Acupuncture is the procedure of inserting and manipulating needles into various points on the body to relieve pain or for therapeutic purposes.
Acupuncture is a truly ancient healing art. Its history stretches back over three thousand years. Few aspects of modern medicine have endured such a track record. Acupuncture is used to effectively treat pain syndromes as well as most medical conditions with very few side effects. Endorphins (the body’s natural morphine) are released when acupuncture points are stimulated.
From a Traditional Chinese medicine perspective, acupuncture works because it restores balance. Acupuncture points are located along meridians, or energy tracks, throughout the body. Qi, or the body’s life force, is circulated and distributed through these meridians. The acupuncture points are stimulated when the needle is inserted to move the energy. The occurrence of disease is fundamentally due to a relative imbalance of yin and yang. Excess yang conditions (i.e. acute pain, hot painful joints, fever, hyperactivity, throbbing headache) require sedation and the selection of yin points to balance the yang energy. Likewise, when a yin state is dominant, (fatigue, coldness, chronic back pain, infertility) the focus of the treatment will be to balance yin and yang energies. In essence, acupuncture activates the meridians through the acupuncture points to regulate the function of the internal organs, qi and blood, and to treat and prevent disease.
How Does Acupuncture Work?
The classical Chinese explanation is that channels of energy run in regular patterns through the body and over its surface. These energy channels, called meridians, are like rivers flowing through the body to irrigate and nourish the tissues. An obstruction in the movement of these energy rivers is like a dam that backs up in others.
The meridians can be influenced by needling the acupuncture points; the acupuncture needles unblock the obstructions at the dams, and reestablish the regular flow through the meridians. Acupuncture treatments can therefore help the body’s internal organs to correct imbalances in their digestion, absorption, and energy production activities, and in the circulation of their energy through the meridians.
The modern scientific explanation is that needling the acupuncture points stimulates the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord, and brain. These chemicals will either change the experience of pain, or they will trigger the release of other chemicals and hormones which influence the body’s own internal regulating system.
The improved energy and biochemical balance produced by acupuncture results in stimulating the body’s natural healing abilities, and in promoting physical and emotional well-being.
What to Expect?
Acupuncture treatments are 30 minutes in length and are generally given once per week. However, this may vary depending on the condition. The patient is reclined and relaxed on the table and the acupuncture needles are inserted at the acupuncture points at various locations on the body. Sterilized, one-time use needles are used. The needles are very thin and are rarely felt on insertion and are retained for approximately 20 minutes.
IHP’s Affiliate Clinics’ therapists use single use disposable needles to ensure your health and safety.
Patients/clients who are involved in accidents and sports injuries have benefitted from acupuncture treatment when combined with physiotherapy and massage interventions.
What is Medical Acupuncture? Is it different from ordinary acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a very old medical art, and there are many approaches to learning and practicing it. Medical acupuncture is the term used to describe acupuncture performed by a Health Practitioner trained and licensed in Western medicine who has also had thorough training in acupuncture as a specialty practice. Such a specialist can use one or the other approach, or a combination of both as the need arises, to treat an illness.
