Acupuncture

What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is an ancient system of healing developed over thousands of years as part of the traditional medicine of China and other Eastern countries.

The earliest records of acupuncture date back over 2,000 years and today there are over 3,000,000 practitioners worldwide. Although the majority of these practice in the East, over the last 50 years an increasing number of people in the West have trained to become acupuncturists.

The practice of acupuncture is thought to have begun with the discovery that the stimulation of specific areas on the skin affects the functioning of certain organs of the body.

It has evolved into a system of medicine that restores and maintains health by the insertion of fine needles into acupuncture points just beneath the body surface. These points are in very specific locations and lie on channels of energy. Moxibustion, the warming of acupuncture points through the use of smouldering herbs, is often used as a supplement and the needles may also be stimulated using a small electric current.

Here in the West, acupuncture has been misleading publicized as only being helpful in specific conditions, such as the relief of pain. It is, in fact extremely effective in a wide variety of conditions through its power to stimulate the mind and body's own healing response.

Having an Acupuncture Treatment

Acupuncture Diagnosis and Treatment
During the first consultation, the practitioner aims to determine the nature of the disharmony in the patient's mind/body by careful questioning and observation.
A detailed understanding is required of the patient's symptoms, past medical and family history, lifestyle and diet, behavior of all the systems in the body such as digestion and circulation, sleep patterns, and emotional feelings. Diagnosis may also include examination of the tongue for its structure, colour and coating and of the pulses at the wrists, which are felt for their quality, rhythm and strength.

What the practitioner is looking for is not symptoms in isolation, but rather a pattern into which is woven a total picture of the patient. Having decided on the cause or causes of the problem, the points and appropriate method of treatment are selected according to various rules governing the movement of Qi in the body.

During acupuncture treatment, needles are either inserted for a second or two or left in place for up to 20 to 30 minutes, depending on the effect required. During this time there may be a heavy sensation in the limbs and a pleasant feeling of relaxation.

Sometimes, a herbal preparation known as moxa is smouldered on or held near to the acupuncture point and removed when the patient feels it becoming hot. Gentle electrical stimuli may also be applied through the needles, giving a sensation of tingling or buzzing.

Other methods of treating acupuncture points include massage (acupressure), tapping with a rounded probe, and laser. These are techniques that are particularly suitable for children or for people who have a genuine fear of needles.

Treatment with acupuncture can produce rapid results but more often it requires a number of treatments over a period of time. Usually treatments are once or twice a week, but they can be less frequent. Sometimes the effect is quite dramatic and the patient will only need one or two treatments. Sometimes the effect is subtle and may require treatment for several months. There is, however, usually some change after about five treatments.

Conditions that Acupuncture Treats
What Can Acupuncture Help?
An acupuncturist may be consulted by people with specific symptoms or conditions, such as pain, anxiety, arthritis, eczema, sports injuries hayfever, asthma, migraine, high blood pressure, menstrual disorders, intestinal problems or pregnancy management and delivery.

While extensive practice and research has shown that acupuncture is effective in helping people with such conditions as well as with many others, it does more that simply relieve symptoms. The aim of acupuncture is to treat the whole patient and to restore the balance between the physical, emotional and spiritual aspects of the individual.

In traditional acupuncture, since all illness is considered the result of an imbalance of energy, treatment can benefit almost any ill person as long as the degenerative process in the tissues of the body is not too extensive.

Many people also have acupuncture as a preventative treatment or because they feel unwell in themselves but are not `ill' in the Western sense.