|
Acupuncture: Acupuncture is one discipline extracted
from a complex heritage of Chinese medicine. It is a tradition that also
includes massage and manipulation, stretching and breathing exercises, and
herbal formulae.
Acupuncture is a method of encouraging the body to promote
natural healing and improve function. This is done by inserting sterilized,
stainless-steel needles (that are as fine as a human hair) into specific points
located near or on the surface of the skin which have the ability to alter
various biochemical and physiological conditions in order to treat a wide
variety of illnesses.
Acupuncture points are areas of designated electrical
sensitivity that have been shown to be effective in the treatment of specific
health problems. They have been mapped out by the Chinese over a period of over
2000 years.
The basic premise for Oriental medicine is that there is a life
energy flowing through the body which is termed Qi (pronounced chee). This
energy flows through the body on channels known as meridians that connect all
of our major organs. According to Chinese medical theory, illness arises when
the cyclical flow of Qi in the meridians becomes unbalanced or is blocked.
In the United States, acupuncture has been increasingly
accepted by practitioners and patients since the appearance of James Reston's
landmark article describing his experience with successful post appendectomy
pain management using acupuncture needles (The New York Times. July 26, 1971:
Pages1,6). Before that time, acupuncture had been practiced only in urban Asian
communities, discreetly and primarily by and for Asians.
In the early 1970s, widespread enthusiasm for acupuncture was
fueled by reports from physician visitors to China, who witnessed surgical
analgesia using only acupuncture needles. Respect for the technique grew in the
medical and scientific communities in the late 1970s, when it was shown that
acupuncture analgesia was linked to the central nervous system activities of
endogenous opioid peptides and biogenic amines.
Since the 1970s, guidelines for education, practice, and
regulation in acupuncture have been established and implemented. State,
regional, national, and international societies have come to represent the
interests of affinity groups of practitioners.
This office does not specifically utilize acupuncture in its
patient care but does inform patients on the application of the bio-energy
meridians that have been well documented in Chinese medicine. |
