Have you ever had a headache? How about joint pain? Or, lower back pain? And, what if I told you there is a 2,000-year-old-plus Chinese healing practice called acupuncture that has been shown to help with those and many more medical issues?
In this week’s article, I am going to introduce you to acupuncture, as it may sound painful and mysterious, and therefore, sorely misunderstood. I’ll then give a bit of history of acupuncture so you can understand how it developed into what it is today. And, finally, I will cover some of the latest research that sheds new light of the benefits of acupuncture married into modern medicine.
What Is Acupuncture?
According to the National Institutes of Health, “[a]cupuncture is a technique in which practitioners stimulate specific points on the body—most often by inserting thin needles through the skin.”
The goal of acupuncture, like all other Chinese ancient healing practices, is to engage the body in its own healing process. By stimulating surrounding nerves, acupuncture excites the brain to release endorphins related to those acupoints (i.e., acupuncture points), connecting the body’s organs and systems, increases blood flow, and many other collateral benefits to the affected areas.
If you want to go deep into how acupuncture works, watch the video below from California-based acupuncturist, Lloyd G. Wright, LAc, DNBAO. He does a wonderful job of explaining the Law of Five Elements and how acupuncture fits into this paradigm for internal and external ailments.
And, as you can see in the next video, Oprah isn’t quite the biggest fan of getting these fine needles put in her hand and foot. However, she’s a good sport for the audience, even though you can tell she’s scared of them. But, remarkably, she feels just the slightest sensation as the needles go in. (After all, acupuncture needles are between 38 and 32 gauge; that’s not much thicker than a strand of hair.) That’s how thin they are, as Dr. Oz explains.
History of Acupuncture
To truly understand acupuncture, you must understand its history and the greater context of Chinese ancient healing practices. If you haven’t read our article on the history of Qigong, it’s definitely a good, related read.
While developed between 2,000 to 5,000 years ago, as the trial-and-error practice of the ancient art of acupuncture became better and more refined, acupuncture is borne out of the theory of the five elements (as explained by Dr. Wright above) and meridians (those lines connecting acupoints from earlier). And, the actual process of using these fine needles to invigorate these nerve areas was probably used closer to circa 500 BCE.
Fast forward to the 20th century, and hundreds of millions of Asians throughout the world practice some form of acupuncture daily. While the tools are more refined, and even electrical stimulus is now an added feature in many Indian acupuncture practices, acupuncture has remained fundamentally the same.
Remarkably, acupuncture came to the popular attention of medical professionals of the Western World through President Nixon’s visit to China in 1972. James Reston, The New York Times reporter, had an appendectomy and experienced the benefits of acupuncture, and reported back to Americans, which sparked international interest.
New Acupuncture Research Ushers It Into the Modern Medical Era
Acupuncture, like many ancient healing practices, have provided a challenge to scientific research unable to measure things like qi. So, skepticism abounds in medical communities unfamiliar with its history and rigorous testing throughout the Eastern medical world. Most people dismissing it as placebo effect.
However, we are seeing medical practitioners pairing acupuncture more and more with traditional medical procedures from findings showing its benefits of pain relief for chronic issues (like arthritis) and acute conditions (such as cancer treatments).
After six years of in-depth study, in 2012, The New York Times reported about the findings of “Dr. Andrew J. Vickers, attending research methodologist at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and the lead author of the study.” What was the research teams’ conclusion? “The researchers, who published their results in Archives of Internal Medicine, found that acupuncture outperformed sham treatments and standard care when used by people suffering from osteoarthritis, migraines and chronic back, neck and shoulder pain.”
This finding accumulated the raw data from 29 studies around the world and involved 30 to 40 global researchers. With this kind of robust evidence about acupunctures’ pain relief benefits, I am sure we will see more studies performed to see about additional benefits provided by acupuncture.
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For anyone looking for treatment from any ailment, all options should be on the table. Many times it’s a combination of treatments that solve a gnarly medical problem. And, acupuncture should definitely be a consideration if you have concerns about synthetic pain-relieving drugs’ side effects. While it’s imperative that a competent acupuncturist with clean instruments works on you, acupuncture has shown little to no adverse effects.
Have you ever had acupuncture performed on you? What was your experience with acupuncture? Let us know in the comments!