 Natural
Health Care - How Does Acupunture Work?
By Dr. Xia Cheng, M.D. (China), Ph.D. Nowadays, more and more people are willing
to try acupuncture. Their belief that acupuncture may help them is, for the most part,
based on word-of-mouth or from an article or television program. However, many of them
come into an acupuncture clinic asking how acupuncture works. This is a commonly asked
question. I would like to take this opportunity to give a brief introduction to
acupuncture and to answer this question.
What Is Acupuncture? - Acupuncture is a
treatment that acupuncturists and Chinese medical doctors perform by inserting needles
into acupoints on our body surface to alleviate different illnesses. Acupuncture treatment
is based on Chinese medicine theory and diagnosis and it is part of traditional Chinese
medicine that has been practiced for over 4000 years. Other modalities included in
acupuncture are moxibustion, cupping, plum-blossom needling, auricular acupuncture, scalp
acupuncture and so on.
How Was Acupuncture Started? - Acupuncture started in
China over 4000-5000 years ago. The first acupuncture needles were sharpened stones. Later
bamboo or fish bone was used as needles until people started to use metal. Acupuncture is
inserting needles in acupoints, and the points are located along the meridians. People
have asked, “Did ancient doctors find the points first or the meridians first?”
Most researchers hold the view that acupoints were found first and then they were
connected as meridians. However, in 1973, two books were discovered in a 2000-year-old
tomb. These books were carved on bamboo pieces and had a very clear description of the 11
meridians out of the 12, which we are still using today including the route they run.
However, there were only a few specific acupoints mentioned in these books. So, that had
given evidence to suggest that people actually found meridians first. So how did people
back then find those meridians? One of the most possible ways researchers thought would be
through Qigong practice. People who practice Qigong may tell you that they had experienced
the travel of Qi in the meridians.
What Are Meridians and Acupoints? - There are 12
regular meridians, 8 extraordinary meridians, and countless collaterals, which form the
meridian system of the body. In our body, there are over 360 regular acupoints, and over
100 extra points. Meridians are the channels that our body Qi and Blood travels. Through
meridians, Qi and Blood flow to all over the body to nourish the organs/tissues and
support the normal body functions. Acupoints are on the meridians where the body energy
surges to body surface. Acupoints connect with internal organs through meridians and they
reflect the functions of internal organs, thus stimulating the acupoints can balance body
functions.
How Acupuncture Works - In Traditional
Chinese Medicine textbooks, it is stated that acupuncture can balance Yin Yang, regulate
Qi and Blood, open meridians, stop pain, invigorate the body’s vital energy and
dispel pathogens. To interoperate these functions into a modern description, we can say
that acupuncture balances body functions, improves blood circulation, promotes endorphins
to stop pain, boosts our immune system, and helps the body to fight illnesses. Research
has shown that acupuncture has multi-aspect, multi-level and multi-route regulatory
functions.
You may ask how can acupuncture do that? I often explain this to my
patients in a very simple way. Our body has it’s own healing ability. Under illness,
this ability can be suppressed or dysfunctional. Acupuncture gives stimulation to our body
to awaken this process. The reason why acupuncture can help almost all kinds of body
dysfunctions is because acupuncture is only stimulation to your body - our body performs
the healing to its own. Acupuncture can regulate and balance the functions of our hormone
system, nervous system, digestive system, cardio-vascular system, reproductive system,
muscle-skeleton system and so on. The regulatory function of acupuncture refers to
acupuncture’s two-way effect that often brings our body disorders to the normal
physiological level. For example, acupuncture can both increase and decrease heart rate;
acupuncture can treat both hypothyroidism and hyperthyroidism; acupuncture can also
increase or decrease blood pressure.
The effect of acupuncture to the body very much depends on the
body’s conditions. On the other hand, acupuncture not only influences our physical
functions but also emotional and psychological status. We all understand that our emotions
are related to neuro-transmitters in our brain, acupuncture can influence those
transmitters to help emotional and psychological abnormal conditions. That is why
acupuncture helps people with depression and other mental disorders. Also, because
acupuncture gives influence to overall balance to the body, regular acupuncture treatments
or “tune ups” helps the body stays in balance.
Acupuncture has become increasingly accepted worldwide and more and
more research is being done which will reveal the mystery of acupuncture to people. In
China, acupuncture has been part of the primary health care system for thousands of years,
even with western medicine influence. Acupuncture is still part of mainstream medicine
that serves the needs of over a quarter of the world population. It is used in conjunction
with other medical treatment in the hospital to get the maximum healing benefit for the
patient. In fact, in China acupuncturists are often trained in the same system as medical
doctors. We look forward to the future when there will be acupuncture wings in our own
western hospitals so that a greater number of people will be able to experience it’s
the healing power.
Dr. Xia Cheng, M.D. (China), Ph.D., is the director of BodyMind Synergy
Health Centre & the Canadian Institute of Traditional Chinese Medicine. For more
information, visit www.bodymindsynergy.com
or call 403.520.5258. |
