Introducing Acupuncture

What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese healing method that uses very fine needles. These are inserted on points of the body to trigger the flow of energy and establish harmony or balance.

The diagnosis involves your complete history and physical examination. You will also undergo the Traditional Chinese Medicine method of tongue and pulse diagnoses. The doctor will ask several questions about your lifestyle, diet, personality and how you feel about certain events in your life. The approach is personal and holistic so that the proper points can be selected.

Is the treatment painful?

Other than a mild pinprick sensation or electrical jolt upon insertion of the needle, the treatment should be relatively painless. The desired feeling after insertion of the needle should be heavy, dull or numb. This sensation sometimes persists even after the session.

Possible mechanisms of acupuncture treatment

The medical journals cite theories and possible mechanisms of action. The first theory cited was the gate control theory. This theory suggests the presence of gate valves on the spinal cord that closes shut with acupuncture treatment; pricking the skin blocks the pain nerve impulses at the spinal cord level. However, this fails to explain why toothache is controlled by acupuncture. The spine goes up to the neck only. So, a follow-up theory states that there must be a gate also at the thalamus (up in the brain); hence, the multiple gate control theory. Eventually, both these theories were debunked. They then discovered the endorphins and other natural pain relieving hormones that get elevated with acupuncture. However, this also cannot explain why migraine disappears for long periods of time and, many times, resolved after acupuncture treatment. (Endorphins don’t last long in the blood). And, how about other non-pain conditions that improve with acupuncture like stroke? Of course, there are those who ascribe placebo. But this, too, cannot explain the consistent success of treatment in conditions like shingles, arthritis and sinusitis; placebo succeeds just 60% of the time.

Maybe, a Dr. Looney has the right answer. He wrote a letter to a medical journal suggesting that the nerves on the skin (peripheral nerves) have a special connection to the nerves that control the internal organs (autonomic nerves). When the peripheral nerves are needled, something happens to the autonomic nerves. He explained further that the peripheral nerves and the autonomic nerves arise from the same layer of the embryo; it is highly possible that the connection between the two types of nerves was never totally cut with the growth of the embryo. However, no such structure has been found so far. And, I know of no attempt to search for such a structure.

From the Oriental viewpoint, acupuncture re-establishes harmony in the flow of energy or Qi (chi) and blood in the body. It corrects the lack, excess or imbalance of energy (Qi) which causes illness. Another reason could be your body’s inability to protect itself from aversive environmental conditions. Acupuncture will promote the return of equilibrium -- restoring the balance of yin and yang (the two opposing forces in the cosmos) -- in your body and increase resistance against these aversive elements.

Acupuncture is widely accepted in many countries. In the Philippines, the Philippine Institute of Traditional and Alternative Healthcare (PITAHC), a government agency, has listed acupuncture as one of its major thrusts in health care delivery. Acupuncture has been recognized by the Philippine government as a legitimate form of medical therapy as far back as 1960s. And in USA, in a landmark statement in 1999, the National Institutes of Health, University of Maryland, has listed a number of illnesses as treatable by acupuncture. Cited were addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia (general muscle pains), low back pains, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma.



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