TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) uses herbs, acupuncture, and nutrition to bring the body into balance. We will get into herbs and nutrition in a different blog, so let’s spend time here with acupuncture, which has been used effectively for more than 2,000 years. During the Cultural Revolution in the 1960s, studies were conducted to determine whether Traditional Chinese Medicine would continue to be used as the preferred method of healing. The results led to the decision to integrate the best of both Chinese and Western methods.
The FDA and the World Health Organization have determined that acupuncture is an effective method of treatment for many conditions. Amongst them are joint pain, headaches, digestive problems, menstrual problems (including infertility, menopause, and PMS), digestive problems (including ulcers, gastritis, colitis, constipation and irritable bowel syndrome) and nervous system disorders, such as neuropathy or stroke.
The physical practice of acupuncture involves inserting small, thin needles into certain points on the body in order to change energy movement. There are more than 300 acupuncture points on the body. Each has a different effect on the body. When the energy movement of the body is balanced, it will heal itself naturally. It first came to the United States in the 1970s after Richard Nixon visited China and has since become one of the most popular alternative medicine techniques in our country.
Most needles used in conventional medicine are hollow and beveled, so they cut your tissues as they go through, which is why they hurt. They have to cut, so they can be used to extract blood or deliver medication. Acupuncture needles don’t hurt when inserted because they are designed more like pins, to slide through the tissues without cutting them.
When energy is balanced, the cells will restore themselves to their natural state. Studies show that when acupuncture is used for pain, endorphins are released, allowing the body to feel less pain. For infertility, acupuncture seems to help the body produce more hormones. For bronchitis or flu symptoms it has been found to increase the immune cells needed to fight the virus. In studies of people with ulcers, it seems to help the stomach balance acid production.
While acupuncture can also be helpful for mental disorders such as depression, anxiety, and mania, it is not used for this in China, where mentally ill people are placed in institutions.
Some conditions respond better to acupuncture than to western modalities. There are areas in which western medicine can not provide a diagnosis, yet in Chinese medicine, the symptoms fit into a pattern. One such condition is fibromyalgia, a condition that western medicine doesn’t really recognize. In Chinese medicine, it can happen after you’ve had the flu or some other viral illness. If a viral syndrome doesn’t clear through your body completely, it will cause a low grade chronic imbalance that can interfere with sleep, cause hormones to become imbalanced, and lead to pain in the body. You may know people who say they have never been completely well since they had a certain illness.
For those who have had complicated illnesses, such as cancer, autoimmune disease or heart disease, acupuncture can enhance other treatments and help the body respond better, with fewer side effects. When you need surgery, acupuncture can often be used to decrease swelling, pain and complications. In Japan, acupuncture is routinely used for postoperative care after plastic surgery because it decreases swelling.
With the recent controversy about hormone replacement therapy, Chinese medicine can be a very useful alternative. Sometimes hot flashes can be treated with acupuncture alone, and when it isn’t adequate there’s a wide variety of Chinese herbs that can be used to balance your body so symptoms of menopause are decreased.
Many of us are afraid of needles and are reluctant to consider acupuncture for fear of pain. Acupuncture is mostly painless. The next time you have a problem that isn’t easily helped by medical treatment, consider having an evaluation from a Chinese medicine specialist.
Patients ask me if they have to be a “believer” in order for acupuncture to work. I always say that my favorite clients are those who don’t believe. Often people come to me for treatment even if they don’t believe in acupuncture, because they’re desperate for help or frustrated over taking too many medications. I enjoy seeing them experience a new way of healing as they come to realize that acupuncture is effective. After their initial skepticism, they often become my best referral sources.
