How Does Acupuncture Work
What’s the origin of acupuncture?
Acupuncture was originally part of traditional Chinese and Eastern medicine and has been practised for thousands of years for curing all kinds of ills. Archaeologists have found stone acupuncture needles dating back five thousand years.
In the seventeenth century, doctors and missionaries brought acupuncture to Europe. It did not become well known until 1972. At this time American journalist James Reston had acupuncture to ease the pain of an emergency appendectomy while working in China and began writing about his experience in the New York Times. The publicity began to spread and acupuncture has become a common and widely accepted form of complementary medicine, particularly for pain relief.
There are now two forms of acupuncture practised in the UK. The first is the Chinese form, a part of traditional Chinese health system, which includes herbal remedies. Practitioners of Chinese acupuncture believe illness arises from an imbalance in life forces within us known as yin and yang. They needles at lots of different points on the body to try and redress the balance.
In the West there is a second form of acupuncture, sometimes practised by doctors, which focuses on the physical effects a needle might have on the body and generally uses the scientific principles of western medicine for diagnosis and disease rather than the ideas of yin and yang.
There are many doctors who practice this ‘medical’ form of acupuncture. Members of the British Medical Acupuncture Society are usually doctors but there are vets and dentists who are members too. The general view of mainstream medicine is that acupuncture works by stimulating certain nerves in the body. These nerves often coincide with the traditional meridians. Treatment is also thought to cause the release of natural chemicals into the bloodstream, such as endorphins, which are the body’s natural painkillers. There is some evidence that acupuncture may trigger the release of natural anti-inflammatory compounds and painkillers, known as endorphins, in the body which also help the healing process in joint and muscle problems and aid recovery perhaps by boosting the immune system. Exactly how this might work has not yet been shown scientifically.
How does acupuncture work?
At the heart of Traditional Chinese acupuncture is the idea of Qi (pronounced chee). Qi is described by practitioners as a form of energy formed by the union of so-called yin and yang in the body. Yin and yang must be balanced say acupuncturists for us to be well and free from ill healt. Qi is said to flow through channels, known as meridians, that run from our hands and feet to the body and head.
There are 14 major meridians and when they become blocked, say acupuncturists, disease is the result. Qi is said to enter and leave the body at special points along the meridians and it is these points into which a practitioner will insert a needle to free the flow of Qi.
In the Western medical form of acupuncture, practitioners tend not to subscribe to the theory of Qi. They prefer to consider the physical and chemical effects the insertion of needles may have on ‘trigger’ points also known as acupoints. Trigger points are sensitive spots often where nerves leave or enter muscles or tissues, for instance. By inserting a needle at these points the nerves and tissues can be stimulated, which in turn could stimulate the body’s healing processes.
What happens during a treatment?
The practitioner will usually do a full assessment of your symptoms and you personally to make sure that acupuncture is the right treatment for you. They may spot a problem that requires another form of treatment and suggest you visit a GP.
The practitioner may then use several small (a couple of centimetres long) sterile needles, which are very thin. The needles are much thinner than the more familiar needles used for injections and pass straight through tissue. Patients usually only feel a slight prick when the needle enters the skin and most people find the slightly ‘heavy’ warm feeling of the needle inside quite pleasant.
The acupuncturist may twiddle the needles and some may pass a small electric current across the needles to increase their effects. Others may use moxa treatment in which the herb is burnt on the needles to warm them up.
Some acupuncturists may not use needles at all. Small conical moxa burners or moxa sticks can be placed on the sensitive ‘acupoints’ and left to burn until the heat becomes uncomfortable.
An alternative method of ‘acupuncture’ is called ‘cupping’. A small glass cup is placed on the acupoint. A small piece of cottonwool soaked in alcohol is burnt inside the cup and as the oxygen is burnt inside the cup the patient’s skin is sucked up by the falling pressure inside. The various needle free acupuncture methods all aim to stimulate the acupoints too.
After your first treatment you may notice a little bruising where the needles went in but generally patients feel relaxed after treatment and often sleep. You will usually need a few more sessions, say three to eight, before symptoms begin to improve though.
What can acupuncture help with?
- Abdominal and bowel problems
- Allergic reactions, such as hayfever
- Anxiety
- Arthritis
- Back pain
- Depression
- High blood pressure
- Kidney disorders
- Knee pain
- Labour pain
- Migraine
- Pain relief
- Period pains
- Pre-menstrual syndrome
- Rheumatism
- Sciatica
- Shingles pain
- Sinus problems
- Skin conditions
- Toothache
Where’s the evidence?
Many acupuncturists will point to success with animals and small children to demonstrate that acupuncture is not ‘all in the mind’.
Scientific evidence in humans is not clear cut. A study published in 1988 in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine by Professor John Dundee of Queen’s University Belfast showed that stimulating an acupuncture point about five centimetres above the wrist relieved and even eliminated nausea in pregnancy. There have been several similar reports published since. Other studies have demonstrated that acupuncture can reduce pain and sickness following surgery.
Remember to tell your acupuncturist if you are pregnant even if you are seeing them for something else because certain acupoints should not be touched during pregnancy.
Acupuncture has been shown to alleviate the symptoms of asthma although practitioners will usually warn patients not to stop taking their regular medication without first talking to their doctor. On the other hand, a study in 1997 showed that for people who wanted to quit smoking acupuncture acted only as a placebo. So the overall evidence is unclear at this time, Surgery Door will keep you up to date on the latest developments.
What do doctors think of acupuncture?
While most Western doctors are sceptical of the concepts of Qi and meridians because they have not been observed by scientists many accept that the mounting evidence that acupuncture points exist. The points appear to coincide with sensitive areas of the body, often found to be tender to touch when people are ill or in pain (called trigger points. These points have been recognised by many doctors and physiotherapists and usually occur where nerves enter or leave muscle tissue, for example.
What should I look for in a practitioner?
Advice and more information can be obtained from your GP or the acupuncture associations linked to below. They should also be able to help you find a registered practitioner in your area. It is also worth considering that some acupuncturists specialise in certain conditions and patients, such as women’s health or back problems. You should always check the qualifications of your chosen acupuncturist with the British Acupuncture Council or the British Medical Acupuncture Society or your national registrar. If after your initial consultation you are not happy for any reason with the person who is going to treat you just don’t make another appointment.
9 Responses to “How Does Acupuncture Work”
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I know David, anecdotal evidence is just not enough to satisfy. It must be dissected and reduced to it’s smallest parts and then placed in several different colored boxes with labels before it can be deemed valid before we can talk about it and accept it as something that isn’t simply superstitious folk remedy or a scam to bilk people that are honestly hurting out of their hard-earned money. I am firm believer for sure that Oriental Medicine (the umbrella term that covers acupuncture and the other treatment options that accompany it – tui na, Qi Gong, etc.) is not a wonder cure. I almost believe (which means that I am still working on fully believing it) that we need to teach (as a society) about self-care (eating right, positive self-talk a.k.a. “I love myself”, how to treat others with kindness, where our food comes from) it from a basis of love and not fear (a.k.a. “If you don’t do what I tell, there are consequences” and myriad other thought forms that are spoken on a daily basis) we would have less need for medical practitioners (massage therapists, MDs, Naturopaths, DCs, L.Ac.s, etc.). Self Care is the biggest and most potent medicine available.
To be clear – there is no such thing as a wonder cure. People on their own – whether consciously or unconsciously decide how long it’s going to take to heal and whether or not they’re going to be well.
Yes, often these kinds of smallscale studies are not necessarily reproducible given the large number of variables in such a tiny cohort. Of course, that applies even more so to the anecdotal type evidence that we often read in “letters to the editors” from alternative practitioners claiming theirs is the wonder cure.
Just as western medicine creates drugs by using ONLY the constituent parts of a plant that can be defined, tested and labeled, the research behind acupuncture has to be considerate of the fact that lifestyle, which I imagine – and would love to have someone tell/show me I am wrong with proof – was NOT taken into consideration, is crucial to the success of acupuncture.
An example of this – a woman I treated. She was having migraines and digestive difficulties, had tried several different medications to alleviate her diarrhea – kaopectate, pepto bismol – and topamax for her migraines. While the topamax was helping she was still having difficulty with her migraines (to the point where she would have to endure excruciating pain and fake it at her customer service oriented job or stay home and lose pay) and wanted to try acupuncture to solve the problem.
After her initial intake with me, I did not notice any severe problems with her food choices per her statements. After three weekly treatments her diarrhea would alleviate for a day (the day of her treatment), but then within the next day or so, it would return to exactly where it was when she began treatment with me and her migraines were only slightly improved.
Long story short, I asked her to keep a food journal for one week and give it to me the next week to see if I could get a clearer picture of her diet, which if insufficient, can be the source of migraines and diarrhea per chinese medical theory. Upon her return the following week, she had written down all three daily meals and snacks for every day that week and upon my perusal it was revealed that the only piece of unprocessed food that was not out of a box, frozen, from the deli next to her work, or out of a can and heated in the microwave was an apple that she ate every Friday for lunch. At that point I referred her out to a holistic nutritionist. Despite knowing exactly what she could do to change her diet, it would’ve been akin to molasses going up hill in January to have her come back for acupuncture or even combined with herbal treatment until she had her food choices greatly adjusted to eliminate at least 50% of the processed foods that she consumed.
So when I read, “However, 68 percent of patients who got the acupuncture experienced nausea for an average of 19 days during radiotherapy and 61 percent of the patients who got the sham treatment suffered nausea for an average of 17 days,” said the study’s lead researcher Anna Enblom,” I am dubious of the OVERALL accuracy of this statement without record of what they ate and how they lived when not receiving treatment.
Yet more news on the lack of evidence for any efficacy in acupuncture. Despite widespread belief among cancer patients and healthcare professionals that acupuncture helps relieve nausea caused by cancer treatment, new research in radiotherapy has found it does not.
The study, presented in October 2007 to the European Cancer Conference (ECCO 14) in Barcelona, Spain, evaluated the effectiveness of acupuncture in 215 patients with various types of cancer who were given either active acupuncture or a sham treatment that involved an identical looking and feeling needle that retracted into the handle on contact with the skin.
“Both groups of patients reported they believed the treatment had been invasive and effective in reducing nausea. However, 68 percent of patients who got the acupuncture experienced nausea for an average of 19 days during radiotherapy and 61 percent of the patients who got the sham treatment suffered nausea for an average of 17 days,” said the study’s lead researcher Anna Enblom, a physiotherapist and doctoral student at the Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University in Sweden.
SOURCE: http://www.alphagalileo.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=readrelease&releaseid=523671
Acupuncture is more effective at treating back pain than conventional therapies, German research suggests – http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7011738.stm – I’m not entirely convinced. I suffered a prolapsed lumbar vertebral disc some time ago, both an osteopath and an acupuncturist misdiagnosed my symptoms as a myofascial tissue problem and treated accordingly, leading to more pain and discomfort, which was only relieved following several sessions with a chiropractor, who correctly diagnosed the problem and treated accordingly.
More to the point, re acupuncture, those receive mock acupuncture in the trial fared just as well as those receiving “proper” acupuncture. As Ben Goldacre puts it: “the pretend acupuncture group, where they just bunged needles in any old place with a bit of ceremony, did just as well as the people having proper, posh, theatrical, genuine acupuncture.” Funny that…