’ or a ‘weak pulse’ (how strong it is) will mean that harmful toxins and hormonal waste surrounding your brain is not being flushed out and recycled well enough to keep the cognitive functions of your brain and CNS operating normally.
When your lymphatic system is not working normally by flushing CSF out of your body and particularly, your brain, it can severely affect cognitive function.

Poor CSF circulation is common in CFS/ME patients and, consequently, they are severely affected with poor cognitive function, often experiencing what is known as ‘brain fog’ or ‘tunnel vision’ and suffer with severe short term memory loss and memory recall difficulties. This is often compounded by ringing in the ears and ‘palpitations’ – often experienced as a ‘whooshing’ sound or feeling in the head and ears.

At the Chronic Health Recovery Clinic, we treat a poor Cerebrospinal Fluid pulse with both the Perrin Technique and Cranio Sacral Massage.

These techniques flush out the harmful toxins and hormones surrounding the brain manually through your lymphatic system and, critically, improve the lymphatic system’s circulation to encourage better regulation of the CSF and your central nervous system.