Easy Acupuncture

The World Health Organization (WHO) references acupuncture as being an effective treatment for the management of many types of pain, both acute and chronic.

There are 3 proven mechanisms that explain how acupuncture relieves pain;

Acupuncture is one of the components of the health care system evolved in China at least 2,500 years ago. Acupuncture literally means “needle piercing” – the practice of inserting very fine needles into the skin to stimulate specific anatomic points in the body (known as acupoints or acupuncture points) for therapeutic purposes.

The general theory of acupuncture is based on the assumption that there are patterns of energy flow (Qi) through the body that are essential for health. The disturbances or disruptions in this flow are responsible for health diseases. Acupuncture, as theorized, is meant to correct the imbalances of flow at identifiable points close to the skin.

Most Americans know that acupuncture has something to do with healing diseases by using needles. These needles are used to redirect and restore optimal circulation of the life force, known as “Qi”, within the body. A person with a mental, physical, or emotional problem has the flow of Qi hindered at one or more points, and effective use of needles will change and restore that flow. One of the more suprising things at an acupuncture clinic is the way a problem can be diagnosed. In most cases, the practitioner holds the wrist of the client and takes his pulse. The pulse is observed at several different points on wrist, and the nature of the pulse is evaluated. After that comes a thorough evaluation and a plan of where to place the needles to best address the problem. There are several different qualities the acupuncture practitioner is observing in the pulse. The patient can have up to 12 different pulse points taken. Three surface pulse points are taken on each of the wrists, and three deep pulse points are also taken on each wrist. Even an untrained person can notice the difference in pulses depending on the location and depth of the pulse point. There are many possible pulse descriptions in acupuncture, but six of the commonly encountered ones are: floating, sunken, slow, rapid, slippery, and choppy. Taking even a few people’s pulses, it is easy to see how some could be described as choppy, and others as slippery. Another very useful technique for diagnosis in acupuncture is by observing the tongue of the client. Western physicians (and mothers!) can often tell someone has a throat problem by looking at the coating on the tongue. But an acupuncture practitioner is looking at a number of aspects of the tongue: the color of the tongue (both top and sides), any cracks that might be in the tongue, swellings, the condition of the dots on the tongue, and the level of moisture. All of these things provide an illuminating picture of the state of someone’s health, and indicates what the acupuncture plan should address. One thing to remember is that, in acupuncture, a particular western medical diagnosis may not be of much help. That is because a particular diagnosis may be caused by one of several different kinds of interruptions in the flow of Qi, and hence is not a major influence in what should be done in the acupuncture clinic. However, the acupuncture practitioner definitely wants to know how you actually feel, for this is very significant. Every symptom should be described, as well as the times they are most noticeable, and any associations that can be thought of. For example, the acupuncture practitioner should be told if pains are milder after a good night’s sleep, or if headaches are worse under fluorescent lights, and other such associations. So expect the diagnosis at an acupuncture clinic to be rather different than a diagnosis at a physician’s office. The acupuncture practitioner is not looking just at the particular problem, but how your organs and systems presently interact, one result of which is the current problem. This introduction should make you more comfortable with such a diagnosis, give you more understanding as to why your tongue is being so carefully looked at, and hopefully make you interested enough to find out more about it.

Acupuncture has been shown to have great success in treating pain, stress, and a number of diseases. Acupuncture has a number of different techniques, and one of them is to apply a very low-level electric charge to the needle. This particular technique is creating interest in a field that was started in America in the 1930s and 1940s, but lost support soon afterward. This field is how to use low levels of electricity as a tool for medical therapy. The initial discovery of acupuncture points on the body was by centuries of observation of the tender spots on the skin when a patient had certain symptoms. These acupuncture points can now be discovered and duplicated by scientists. They can find these same acupuncture points (given in any standard diagram) by using electrical apparatus. Scientists can also use infrared photography to find the temperature differences between these acupuncture points and the surrounding skin. So the acupuncture points have a different electrical behavior than the surrounding cells when the patient suffers from the associated symptom. Several claims for acupuncture seem to get some support from other research using electricity. One scientist, Becker, has had tissue regrown by animals when he applied a low-level electric current to the site of the tissue. Even heart tissue has been restored without any scarring. Low level electric pulses have also been used to make bone fractures heal significantly faster than fractures left to heal on their own. How do these two previous experience relate to the fundamentals of acupuncture? The basis of acupuncture is the correct distribution and flow of energy throughout the body. When energy is depleted, regrowth and stimulation and vitality do not occur. An acupuncture treatment restores the energy needed to a specific area. This research (especially the bone research) supports the claim that acupuncture sessions are of significant benefit for those with broken arms or other broken bones in the feet, ankles, and wrists, or other locations. Acupuncture has been known as an effective treatment for patients with heart palpitations, and the EKG results scientifically support that claim. Patients that are attached to an EKG machine and undergo an acupuncture treatment show a difference in the structure of the heartbeat, which is controlled by electric impulses from the nerves. When an acupuncture needle is inserted into the skin, there is an electrical activity at that point, since the cells at that point are disturbed, and cells by their structure have various electrical charges within them. This is also shown by such techniques as Kirlian photography, where the photograph after a needle is inserted has a very different energy shape than before the needle insertion. This exploration of the interaction between electricity and acupuncture has come back to expand the techniques used in acupuncture. The most basic technique for an acupuncture treatment is to use needles inserted into the skin of the patient. The location of the insertion, its depth and technique, bring about the results from the treatment. An additional technique is the application of heat, or moxa, which we will not go into. A third addition may be the use of herbs, either at the point of insertion, or given to the patient separately. A technique directly related to the above research, and also harkening back to the experiments of the 1930s and 1940s, is to affect the acupuncture points by a low voltage electric current. This is used in place of the needle. All these results and new ideas make research in acupuncture an exciting field to be working in and reading about.

Acupuncture for weight loss is a modern application of this ancient medical practice. This article reports on the conclusion of it’s safety and effectiveness following an extensive examination of the published evidence. For the complete report, please visit the URL displayed in the author bio.

Acupuncture Weight Loss — Safety

Acupuncture for losing weight is a safe practice when a dieter undergoes 1-3 sessions within 3 to 4 weeks of starting a traditional method of weight loss.