What Is Acupuncture? By Higgy Lerner A
cupuncture is the insertion of very fine-gauge stainless steel needles into points on the skin. It originated in ancient China thousands of years ago and spread throughout Asia and to Europe and the Americas. The many styles of acupuncture vary from those that barely touch the skin with the point of the needle to more assertive styles designed to elicit strong responses. Sometimes magnets are used instead of needles, or electrical stimulation is applied through needles or directly to the points on the skin. Acupuncture is grounded in the philosophies of ancient China, including Taoism and the I Ching, or Book of Changes. These philosophies developed from observations of the natural order of nature and the ebb and flow of natural processes. All peoples around the world have developed ways to deal with illness and trauma. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) came into being grounded in the context of these philosophies. Acupuncture is one of the methods of TCM, along with the use of moxabustion, herbal medicine, tui na massage, cupping, dietary therapy, and in Asia, bonesetting.
Restoring Your Qi/Energy We can say that the goal of
acupuncture therapy is to help restore the natural flow of Qi or energy, and the free circulation of blood in the human body. When the Qi and blood flow harmoniously the body and mind tend toward homeostasis. The majority of patients find
acupuncture treatment a relaxing experience, at least in part from this restoration of the natural uninhibited flow of Qi and blood. Moxabustion is the burning of mugwort, dried Artemesia vulgaris, which grows locally in Northern California, on or over acupuncture points. The Chinese word for acupuncture is really two words, for needle and moxa. Many patients ask, “How does acupuncture work?” While there has been a tremendous amount of research on the subject, and thousands of years of traditional theory to explain it, this is not a simple question to answer. Like so many things, it depends in part on perspective. When the body relaxes, the circulation improves, and greater healing can take place. Improved blood flow is in itself healing and anti-inflammatory. A variety of chemicals are released both locally and systemically during an acupuncture treatment. Some of these are local chemicals responding to the minute tissue damage from the needle, stimulating a healing response. Others come from various organs stimulated somehow by the insertion of acupuncture needles. Functional MRI of the brain shows us that areas of the brain “light up” in response to needling. Sometimes needling causes muscles to twitch and then relax, or it leads to lessening of trigger-point activity in muscles or fascial tissue. Acupuncture obviously is mediated largely via the nervous system. Yet none of these facts
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adequately explains why we can needle the foot to stop a headache. Or needle the top of the head to help with a prolapsing organ. Or for that matter, why the application of moxabustion, the burning of a herb over or on a point near the tip of the little toe, will turn a breech-presentation fetus. Traditional explanations for how acupuncture works have to do with the aforementioned flow of Qi and blood. It has to do with the meridians, or channels, that connect the points in lines over the body. While no one has been able to find these meridians by dissection, they have been traced electrically. The points are situated over common trigger points in muscles, and they are close to nerve endings and lymphatic structures as well. Traditional Chinese medical theory provides a framework for the acupuncturist to view the body, organize and categorize a person’s symptoms, and act upon the body to affect the symptoms and move the person toward a more positive state of health.
My view is that all these
explanations provide pieces of the puzzle as to how acupuncture works, but no single explanation is adequate.
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