What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is the stimulation of specific points (Acupuncture points) located near or on the surface of the skin (Meridians) using hair thin needles to balance or restore the flow of energy (Qi) in the body. It is among the oldest healing practices in the world. In the United States, where practitioners incorporate healing traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries, acupuncture is considered part of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

Acupuncture is the stimulation of specific points (Acupuncture points) located near or on the surface of the skin (Meridians) using hair thin needles to balance or restore the flow of energy (Qi) in the body. It is among the oldest healing practices in the world. In the United States, where practitioners incorporate healing traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other countries, acupuncture is considered part of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM).

In Western medical terms, acupuncture points are places to stimulate nerves, muscles and connective tissue. This stimulation appears to boost the activity of your body's natural painkillers and increase blood flow and stimulates various sensory receptors that, in turn, stimulate nerves that transmit impulses to the hypothalamic-pituitary glands at the base of the brain. These glands are responsible for releasing neurotransmitters and endorphins, the body's natural pain-killing hormones. It is estimated that endorphins are 200 times more potent than morphine. Endorphins also play a big role in the functioning of the hormonal system. Some of the physiological effects 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. The substances released as a result of acupuncture not only relax the whole body, they regulate serotonin in the brain which plays a role in human disposition.

History of Acupuncture

Acupuncture has been in constant use throughout the Chinese-culture area for some 2500 years. It developed during the Zhou period (first millennium BC) and its theory and practice were already well systematized by the early Han period (second century BC). These are immortalized in the Huang Ti Nei Ching (The Yellow Emperor's Internal Classic or Canon of Medicine), consisting of two parts, the Su Wen (second century BC) and the Ling Shu (first century BC). By approximately 300 AD, the development of the whole system was complete. The Su Wen and the Ling Shu describe where the 12 regular acupuncture meridians( 12 regular energy pathways )begin and end. A large proportion of the classical acupuncture point names still in current use can be found in these treatises.

In 1972 interest in the practice was sparked in United States when New York Times editor James Reston wrote an article about his experience with acupuncture. Reston was covering Richard Nixon’s visit to China when Reston needed an emergency appendectomy, and acupuncture was used as an anesthetic. Acupuncture has since become an important provider of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) treatment in United state. According to the 2002 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), conducted in all 50 states and the District of Columbia based on thirty-one-thousand and forty-four (31,044) adults who completed the NHIS Sample Adult Core, 4.1% of the respondents reported lifetime use, and 1.1% (representing 2.13 million Americans) reported recent use of acupuncture.

Diseases and disorders that can be treated with acupuncture

1. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been proved—through controlled trials—to be an effective treatment:

• Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
  
• Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
  
• Biliary colic Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
  
• Dysentery, acute bacillary
  
• Dysmenorrheal, primary
  
• Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastro spasm)
  
• Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
  
• Headache
  
• Hypertension, essential
  
• Hypotension, primary
  
• Induction of labor
  
• Knee pain
  
• Leucopenia
  
• Low back pain
  
• Malposition of fetus, correction of
  
• Morning sickness
  
• Nausea and vomiting
  
• Neck pain
  
• Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
  
• Periarthritis of shoulder
  
• Postoperative pain
  
• Renal colic
  
• Rheumatoid arthritis
  
• Sciatica
  
• Sprain
  
• Stroke
  
• Tennis elbow
  

2. Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown but for which further proof is needed:

• Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm)
  
• Acne vulgaris
  
• Alcohol dependence and detoxification
  
• Bell’s palsy
  
• Bronchial asthma
  
• Cancer pain
  
• Cardiac neurosis
  
• Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation
  
• Cholelithiasis
  
• Competition stress syndrome
  
• Craniocerebral injury, closed
  
• Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent
  
• Earache
  
• Epidemic hemorrhagic fever
  
• Epitasis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
  
• Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
  
• Female infertility
  
• Facial spasm
  
• Female urethral syndrome
  
• Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
  
• Gastrokinetic disturbance
  
• Gouty arthritis
  
• Hepatitis B virus carrier status
  
• Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpes virus 3)
  
• Hyperlipaemia
  
• Hypo-ovarianism
  
• Insomnia
  
• Labor pain
  
• Lactation, deficiency
  
• Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic
  
• Ménière disease3.
  
• Neuralgia, post-herpetic
  
• Neurodermatitis
  
• Obesity
  
• Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
  
• Osteoarthritis
  
• Pain due to endoscopic examination
  
• Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans
  
• Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein–Leventhal syndrome)
  
• Postextubation in children
  
• Postoperative convalescence
  
• Premenstrual syndrome
  
• Prostatitis, chronic
  
• Pruritus
  
• Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome
  
• Raynaud syndrome, primary
  
• Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
  
• Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
  
• Retention of urine, traumatic
  
• Schizophrenia
  
• Sialism, drug-induced
  
• Sjögren syndrome
  
• Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
  
• Spine pain, acute
  
• Stiff neck
  
• Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
  
• Tietze syndrome
  
• Tobacco dependence
  
• Tourette syndrome
  
• Ulcerative colitis, chronic
  
• Urolithiasis
  
• Vascular dementia
  
• Whooping cough (pertussis)