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 think we’re stepping into an entirely different realm of discussion here. Some people would suggest that consciousness is an artefact and freewill a myth. Let’s leave it, shall we?
When I say “things were in place before he/she got there” I am speaking of destiny, which can sound a lot like there is no way to avoid a “predestined” trauma, accident, etc. but what I’d like to include in that description is that before one gets to that point of impact, so to speak the opportunity to make free-willed decisions exists and this destiny is flexible and changeable based on our action (let’s remember too, that an action can be the choice not to act as well).
Oh yeah, David – of course, if someone’s bleeding from a severe wound, put a tourniquet on it (If appropriate – one really shouldn’t put on a tourniquet for severe head trauma), but I would still argue what brought the severely bleeding person to this point and if they survive, what do they take away from it? Does the same thinking (leading to actions) that brought them to that point prevail or does something else take over? How quickly do things change? so on an so forth. And whatever brought them to that point wasn’t just out of the blue – the trauma might be, but THINGS were in place before he/she got there. That’s why Richard Bartlett says and I agree, “That you don’t have to hit a bridge at 65 mph or get a terminal disease to figure out how to “fix” your life.”
Pretty much agree with that Miguel. Although I think medical intervention (in whatever form) probably has more of an effect than your last sentence would suggest, if someone’s bleeding to death, no amount of unconscious decision making is going to pack enough platelets into the wound to save them.