According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), illness and disease are caused by imbalances or breaks in the flow of life force throughout the body. To restore its harmonious flow and health, this "qi" or life force is manipulated by the inserting fine needles into acupuncture points throughout the body. These acupuncture points are primary to the practice of acupuncture by licensed acupuncturists, and according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, there are dozens of them all over the human body.
One class of acupuncture points is the Five Transporting Points System, which uses the analogy of rivers and points to describe the system of meridians and acupuncture points. When there is a free flow qi through this system, there is no pain; when there is pain, there is a disruption in the system's flow. There are more than 360 stimulation or acupuncture points in the meridians, and it is within these points that acupuncture needles are inserted during an acupuncture treatment session.
If, like most people, you have a fear of needles, you've probably avoided acupuncture as a healing modality. You'll be glad to know, however, that the needles used in acupuncture are so fine that they are painless in the vast majority of cases. And since they are only inserted millimeters deep, they do not draw blood. Licensed acupuncturists have hundreds of hours of training, making them quite adept at making acupuncture sessions as pain-free as possible. When a needle's insertion is felt in rare instances, the sensation is so mild that it resembles only a minor bite from an insect such as a mosquito. So fear not; acupuncture is not a masochistic exercise but a health-producing one.
Where exactly do the meridians exist? What paths do they take throughout the body? While TCM has already mapped them out, Western science is still trying to play catchup with its own set of tools. The challenge lies, however, in the subtlety of this life force energy, which prevents Western tools from being able to reliably detect it yet. Westerners have tried mapping the meridians to blood or nerve pathways with little success. Some now believe that the connective tissues in the body may hold the meridians.
However, Western scientists have gathered data suggesting acupuncture points are strategic conductors of electromagnetic signals. The Gate Theory supposes that pain signals must pass through high traffic "gates" as they move from an area of pain or injury through the spinal cord and to the brain. Like streets or freeways, there is a limited to the amount of traffic or signals that these gates can carry.
Acupuncture helps to generate signals which move faster than the pain signals, crowding those pain signals out because of the limited capacity of the nerves. The pain signals are thus blocked from reaching the brain. The acupuncture signals may also start the flow of endorphins and other pain-reducing hormones and chemicals, or perhaps signal the immune system to pay attention to specific body parts.
Regardless of how acupuncture works, experimental and clinical studies have shown that it not only minimizes pain but also has a direct effect on many of the body's systems: circulation, blood production, blood pressure, and immune function. The stimulation of acupuncture points also causes the brain to release hormones and other neuro-chemicals which affect the muscles, spine and brain in positive ways.
Acupuncture is still in many ways a mystery to Western medicine. That by no means, however, diminishes its efficacy. Whether acupuncture works by balancing the complementary forces of yin and yang in the body or by manipulating the electrical signals of the nerves, we don't have a definite answer yet. We do know, however that acupuncture works wonders on many modern ailments, and that it is, in many cases, at least as effective as Western modalities in eradicating pain, promoting health, and restoring well-being.
One class of acupuncture points is the Five Transporting Points System, which uses the analogy of rivers and points to describe the system of meridians and acupuncture points. When there is a free flow qi through this system, there is no pain; when there is pain, there is a disruption in the system's flow. There are more than 360 stimulation or acupuncture points in the meridians, and it is within these points that acupuncture needles are inserted during an acupuncture treatment session.
If, like most people, you have a fear of needles, you've probably avoided acupuncture as a healing modality. You'll be glad to know, however, that the needles used in acupuncture are so fine that they are painless in the vast majority of cases. And since they are only inserted millimeters deep, they do not draw blood. Licensed acupuncturists have hundreds of hours of training, making them quite adept at making acupuncture sessions as pain-free as possible. When a needle's insertion is felt in rare instances, the sensation is so mild that it resembles only a minor bite from an insect such as a mosquito. So fear not; acupuncture is not a masochistic exercise but a health-producing one.
Where exactly do the meridians exist? What paths do they take throughout the body? While TCM has already mapped them out, Western science is still trying to play catchup with its own set of tools. The challenge lies, however, in the subtlety of this life force energy, which prevents Western tools from being able to reliably detect it yet. Westerners have tried mapping the meridians to blood or nerve pathways with little success. Some now believe that the connective tissues in the body may hold the meridians.
However, Western scientists have gathered data suggesting acupuncture points are strategic conductors of electromagnetic signals. The Gate Theory supposes that pain signals must pass through high traffic "gates" as they move from an area of pain or injury through the spinal cord and to the brain. Like streets or freeways, there is a limited to the amount of traffic or signals that these gates can carry.
Acupuncture helps to generate signals which move faster than the pain signals, crowding those pain signals out because of the limited capacity of the nerves. The pain signals are thus blocked from reaching the brain. The acupuncture signals may also start the flow of endorphins and other pain-reducing hormones and chemicals, or perhaps signal the immune system to pay attention to specific body parts.
Regardless of how acupuncture works, experimental and clinical studies have shown that it not only minimizes pain but also has a direct effect on many of the body's systems: circulation, blood production, blood pressure, and immune function. The stimulation of acupuncture points also causes the brain to release hormones and other neuro-chemicals which affect the muscles, spine and brain in positive ways.
Acupuncture is still in many ways a mystery to Western medicine. That by no means, however, diminishes its efficacy. Whether acupuncture works by balancing the complementary forces of yin and yang in the body or by manipulating the electrical signals of the nerves, we don't have a definite answer yet. We do know, however that acupuncture works wonders on many modern ailments, and that it is, in many cases, at least as effective as Western modalities in eradicating pain, promoting health, and restoring well-being.
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