Wednesday November 14 11:39 PM EST
Heart patients have a new alternative when it comes to treatment --acupuncture.
Acupuncture has long been dismissed as alternative medicine, but it is now getting some mainstream attention.
Some cardiologists now believe that the practice of using needles at specific body points to treat illness or pain can calm the nerves of people who suffered heart failure.
The sympathetic nervous system regulates heartbeat and blood pressure. If it is over-active, the heart is forced to work harder, dramatically increasing the risk of death for heart failure patients.
"In China it's not shocking, but I'm so glad in the United States they (are starting) to pick it up now," acupuncturist Dr. Feng Song said.
Song treats many heart patients. She said that local cardiologists refer many of those patients to her.
"They ask our opinion on how to treat patients and sometimes (with a) tough one they take that patient to us, we evaluate them and guide them how to treat them," Song said.
"I was having palpitations that were practically moving off the chair, that's how hard they were coming," acupuncture patient Theresa Daus said. "They just told me to lose weight and I'd feel better."
Daus said that doctors treated her palpitations and circulation problems with drugs for high blood pressure and thyroid problems. Neither helped, so someone suggested she try acupuncture. Daus said that it brought her relief almost immediately.
"I've tried to start walking for the last two years but my legs would be so tight that I could barely even lift at the knee," Daus said. "(But) 14 days ago I started walking three miles a day, so I'm very happy with that."
Although the concept of using acupuncture for heart problems is new for Western medicine, the idea is not new in China, where acupuncture and traditional medicine is practiced together in hospitals.