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Do your knees, back or neck hurt? Do you suffer from nausea
and vomiting after a night out on the town? Do you have horrible
headaches? As an alternative to popping pills and lying in
bed feeling sorry for yourself, you can try the 2000-year-old
Chinese practice of Acupuncture to cure these most
common ailments.
What they do
Acupuncture is the Chinese healing art where needles are
inserted into certain points on the body in order to re-balance
the flow of Qi (pronounced chi) or energy throughout the body.
Traditional Chinese medicine holds that there are 2000 acupuncture
points on the body connected by 20 meridians or lines. Each
line acts as a conductor of Qi between the surface of the
skin and the internal organs, where each needle insertion
has a different affect on the energy that passes through it.
Once the needles are situated in their proper points, they
can be stimulated by electricity or moxa (burning herbs) to
add increased sensation. Unlike hypodermic needles, the ones
used for acupuncture are hair thin and are not designed to
break the skin or to be inserted at such a deep level. But
if you suffer from aicmophobia, the fear of needles,
acupuncture may not be for you!
Ancient philosophy
Acupuncture is based on ancient Chinese philosophical and
religious ideas. One of the most important concepts of all
Chinese medicine is natural balance, which is represented
in the symbol of Yin and Yang. Yin and Yang signify a continual
flow of anything and are inseparable. A harmonious relationship
between the two means healthy living and a disturbance in
this continual flow will lead to disease.
How it works
There is not one accepted theory on how acupuncture actually
works in curing the ailments that bother you. One theory states
that the needles actually block the pain signals on their
way to the spinal cord while another says that they stimulate
the body to produce endorphins, a common response to the initial
pain, which in turn alleviates all pain in any part of the
body, a theory like "If your head hurts, pinch your arm
and your head wont hurt anymore".
In the absence of real scientific proof, there are many who
hold acupuncture as a new, radical or even "quack"
medicine, especially in the West, and place it as the alternative
choice to more traditional forms of medicine. However, acupuncture
has become increasingly popular as a form of alternative cancer
therapy as well as curbing the side effects of cocaine withdrawal.
Even with its rise and fall over the years, acupuncture is
increasing in popularity and many people swear by its life
improving qualities. |
