Q Does acupuncture really reduce palpitations? You are hardly needling the heart itself. (50, office worker)
A Acupuncture does not stimulate the heart directly; it works toward rebalancing the autonomic nervous system. Many patients whose palpitations are tied to tension and insomnia report a noticeable change. It is not, however, a treatment that corrects an arrhythmia itself.
Detailed Answer
That is a fair question. To be precise, the aim of acupuncture is not to alter heart muscle or electrical signalling directly. The aim is to ease an over-dominant sympathetic state so the body tilts toward rest.
In practice, the patients who notice the most are these: those who palpitate when tense, those whose sleep is shallow and full of dreams, and those whose neck and shoulders are permanently knotted and who sigh often. For them, the intensity and duration usually shorten before the frequency falls.
We should also be honest about the limits. Palpitations caused by persistent arrhythmias such as atrial fibrillation, or by valve disease, are not resolved by acupuncture. Cardiology treatment is central there.
Typically we treat twice a week for three or four weeks, then review the change together. If there is no clear difference by then, we reset the direction.
Korean Medicine Clinic Perspective
Even with the same palpitation, the direction of treatment differs by the state of the body. We separate those whose digestion is sluggish with stagnant fluid, those who cannot settle because fluids are depleted, and those whose tension is held down, and compose acupuncture and moxibustion differently for each — adding constitution-matched herbal medicine when needed.
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