What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an ancient system of medicine. The earliest acupuncture books were written over 2000 years ago and today, worldwide, there are over three million practitioners. Acupuncture began with the discovery that stimulating certain areas of the skin affected functioning of specific organs. It evolved into a system of healing as the connection between the skin and organs was better understood and more sensitive ways of stimulation were devised. In the West acupuncture has been misleadingly publicised as being good only for specific conditions, for example pain or weight loss. In fact, it is effective for a variety of conditions due to its power to stimulate our own healing response. This overall therapeutic effect is one of its great strengths.

What Can Acupuncture Treat?

The answer is simple; Most everything.

Most conditions can be treated by acupuncture, herbs, or a combination of the five therapeutic modalities of Chinese medicine: acupuncture, herbs, massage (Tuina), diet therapy, and moving meditation (Qi Gong, Tai Chi).

When I make such a broad claim people often look startled and then start throwing names of conditions at me: Hemorrhoids? Arrhythmia? Colds & flu? Hypothyroidism? Diabetes? Slipped discs? Headaches? Asthma? Fallen arches? Ulcers? High blood pressure? Diarrhea? Osteoporosis? PMS? Depression? Rashes? Infertility? The answer is still “Yes” but readers should remember that Chinese medicine views the body differently from our familiar biomedicine, so these conditions are seen not so much as “diseases” but as perturbations in the flow of bodily energies. The practitioner’s task is to identify the kind of perturbation and its cause, and then to correct it.

For example, hemorrhoids (and varicose veins) indicate blood stasis, that is, the blood is pooling instead of moving on. The practitioner tries to understand why it pools, tries to remove the deeper energetic cause, and then the superficial symptom should correct itself. This model applies to all Chinese medicine: Find the energetic imbalance, and correct it. The energetic imbalance is inside you – thus care is individualized, and the goal is to strengthen you in such a way as to ensure your energy flows as smoothly as possible.

Here is another example: Sometimes a person comes with a series of conditions for which, as often as not, they’ve seen a series of specialists. Dry eyes take them to the ophthalmologist, constipation to the internist, and low back pain with achy knees to the rheumatologist. The acupuncturist listens to the whole list, asks questions, checks the pulse, reflex points, and the tongue, looking for the energetic clues that link these complaints together. A careful choice of acupoints, an individualized herbal combination, and within a short time the patient finds relief of all their symptoms, including some they may not have even mentioned. In short, the acupuncturist doesn’t see the complaints as separate disorders, but as signs of the same underlying imbalance. That is why the simple intervention with needles, and possibly herbs or other helps, can adjust all the complaints at once. Acupuncture and herbal care are not expensive and often pay huge dividends in improved health and wellbeing!
[Comments by Dr. Claire Cassidy, Ph.D., Dipl. Ac.]

Treatment

Treatment is the process of re-establishing the energy balance. This is done in two ways. One is the insertion of fine, stainless steel needles into acupuncture points, by the stimulating or reducing the flow of energy in a specific pathway. The other is the application of warmth to the acupuncture point. These methods are often used in combination. As the balance improves, health improves.

On your initial visit I will gather information on your symptoms and treatment to date; your medical and family history; your systems or functions (e.g. sleep,appetite, digestion, etc.); and your physical condition, e.g. distribution of body heat and condition of the skin. The purpose of this is to arrive at a diagnosis in Traditional Chinese Medicine. A treatment follows this history taking, and the whole first consultation can take up to 90 minutes. Subsequent treatments usually last around 60 minutes. Generally patients visit weekly to begin with, possibly more frequently if your condition is acute. As you improve, you will visit less frequently. The speed of improvement varies more according to the person than the label of the complaint.

Does it hurt?
Some people would like to try acupuncture but don't because they assume it will be painful. In fact, as the needles used are much finer than those used for injections, only a slight prick is felt as the needle goes through the skin. When the needles reaches the desired point-an area 4-5 mm below the surface of the skin-there is another sensation often described as a dull ache which lasts for a second or two.

"A doctor who prescribes an identical treatment for an identical illness in two individuals and expects an identical development may be properly classified as a social menace."
Lin Yutang