Acupressure is an ancient art of massage practiced more than 3000 years ago in China, and over time it has turned into a real healing method widely used in Chinese families.
This method, now widespread even in the West, uses the technique of massage and acupuncture together, but does not use needles. Acupressure does not differ much from acupuncture, the two techniques differ in the method of application but not in the general principles of clinical and philosophical diagnostics.
In acupuncture we are convinced that the onset of diseases and disorders is caused by an imbalance Yin and Yang. For example an excess of Yang can cause sudden pains, spasms, headaches, increase in blood pressure; instead an excess of Yin can cause deaf pain, feeling of cold, tiredness, water retention, diarrhea etc ...
Going to treat specific points distributed along the 14 main meridians, every kind of imbalance will be remedied.
The massage performed in acupressure, consists in making pichettamenti or pressures with the thumb in particular points of the body that correspond to those of acupuncture, in order to balance the flow of energy that flows in the meridians.
There are several forms of acupressure that include Shin Tao, Jon shin do and Shiatsu which differ in the combination of the different points to be treated and the number of pressures exerted at each point.
Each organ of the body corresponds to specific reflex areas that have more pain-sensitive points and are called "trigger points".
The micro massage is based on 5 major laws recognized by oriental medicine
1 the circulation in the body of a cyclic energy
2 in all living beings there is a Yin (negative) and Yang (positive) polarity
3 the peripheral projection of the deep organs on the skin surface
4 the circulation of energy at the level of the skin along precise routes called meridians
5 the existence along the meridians of points where the massage relieves the pain coming from an area often far from that of intervention
For the ancient Chinese, all energy pathologies can be included in three categories, two of which are exogenous in nature and one is endogenous:
1 environmental cosmic factors and toxic factors such as chemicals (exogenous)
2 hereditary and psycho-emotional factors (exogenous)
3 dietary factors (endogenous)
Heaven, Man and Earth are closely connected and man is directly subjected to cosmic influence and indirectly to that of the products of the earth. The cosmic influences include the Anterior Heaven or Hao Tian which represents the genetic past and the Posterior Heaven or Xian Tian the present with its environmental, astral, social, nutritional factors etc.
The cosmic energies are 6: wind-feng, heat, fire-huo, humidity-shi, dry-zao, han-cold and are placed by affinity on the meridians.
Even the environments in which we live may have a negative effect on the organism: air conditioning, fluorescent lamps, pipes and metal structures, electrical areas, electromagnetic fields, etc.
Chinese medicine in addition to the use of needles, offers a variety of means to intervene on the pain points of the body. On these points it is possible to intervene with:
1 electrical pulses associated or not with needles
2 with more or less pointed bodies, but not pungent as glass, wood or metal rods
3 with the burning of artemisia leaves, a technique known as moxa
4 with the micro massage using the fingers
Who does not know any technique can easily limit himself to the simple pressure of his fingers to get great results. On the chosen point one must press with a certain force, what can be defined as "pleasant pain". The pressure must be exerted with the fingertip on the soft areas of the body, while on the skeletal surfaces and the circumscribed points with the end of the finger in a vertical position and even with the cutting of the nail. Small oscillations or small rotations in a clockwise direction can be applied to the finger. The pressure can last from 1 to 5 minutes and the treatment should be repeated one or more times a day.
