Accupuncture Info
Traditional Acupuncture
Acupuncture has been developed by practitioners of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) and other eastern medicine therapists over 4000 years ago. Currently, acupuncture is one of the most commonly used medical procedures in the world. Acupuncture began to become better known in the United States in 1971, when a New York Times reporter, James Reston, had an appendectomy in a Chinese hospital using acupuncture as a means to decrease his post-surgical pain. President Nixon’s trip to China in 1972 helped acupuncture grow further in the United States. Acupuncture treatment stimulates the body’s own healing abilities due to working on multiple levels; acupuncture activates blood flow, stimulates the nervous system, strengthens the immune system, improves organ function, calms the mind, and relaxes the body all at the same time.
Acupuncture Philosophy
Acupuncture is one of the key components of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). According to the TCM system of medicine, the human body is seen as a delicate balance of two opposing and inseparable forces: yin and yang. Yin represents the cold, slow, or passive principle, while yang represents the hot, excited, or active principle. Among the major assumptions in TCM are that health is achieved by maintaining the body in a �balanced state� and that disease is due to an internal imbalance of yin and yang. This imbalance leads to blockage in the flow of Qi (vital energy) along pathways known as meridians. It is believed that there are 12 main meridians and 8 secondary meridians and that there are more than 300 acupuncture points on the human body that connect with them.
Qi energy must flow in the correct strength and quality through each of these meridians and organs for health to be maintained. 365 designated acupuncture points are located along the meridians and provide one means of altering the flow of Qi.
Thus, the supposed principle of acupuncture in oriental medicine is the correction of the unbalanced and disharmonized flow of Qi by stimulating the relevant points on the body surface, as acupuncture plays a role in maintaining homeostasis by manipulating and balancing Yin and Yang when the body’s innate homeostatic potentialities are overwhelmed by acute- or chronic-stress conditions.
Some of the physiological effects of acupuncture observed throughout the body include increased circulation, decreased inflammation, relief from pain, relief of muscle spasms and increased T-cell count which stimulates the immune system.