Health Spa: The Benefits of Acupuncture
Acupuncture is considered as one of the longest practiced holistic approaches to therapies in the world. Being a part of the traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture therapy intends to restore and maintain health and alleviate pain and suffering. In the United States, acupuncture is considered as one of the integral parts of complementary and alternative medicine.
Although acupuncture has been practiced worldwide for many years, the seeds of acupuncture were planted first in China, which can be found in the ancient Chinese medical textbook, “Huang Di Nei Jing,” published during the periods of Tang dynasty (618 to 906). The second edition was made available during the period of Song dynasty, marked by Neo-Confucianism. During Qing dynasty (1644 to 1911), strong Western influences and the lack of new developments made people to sacrifice on traditional medicine. After World War II, Chinese medication came back inevitably. In 1970’s, the World Health Organization (WHO) supported acupuncture based programs, and facilitated its revival; and in 1977, the US National Institute of Health (NIH) issued a report titled, “Acupuncture: The NIH Consensus Statement.” The report states that acupuncture is a very helpful method for treating several health conditions
Various methods have been designed to explain acupuncture’s effects, mostly those on pain. There are several specific acupuncture spots that are believed to trigger the central nervous system (CNS) to release chemicals into the brain, spinal cord and muscles. These chemicals help relieve the pain or secrete other chemicals such as hormones to influence the self-regulating system of the body. The biochemical changes may encourage the body’s immune system and promote physical and emotional wellbeing.
Before giving treatment to the patient, the acupuncturist will review the patient’s medical history to ensure a clear diagnosis of the condition; this may engage both conventional Chinese history and Western diagnosis based on the skills and techniques of the acupuncturist.
If an acupuncturist is skilled and experienced, acupuncture treatment is somewhat a painless procedure. The patient may notice a temporary worsening of the condition, but this typically indicates that an effectual response will take place later in the treatment. Treatment typically works in different stages, in that the first one or two treatments may produce no effect or perhaps only a transitory effect. A course of six to eight sessions is usually required for effective symptom relief. When such relief has been obtained, it often lasts for three to nine months when one or two further treatments will "top-up" the therapeutic benefit.
During acupuncture treatment, needles are inserted and generally left for about 15 to 30 minutes and often the acupuncturist tries and directs the needles so that the patient will feel a numb sensation around their site of insertion. This typical sensation is known as "de qi" or "obtaining energy" and by tradition it is suggested that “de qi” may be a significant part of the treatment process.
There are many potential usefulness of acupuncture, however, promising results have been found in case of nausea, vomiting, stroke, headache, addiction, tennis elbow, asthma, osteoarthritis, postoperative dental pain, , low back pain, menstrual cramps, chemotherapy and carpal tunnel syndrome, to name only a few. Acupuncture is safe if done by a qualified and skilled practitioner. Acupuncturists are well aware of the human-anatomy and thus, insert needles in a safety manner. The instruments, which are used for the penetration of the skin surface, are either pre-sterilized or disinfected and sterilized in an autoclave. The practitioner is well aware of the infectious diseases and thereby takes every precaution to ensure cleanliness, as all health professionals generally do.
Though acupuncture and western medicine are different treatment approaches, but they complement to each other in one-way or the other. Western medicine is more apt for certain medical conditions, for example, one would not look for acupuncture therapy to heal a gunshot wound, however, after the removal of the bullet, one might go for acupuncture treatment for pain management. On the other hand, though western medicine has got tremendous success in the treatment of certain diseases, but many patients do not get satisfied with the treatment and often look for holistic treatment approaches including acupuncture and they get much relief from the same. It is therefore, concluded that both acupuncture and western medicine have their own significance in the treatment of diseases.
Acupuncture is definitely one of the most effective therapeutic methods for the treatment of many diseases. The main advantage of this holistic approach is that it offers quick relief without posing side effects. Many hospitals today are incorporating acupuncture as a complementary or alternative medicine.
To learn more about acupuncture, consult the following links.
Acupuncture Overview: Detailed information about acupuncture including the history, working mechanism, different styles of acupuncture, and acupuncture treatments, to name a few.
About Acupuncture: Valuable information on acupuncture such as acupuncture use in the United States, side effects and risks, treatment costs and more.
Benefits of acupuncture: Brief information about the benefits of acupuncture in pain relief, respiratory disorders, conjunctivitis, and others.
Effectiveness of acupuncture: the paper discusses the various aspects of treatment effectiveness of acupuncture.
Acupuncture & Modern medicine: The paper discusses the various aspects of acupuncture and its integration into modern medicine.
Acupuncture & Rheumatoid Arthritis: Brief information on acupuncture and its application in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis.
What is acupuncture: Detailed information on arthritis including what does acupuncture look like, how does acupuncture affect the body, what conditions may benefit from acupuncture and more.
Frequently asked questions on agriculture: Several questions have been discussed related to acupuncture such as what is an acupuncture intern, does acupuncture hurt, what is electrostimulation, and what is Gua Sha, to name only a few.
Acupuncture practice guidelines: Detailed information on acupuncture clinical practice guidelines.
Acupuncture Treatment procedure: Detailed information on treatments which may be used in complementary and integrated medicine