To get muscle pain relief without resorting to drugs is not easy. Acupuncture and acupressure provides natural pain relief without side effects.

Having pain means your body is telling you that something is not right. Of course, acupuncture will not heal a broken leg (but it might lessen the pain!).

Most acute or chronic pain is usually caused by the stress of everyday life.

The body's muscles and skeleton cannot cope with sitting still in front of a monitor for several hours every day, or doing repetitive movements all day.

What happens is that since the muscles never relax long enough an inflammation will slowly develop - and the pain starts.

When muscles hurt, a shoulder or a knee for example, the normal reaction is to tense more and thus a vicious circle is formed. To be able to relax and let your body take care of the pain is not easy or natural.

Most of us would take a pain killer instead, because it works quick and we like "quick fixes". But in the long run this is not the best way to help your body fight the pain you may be having.

The cause of the pain should be investigated and if possible removed. If your job demands that you sit in front of a computer ever yday, you should try to have a quick break every 15 - 20 minutes.

It will make a big difference simply by getting up from the computer, or like away from the screen.

It is usually not possible to work without stressing your body and causing some pain, and sometimes we will hurt for no obvious reason.

It is telling that sales of pain killing drugs increases all the time - it doubled between 1997 and 2005, also a forecast made by the pharmaceutical industry in the spring of 2010 predicted a massive increase in sales of pain killers.

When acupuncture points are stimulated new research indicates it helps the brain to "turn off" the areas that deal with pain. It also stimulates the body's own pain killing system.

In this way you get the positive acupuncture effects just by resting on the acupressure mat. This has been made into the modern acupressure mat, drawing on old techniques from India, as well as research from the US, Russia and Sweden.

If the pain is not too bad it effectively relieves it completely. If the pain is more severe you will find it helps keep you pain free longer between visits to your acupuncture therapist.