What is Acupuncture and how does it work?
Effects of Acupuncture on the Body
- Disengages the stress (sympathetic) response
- Regulates metabolic function
- Increases circulation
- Controls inflammation
- Strengthens immune function
- Regulates brain neurotransmitters
- Releases stem cells to promote repair and regeneration
Acupuncture has been practiced in China for over 4000 years. By insertion of small needles, that are as thin as hair strands, at acupuncture points, an acupuncturist balances the flow of energy (often referred to as Qi or Ki) in the body. This restores the proper flow and balance of energy, allowing the body to naturally come into balance and correct the problem causing the health issue. Therefore, the acupuncturist is not a healer, but a facilitator, and it is your body, mind and spirit that cure any disease. The human body is not a machine or a simple sum of parts. So much of how we get ill and heal depends not only on what we do with our physical bodies, but on the state of our mind and spirit. Ancient Chinese practitioners never separated the three and always maintained the belief that all three need to be in harmony in order for us to be healthy. With acupuncture we treat all three aspects of a human being.
In modern times we have been able to decipher some of the ways acupuncture works. With new, complex diagnostic equipment, a great deal of research has been done and brain scans have shown intricate connections between acupuncture points and various areas of the brain affecting things from hormone and endorphin production to immune response. Certain areas of the brain light up upon stimulation of acupuncture points even when the nerve connections have been severed.
The work of German physician Dr. Reinhold Voll in the 1950s found that there were electrical resistance differences that could be measured, with his device, on the surface of the skin at and around acupuncture points. However even with all this research it has not been firmly established how acupuncture works, perhaps because it so much depends on the individual patient and the practitioner performing acupuncture. Is it just a placebo effect? Acupuncture has been proven to be effective in the treatment of animals and infants, and they are not even aware that they are "expected" to get better.
Acupuncture has been clinically proven to work on many conditions, and about 85% of people will respond to acupuncture (i.e. have a positive outcome). For the remaining 15% a different healing modality might be better suited.
The World Health Organization (WHO) lists in an official report, Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trial (click here for the reference) the following symptoms, diseases and conditions have been shown through controlled trials to be treated effectively by acupuncture:
low back pain
periarthritis of the shoulder
facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
tempromandibular (TMJ) dysfunction
induction of labor
correction of malposition of fetus (breech presentation)
nausea and vomiting
adverse reactions to radiation or chemotherapy
allergic rhinitis, including hay fever
depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
acute bacillary dysentery
acute and chronic gastritis
The foregoing list is absolute concerning acupuncture's effectiveness; however the report continues with three more categories:
1. Diseases, symptoms and conditions for which the therapeutic effect of acupuncture has been shown, but further proof is needed (68 specific conditions). These conditions are effectively treated as in the first category; more trials are necessary to establish the proof scientifically.
2. Diseases, symptoms and conditions reporting some therapeutic effects for which acupuncture is worth trying (nine conditions).
3. Diseases, symptoms and conditions in which acupuncture may be tried, provided the practitioner has special modern medical knowledge and adequate monitoring equipment (eight conditions).