This is one of my most frequently asked questions. It's reasonable to imagine that acupuncture points work linearly, meaning this point does this and this point does that. While there are some points that can be helpful to press to help relieve things like headaches, nausea or sugar cravings, acupuncture points work best when paired with other points.
If you've received treatment from me, you know that I like to check acupuncture points against the abdomen and/or the area of pain by doing acupressure. You also know that sometimes pressing a point doesn't always create a significant change in the abdomen/pain location. That's typically when I'll joke that it's unfortunate that I'm not an octopus and can press multiple points at the same time, because in those moments it's very apparent that acupuncture points work together to create a change.
One thing that's super interesting about the human body is it's connective tissue netting. Sure, our body shape and posture is influence by our bones, but the connective tissue that acts like one big, spongy net that surrounds our cells, vessels, and organs to help hold them in place also impacts our shape and posture immensely. Imagine this netting like a bed sheet. There's a big wrinkle in the middle of the sheet. You can put your hand there and smooth it out, but it might cause smaller wrinkles and won't ultimately give you the smooth sheet look that you're seeking. Instead, if you tug at the edges, which usually requires tugging at multiple edges, the wrinkle goes away and you have your nice, smooth sheet. Some of the most powerful acupuncture points are the ones that act like the edge of the sheet—they're far from the wrinkle (which you can think of as the area of pain and/or discomfort) but they smooth out the sheet.
And the reason why it's called connective tissue is simple....because everything in the body is connected.
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