Methods in Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a method of curing illnesses through the insertion of needles in targeted points in the body for improved stimulation. The needles used for acupuncture are very thin. They are only a little thicker than a human hair. The main purpose of acupuncture is actually to normalize the flow of blood and balance the yin and yang in the body but, because it is very effective in curing certain diseases, it is now used as an alternative healing method.

It is actually very difficult to find the cause of certain diseases through acupuncture alone, because you will have to observe how a person responds to treatments and stimuli very closely. Therefore it will take a very talented and experienced acupuncturist to correctly diagnose an illness. You should also note that acupuncture is not only used to cure diseases, it can also be used to relieve back pain, muscle pain, or to just stimulate the flow of your blood so you feel energized. For example, a symptomatic treatment is a very difficult procedure because it requires that the acupuncturist remove the symptoms of an illness. The acupuncturist must know the critical acupuncture points he should stimulate and he must be knowledgeable about how the point relates to other parts of the body.

Many people have the misconception that acupuncture is quite painful; this concept is false, because undergoing acupuncture is actually painless. Most of the acupuncture being performed on television is also misleading because the normal needles used to acupuncture are so thin that it is difficult to see with your eyes alone. The needles as big as injection needles that are used in television are merely for demonstration purposes.

There are various methods in using acupuncture, because curing different forms of illness through this procedure requires different acupuncture techniques. But generally different acupuncture methods share the same concept, which is to cure illnesses through the insertion of needles in acupuncture points in the body. One method of acupuncture involves the use of moxa which is a Japanese herb used for treating certain conditions such as arthritis, bronchitis and diarrhea. This method is particularly effective in removing coldness from the body. Another method of removing the cold is cupping. This method makes use of a glass cup with a burning paper inserted into it to create a vacuum and makes the cup attach to your skin. Cupping increases blood flow in the area being treated, so this is effective in treating fibrositis and bronchitis.

You should also not be surprised if your acupuncturist uses different techniques in treating you in every single session. An acupuncturist's techniques may vary because if one particular area is stimulated too often, that area may become desensitized and the treatment won't be effective anymore. You can also note that an acupuncturist will use different variations in inserting the needle at different stages of the treatment. For example, the acupuncturist may insert the needle in one area for a few seconds then insert the next needle in another area for several minutes. But ultimately, acupuncture will only be effective in that it becomes successful in balancing the flow of energy in your body

Michael Russell

Your Independent guide to Acupuncture

Chinese acupuncture history

Chinese acupuncture history shows us that acupuncture is an ancient medicine used to promote good health and maintain a healthy body. It is carried out by inserting hundreds of tiny needles into special acupuncture points in the body where “qi”. Qi is reported as being the body's natural energy source, travels through channels around the body.

Acupuncture can be thought of as the oldest, known practice of medicine that is still being used today. Besides knowing that Chinese acupuncture history and it's medical practice, what else do we know?

By following the roots of acupuncture we can see that archeologists have found the Chinese acupuncture history and medical practice going back thousands of years. These remnants were found in the form of Hieroglyphs in cave dwellings and date back to one thousand years before Jesus Christ was born, making them 3,000 years old.

Looking even further than this, there is evidence that acupuncture was used thousands of years prior to the archeological finds mentioned.

A five thousand year old mummy was found in the Alps mountain range and named Otzi. When scientists were investigating the mummy and what it could tell us, they were interested to find that Otzi had several ailments, and what they found more intriguing was that Otzi had tattoos located at the acupuncture points that would be used today for the ailments he suffered with.

It may be disheartening, or interesting to learn that the origins of acupuncture in China are uncertain. The reason this is uncertain is that the first mention of acupuncture in a Chinese medical text dated to three hundred years before Christ but Chinese medical texts found from the first century before Christ, two hundred year later, had no reference to acupuncture in them.

It has been a much talked about debate, but research has shown that the first needles used by those of years gone by were made from sharp Bian stone, this changed through the years to bronze, gold and then silver.

Fast-forward to today and we still use acupuncture. The acupuncture we use is a descendant of that used by Daoism philosophers two thousand years ago; this shows that although the material used for the needles has changed, the actual treatment of acupuncture has not changed through the millennia.

There has been ripples of talk through the scientific and archeological communities that Europe may have had its own version of acupuncture pre Christ but there is no evidence to support this. As far as we are aware, acupuncture did not cross over to the west until the late 1960's and 1970's where it became the interest of people in Great Britain.

Acupuncture has grown in stature and become a widely used alternative treatment in the western world, which shows that there must be some positive affect from the treatment.

This is a complete history of acupuncture to date; it will be interesting to see what will lie in the future use of acupuncture. If acupuncture can last through centuries of war, illness and famine, through times where publication of material was not as easy as it is done, then it is clear that it will last for many years to come.

If you are looking for treatment for your illness or disease or would like to learn some acupuncture click on over to Mike Herman's site at http://www.HealthImproving.com/Acupuncture

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