Welcome to The Natural Health Corner. I am Josh Singer, a licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of Oriental Medicine in Montpelier. I’ll be sharing monthly ideas on various health topics, mostly through the lens of Chinese Medicine. My hope is that there is something in here that may benefit you.
As an introduction, Traditional Chinese Medicine is seen to have five branches of therapies to help regulate the functioning of the body. These are Acupuncture, Herbal Medicine, Massage, Nutrition, and Exercise. We’ll talk about acupuncture here and describe the usefulness of the other branches in following months.
Acupuncture is known to have been practiced originally in China over 3,000 years ago. Because it has been used for that amount of time and for a large portion of the world’s population, most health conditions are treated with acupuncture. People often ask, “Can acupuncture treat …?” The answer is almost always yes. In modern times, the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization has recognized acupuncture as effective for a long list of medical problems. The most common reasons that people seek acupuncture are pain for any reason, headaches, circulatory problems, gastrointestinal problems, immune system support, fertility, pregnancy and menopausal support, insomnia, anxiety and tension, and addiction.
The needles that are used are extremely thin stainless steel, about the diameter of a few strands of hair. An insertion guide tube is commonly used to assist in quick and painless insertion. The sensations that may be felt have been described as a pressure, dull sensation, warmth, or a dispersing feeling. The number and placement of needles varies depending upon the condition and the person. There may be from 4 to 15 needles placed throughout the body. Needles generally remain in place for a period of 15-45 minutes, again dependent on the person and condition. A sense of relaxation can be expected during and after an acupuncture treatment. The practitioner will ask many questions about both the main complaint and the rest of the body’s functioning. Along with this questioning, the acupuncturist observes the pulse and tongue to help in making an accurate diagnosis in order to effectively choose the appropriate points to stimulate.
Rather than taking a symptomatic approach to illness, Traditional Chinese Medicine treats underlying imbalances by stimulating the body’s own innate healing ability. Given the proper environment, our bodies are designed to correct dysfunction that occurs. The scientifically observed effects that acupuncture has on the brain and nervous system, internal organ functioning, and at local areas of needling helps us understand why it is consistently helpful in assisting the body’s return to normal functioning.
Though our bodies show similar structures, we are each individuals. How our bodies have gotten to their current state is unique to each person and this should be surely a part of diagnosing and treating illness. With acupuncture, the points chosen to treat each person who presents with migraine headaches may be quite different. We look to understand the root imbalance through that Chinese medical lens.
” The data in support of acupuncture is as strong as those for many accepted Western medical therapies. One of the advantages of acupuncture is that the incidence of adverse effects is substantially lower than that of many drugs and other accepted medical procedures used for the same conditions.”
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) Consensus Conference on Acupuncture, 1997
Here are some images that can be put in if there’s space: