A Brief Look at the Practice of Acupuncture

By Anika Logan

Acupuncture is a type of natural healing that has been around for thousands of years and first got its start in China over 2,000 years ago. Acupuncture is one of the oldest as well as one of the most commonly used of all natural therapies the world over. The breakthrough for Acupuncture in the United States took place in 1971 when a New York Times reporter by the name of James Reston wrote an article about how medical doctors in China made use of needles instead of pills to relieve the pain he suffered after undergoing surgery.

Healing and the Practice of Acupuncture

 Acupuncture, like many other forms of natural healing, considers the body to be a whole entity and does not break it down into individual components when illness strikes.  Acupuncture is a type of complementary and alternative medicine (also known simply as CAM) and does not just look at individual symptoms but looks at all aspects of a person, and takes into account their past medical history, their lifestyle, diet, exercise, etc. Acupuncture is the stimulation of various regions of the body by way of penetrating the skin with needles that are thin, metallic and solid, either manually or by way of electrical stimulation.

 The goal behind the practice of Acupuncture is to balance the life force or positive energy in the body known as qi and to get rid of the negative energy in the body, which is referred to as chi. If there is a build up of chi in the body then it can lead to any number of diseases and ailments.

Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine that people often turn to for help with health problems when they feel that conventional Western medicine cannot help them anymore or when they feel that their treatment would be helped along even faster by way of Acupuncture. More and more physicians are coming to see the benefits that can be attributed to Acupuncture and for that reason often refer their patients to acupuncturists. Often Acupuncture is a complement to western medicine such bas in the case of Cancer. Acupuncture is a type of treatment many people seek out in order to quit smoking or drinking.

If the time you spend at the hospital on conventional treatments and/or you are suffering financially due to treatments then it might be time to turn your attention to a complementary form of therapy such as Acupuncture. The price of Acupuncture varies from practice to practice and the more sessions you attend the more money you will spend, however it is still less costly than conventional methods of healing. Many people look to Acupuncture when conventional treatments cause too many side effects. Owe of the many benefits of Acupuncture is that it yields very few side effects, as long as it is conducted by a qualified individual.

If you are experiencing an ailment or a disease and wonder if Acupuncture could work to your advantage then seek out the services of a qualified Acupuncture practitioner to discuss your medical condition and possible routes for healing. An acupuncturist will need to find out the past medical history of a prospective patient including any allergies, diseases, surgeries, injuries, etc. It is important to be completely honest with the acupuncturist or else the person cannot be of help to you.

Health Conditions and Acupuncture

You might be surprised at how many health conditions Acupuncture is beneficial in treating. Many respiratory diseases respond well to Acupuncture. Some of these include the common head cold, acute sinusitis, acute tonsillitis, acute rhinitis, bronchitis and bronchial Asthma. Acupuncture has been shown to help improve many disorders of the eyes including cataracts with no complications, central retinitis, acute conjunctivitis, and myopia.

Acupuncture is very beneficial in helping rid a person of orthopedic disorders such as pain in the lower back, sciatica, rheumatoid Arthritis, tennis elbow, periarthritis and humeroscapularis. The mouth and the many disorders that can afflict it has been shown to respond in a positive manner to Acupuncture treatments. Try Acupuncture if you suffer pain after you have had a tooth removed or after you have developed a dry socket or experienced a Root Canal. Try Acupuncture as well if you suffer from gingivitis, a toothache, or pharyngitis.

If you experience stomach problems for any number of reasons then Acupuncture can easily come to your rescue, as it can be problems related to the nervous system Look to a qualified acupuncturist to help to relieve the symptoms of many neurological disorders as well as a variety of gastrointestinal disorders. Some neurological disorders that Acupuncture can help to relieve include headaches in general and in particular Migraine headaches, trigeminal neuralgia, facial paralysis, meniere's syndrome, peripheral neuropathy, nocturnal enuresis (or bed wetting), intercostals neuralgia, neurogenic bladder dysfunction, paralysis that is brought on by poliomyelitis and paralysis that is the result of an apoplectic fit.

As far as the digestive and gastrointestinal disorders are concerned, acupuncture is an excellent alternative form of medicine to turn to for help. The gastrointestinal problems that Acupuncture treats include gastroptosis, cardia spasms and esophageal spasms, hiccups, chronic duodenal ulcer, acute Colitis and chronic Colitis, constipation, Diarrhea, paralytic ileus, gastric hyperacidity and acute bacterial dysentery.

To learn more go to the website for the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine to be found at:

http://nccam.nih.gov/health/acupuncture/