Acupuncture Therapy: The ABCs You Need to Know

The lifestyle that most people have today can at times be described as unhealthy and with it comes the inevitable health problems. Medical breakthroughs have been steady through the years, but most Westerners are now opening their minds and bodies to what is traditionally a non-Western health or therapy thought. One well loved alternative medicine is acupuncture therapy.

Acupuncture therapy, what exactly is it? The unsettling image that usually pops in our minds when we speak of acupuncture is that of the Chinese poking needles into their skins. Acupuncture, as a practice, has its roots in ancient China and is normally placed under habitual Chinese medicine.

Acupuncture Therapy 101

Acupuncture therapy is often times considered by some people as an ineffective corrective method simply since it does not make sense to them. So, to shed light on the perennial inquiry of what is acupuncture to the uninformed, here are a few basics to know about acupuncture:

1. Acupuncture therapy utilizes fine filiform needles being inserted into specific points in the body, either for general corrective purposes or specific for pain relief. These specific points (meridians) in the body are where we can find life energy (qi) flows.
2. Acupuncture points, in most cases, are located in the twelve main meridians that correspond to vital body organs like the kidney, liver or lungs. Acupuncture can be helpful in treating a range of health problems.
3. Owing to its Oriental beginnings as well as lack of anatomical or histological basis for its medical claims, acupuncture therapy it has been attacked by Western scientists and doctors. Some consider it as a mere myth; though, several studies have shown that it is indeed an effective treatment of some health circumstances.
4. Acupuncture therapy places an emphasis on the free flow of blood and qi. Qi is trying to turn in the English language but it can be viewed as a form of life energy. When certain body parts encounter unnecessary or unsatisfactory levels of qi, sometimes there is stagnation of qi in the body. Acupuncture therapy is used as a technique to balance the qi excess or deficiency by promoting its free flow and either draining it if there is an excess or replenishing it if there is a deficiency.

Habitual Chinese medicine looks at health as a symbiosis of yin and yang in the body. Yin and yang, which are distinct forces that work collectively, can be compared to dark and light, male and female, or high and low. Acupuncture therapy in the Western world then becomes a blending of the East and the West, yin and yang, thus making it an intriguing corrective art. Some initially considered it as a mere myth (and some may still find it as such) but, over the years, it has been scientifically researched. In fact, acupuncture therapy has been well-methodical in the treatment of several health circumstances in the Western world.