What is Neuro-Enhancing acupuncture, and how does it differ from regular acupuncture? Neuro stands for Neurological, meaning relating to the nervous system. The nervous system is best understood as our “Master Control System’. It is a complex network of billions of cells that are intricately connected that help us experience and interpret the world around us. You can think of it as a super-computer program that responds in real-time through electrical currents.
Our nervous system helps us do everything from sleep, digest, run, talk, move, feel, and simply exist in the body.
It is comprised of many parts with the two main parts being the Central Nervous System (CNS) and the Peripheral Nervous System (PNS). The CNS is easily recognized as the nerve tissues encased in bone; mainly our brain (also called the cerebrum), cerebellum, brainstem, and spinal cord. The PNS is most broadly thought of as nerves that are not encased in bones. These are our body-nerves (like the sciatic nerve) that exit from the spinal cord and reach out into the body to connect with our muscles, organs, and skin.
One of the biggest ways acupuncture influences the body is through the nervous system, and research has more recently demonstrated that it profoundly influences the blood flow and functions of specific regions of the brain.
The sensation of a needle being placed through the skin activates local peripheral nerves to fire, whose signals run up to the spinal cord and connect to the central nervous system. The central nervous system, specifically the frontal lobe, is what is responsible for giving us the conscious experience of the needle poke. Depending on the pathway that nerve signal travels through, changes in our CNS occur that lead to more cascades, such as the release of endorphins (natural pain killing opiates), alterations in our endocrine system (hormones), and changes in blood flow.
Neuro Enhancing Acupuncture bridges the knowledge of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TMC), the networks of the meridians and the functions of the acupuncture points, with the knowledge and understanding of the nervous system. Combining these two frameworks, helps to bring a new lens through which to view bringing healing and balance to our bodies.
~Sophia Bouwens, LAc