One of the most common questions an acupuncturist is asked is: “How does acupuncture work”. When people ask this question they generally expect an easy and quick answer, however there never is an easy or quick answer, because acupuncture is not a simple therapy. Acupuncture works on many levels and is a very complicated system of medicine.
So lets start with the explanation of how acupuncture works. Firstly there are two types of explanation that can be given.
1) The scientific explanation
2) The philosophical explanation that relates to TCM.
So lets start with the scientific explanation first.
Acupuncture sets the stage in the neuro-endocrine system of tissue repair and endorphin release, which in itself lowers inflammation and causes tissue to repair. This puts us in a parasympathetic mode, where tissue replacement increases. There is also an increase in the secretion of endorphins, which lowers cortisol. The acupuncture needles will stimulate the release of anti-inflammatories in your body, such as Beta Endorphins which are about 200 times stronger than morphine.
Blood tests and MRIs prove:
1) Acupuncture can repair damaged tissue and create new healthy tissue.
2) Acupuncture will modulate your neuro endocrine system.
3) Acupuncture vasodilate’s your injured body part.
4) Acupuncture reduces swelling in the nerve endings that keep sending pain signals to the brain.
So lets proceed with a few facts before going on to the philosophical details. Firstly there are several styles of acupuncture, such as:
1) Traditional Chinese Medicine, known as TCM
2) Korean style of acupuncture.
3) Japanese style.
4) Dr. Richard Tan’s Balance Method
5) Tungs Points
6) Taiwanese style.
To complicate the picture even more there are several theories of treatment style, such as “hologram theory’, “tissue correspondence theory” “Yin and Yang, the balance method” and “homologous effects” and many more that complicate the explanation of how acupuncture actually works.
Another stumbling block is the fact that you cannot patent acupuncture therefor if clinical studies are carried out to see how effective acupuncture may be for a particular health condition, at the end of the day you have nothing to patent in order to guarantee you will have a financial return for the outlay. The fact is, clinical trials can cost millions of dollars and simply put, there are few if any corporations or authorities in medicine that will put this kind of money up front without a guarantee of financial return.
Over the last few decades there have been various attempts at trying to explain how acupuncture works and various theories have shown to be very promising such as “The Gate Control Theory”, “The endorphin Theory”, “The Current of Injury Theory” and several more. Now whist it may be true to say that some of these theories partially explain acupuncture they tend to fall seriously short of a fully comprehensive explanation as to how acupuncture actually does work.
The philosophical explanation of how acupuncture works:There are 14 Acupuncture channels that run the length of your body these channels are known as meridians, at certain sections along these meridians there are areas known as acupuncture points, the acupuncturist will insert a given amount of acupuncture needles into these points to stimulate the flow of chi (Qi) that runs through these meridians in order to re-balance your body and restore health. So in a nutshell that is the philosophical explanation (simplified).
The acupuncture points that are selected are chosen by the acupuncturist during the initial consultation and several acupuncture points would be used on more than one meridian channel and points chosen would be based on the diagnosis, such as a hot condition or cold condition, yang excess or deficiency or yin excess/deficiency ect. common TCM diagnosis therefor can be; stomach yin deficiency or Kidney yang deficiency and so on. The only potential issue with this is the patient has no understanding of what a kidney yang deficiency is however this diagnosis is vital for accurate acupuncture point selection.
Moving along
Over the last 50 years there have been hundreds of studies on acupuncture, in 2003 The World Health Organization (WHO) did an audit on all of the peer reviewed studies on the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment and found that acupuncture is excellent in treating over 90 different health conditions and over 70 of these were shown to be more effectively treated with acupuncture than surgery and drugs combined This is also fact.
It has also been discovered that the tissue that wraps around your organs and muscles known as Fascia, form’s specific channels that run the entire course of the body and are called, ‘Fascia tissue lines’, in fact if you have surgery the surgeon will cut along these lines to minimize scar tissue (when possible). Fascia is also known as, “The Myofascia system”.
It is also known that these fascia lines follow the same pathways as acupuncture meridians.
Another fact is that Fascia grows in the same way that crystal forms and Fascia is an excellent conductor of electricity as are many types of crystals. An electrical current runs along these Fascial lines (acupuncture meridians) and is generated by the central nervous system and is otherwise known in acupuncture as Chi (Qi).
The facts so far are:
1) We know that acupuncture channels ( meridians) exist.
2) We know that acupuncture points exist.
3) We know that the electrical current produced by the central nervous system and conducted along nerve pathways and the Myofascia system is known in Chinese medicine as chi.
4) We also know through the audit done by the world health organization that clinical trials show acupuncture to work and in many cases better than surgery and pharmaceuticals combined.
So as you can see the explanation as to how acupuncture works can be complex also this explanation has been simplified so as not to bore the reader with long winded technical explanations that could easily be 100 pages long or more.
Conclusion: so there we have it. There really is sufficient evidence to show acupuncture to work and to explain how it works beyond question.
when you choose acupuncture to deal with your health issues you are choosing a drug free holistic approach to your health with one of the worlds most used and time honoured medical treatments with over 5000 years of guiding philosophy and historical use to back it up, a system of medicine used by kings and queens, dynasties, armies, presidents and prime minister’s, the rich and poor alike world wide.
However at the end of the day to you as the consumer is it really so important that you know how acupuncture works, just know that it does, after all is it important to you that you know how your microwave oven works before you buy it or is it acceptable to you to just know that it does.
Regardless of your medically diagnosed condition acupuncture is the worlds most used form of natural medicine, it is also the worlds most versatile medical procedure offering a variety of treatment options. Acupuncture has stood the test of time, is drug free and is a natural treatment choice. To find out how acupuncture can improve your health why not call Acu-Care Naturopathics today.
Best of health
Paul Neilson