Two of the most prevalent complaints heard by acupuncturists related to bodily pain are leg and hip aches and pains. You yourself may probably have experienced these types of pain at some point in your life.

Fortunately, most forms of leg and hip pain can be traced to a simple combination of nerve and muscle pain caused by inactivity after overusing a certain muscle or muscles for a short period of time. In other words, you did something more than you normally do and you exerted a great deal of effort into doing it more than you normally would. Here are a few samples of what I am talking about: After playing a round of golf at your company’s annual outing, you follow it up by enjoying a luncheon and just sitting around for an hour or so, or after hiking up a hill for several kilometers, you next climb aboard a tour bus towards home and seat comfortably for an hour or so. One other example could be an inexperienced runner participating for the first time in a long-distance run (5k run) in the afternoon, and at night rewards himself for his effort by seating on a sofa watching a 2-hour DVD movie. There can be lots of reasons that can make you highly susceptible to leg and hip pain.

Following up an over-activity immediately with inactivity, so much so your muscles that were working so hard now suddenly remain in a state of relaxation for a considerable amount of time, will cause those muscles to contract, and perhaps even continue to contract for several more days. But that’s not the end of it. Eventually your nerves will be affected. Your lower back has nerves that are located between and under the lower back muscles. When those muscles tighten causing them to lose flexibility and stiffen, the pressure on the nerves increases causing them to start transmitting pain signals through your buttock, leg, and hip – this pain is known as muscle spasm. Even if the physiological cause of the problem itself is not serious, you probably would think otherwise when you’re under such agonizing pain. It can significantly drain your energy and your will and capacity to perform daily tasks. It makes it also practically impossible for you to optimally perform at work. Your mind is always focused on your pain especially on how to stop it. You may do an online research about the type of pain you’re suffering from. You might get a result that describes pain experienced by people suffering from chronic sciatica, but what you have isn’t actually sciatica since this condition is caused by a deterioration affecting the spine in your lower back.

You eventually settle to the thought that you need to have your ailment diagnosed and treated. If you want a treatment that would make your pain go away and nothing else, you probably would just settle for over-the-counter or prescription painkillers which merely masks the pain for a few hours and never addresses the real cause of the pain. But if you want a treatment that removes pain and prevents it from returning over time, you may want a treatment such as acupuncture in Orlando that not only targets the symptoms but addresses the underlying cause of the symptoms as well giving you long-term or even permanent relief. When you visit an acupuncturist, you are availing the services of a professional whose knowledge includes the dispensation of history’s longest continuously practiced form of medicine. To cure your ailment, your acupuncturist will gently apply clean disposable ultra-fine stainless steel needles into specific points in the compressed muscle. With the aid of a mild procedure your acupuncturist also utilizes as an adjunct to acupuncture, the tension in your muscles will be released and your nerves will completely cease sending out pain signals. In instances where patients get treatment right after the pain commences, all that is needed is just a single treatment. But if your pain has been plaguing you for several weeks or months, three to six treatment sessions may be needed to experience total relief. Once the pain vanishes, you acupuncturist will confer with you to explain the different techniques you need to do regularly at home to prevent your condition from returning. If you have never talked to an acupuncturist before, the following are some tips on how to relieve the pain temporarily.

So long as you don’t suffer from inflammation, you may soak yourself in a hot bath or apply over the affected muscles in your buttock and lower back a moist heating pad for 20 minutes. After the muscles have been warmed, you may lie on your back and stretch those muscles at the same time pulling both your knees into your chest. Afterwards, stretch your buttock and hip by taking the painful leg and moving your knee towards the opposite shoulder. Important note: never pull or push too hard; never stretch to the point of pain; perform these routines moderately; perform them in gradual motions and only when your back is warm.

I hope this article will give you a basic understanding of what causes leg and hip aches and pains and know how you can avoid it in the future. You acupuncturist will accomplish the next step which is to provide you with instantaneous relief from these ailments.