Acupuncture Overview

What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a system of medicine that dates back over 3,500 years ago. It has been seen as one of the most ancient systems of healthcare known to humans. Acupuncture is one facet of Chinese Medicine, the other being Chinese Herbal Medicine, or Internal Medicine.  Together they work at restoring harmony or homeostasis in the body.  Chinese Medicine sees the body as dynamic complex organism, with all of its parts working together to ensure harmony.  Acupuncture sees disease stemming from a loss of communication on the energetic/physiological levels of the body.  Stress, poor lifestyle and eating habits, emotional upset and illness begin to disrupt the natural flow in the body.  This eventually leads to dis-ease as there is a disruption in the communication lines in the body.  Over time the body sends out warning signals, we call them symptoms.  Symptoms of dis-ease are the body's way of letting us know that communication needs to be restored.  Acupunctures restores communication.  If there is physical disruption due to injury to the body, communication is blocked and pain results.  Acupuncture has been shown to increase circulation and thereby unblock these areas resulting in the decrease of pain and the restoration of health.

Benefits of Acupuncture:  Acupuncture has been shown to provide numerous benefits to the body.  Some of these include increasing circulation, decreasing pain, promoting restorative sleep, regulating the digestive tract, regulating the menstrual cycles, strengthening the immune system and preventing disease.  One of its essential abilities is to help the body regulate and cope with stress.  Stress is a condition that effects us on many levels and is now being seen as the number one cause of most degenerative diseases seen in modern society.  Acupuncture has the added benefit of being able to treat multiple conditions at the same time.  Again, something very crucial in a time when conventional medicine has become so specialized and compartamentalized that several conditions may necessitate the need to see several different physicians.  If you are seeking care for pain but also have sleeping problems, digestive difficulties, depression and blood pressure issues, they can all be addressed in your treatment.  And most importantly, Acupuncture is Safe and Natural and Effective!  We always advocate working with your primary care physician and other practitioners in your support system. 

How it Works: Acupuncture works along channel pathways or meridians. These are seen as active centers in the body that are in contact with all levels of the body, from the skin to the organs themselves. The points, xue, are described as “holes” or whirlpools. These areas are thought to be in constant motion, acting as entrances into the channels. Tiny thin sterile stainless steel needles are gently placed into specific areas of the body. Acupuncture is NOT be painful. You may feel some sensation as the needle is inserted, such as a deep pressure, a pinch, a change in temperature, or you may not feel anything. Once the needle has been inserted, there should never be discomfort.  During an acupuncture treatment, the needles form a circuit so that they communicate. This circuit may work with your body to bring relief of discomfort to some areas while strengthening others. Acupuncture treats YOU, not your dis-ease. In treating YOU, all areas in your body that may need strengthening or cleansing are worked on.

Biomedical View: Some acupuncture points may work along certain nerve or synaptic pathways, releasing endorphins or other chemicals to promote physiological reactions in the body.  Some studies have shown that there is less resistance in the magnetic force at the acupuncture point then in the surrounding tissue. This demonstrates that the energy and pull at that exact location is significantly different and can bring about change when activated/needled.  Other research shows that acupuncture helps to block the pain stimulus pathways.  During acupuncture, respiration is regulated and circulation has been shown to increase to the limbs when needled in those areas.  Scalp acupuncture focuses on the motor and sensory points to help with balance, strength, and sensory areas.  It is used for symptoms of stroke, bell's palsy, headaches, tinnitus and trigeminal neuralgia.  Ear acupuncture has a vast clinical use, but is extensively researched and used for its effectiveness in addictions and detoxification programs.

The Efficacy of Acupuncture:  There are some people who feel that the results of Acupuncture are due to a psychological effect or "placebo effect."  Many people ask, "does it really work?"  I always find this an amusing question, but a simple one to answer..."YES, it does work!"  And yes, there is an abundant source of research to attest to its ability to promote healing.  Our Western mind is challenged by a medicine that cannot be "proven" according to scientific deductive methods.  It is trying to fit one paradigm into the model of another and expecting to measure its abilities accordingly.  I urge people to open their minds and expand their thinking beyond what we were raised to believe is the ONLY way to prove a therapy's worth.  If we review our own history of "scientific" data, many therapies and pharmaceuticals were not able to be proven in a traditional sense.  We knew that aspirin helped with pain and headaches, but doctors and scientists could not explain the pathways in which it worked in the body until much later on after its acceptance as a pain reliever in our society.   

Psychological Benefit:  Yes, there is a psychological effect to acupuncture.  In fact, there is a psychological effect to anything we take part in.  But, isn't that a positive attribute?  If you believe in what you're doing and you get excellent results, isn't that a good thing?  Hopefully we all do things because we believe in them.  Science can no longer deny the power of positive thinking and the scientific backing behind it.  Many patients question whether its just the acupuncture that is helping versus eating better vs other complementary treatments versus their belief in the process.  My response is always: if the combination of what you are doing is working, isn't that what is most important?   We advocate using as many positive therapies and lifestyle modifications as you can.  They can only help you. 

In Chinese Medicine, things are never black and white.  Illness is rarely due to just one cause, so why should healing be?  I encourage everyone to read through our Testimonial pages to see how Acupuncture has greatly effected the lives of so many of the people we have treated.

The fundamental premise from which Chinese Medicine originated was from Yin Yang Theory. In Chinese theory, Yin and Yang, or the theory of opposites, are contained within everything. Dichotomies exist everywhere and they are the premise from which balance and health are maintained. Some common opposites are sun/moon, day/night, male/female, health/disease, summer/winter, north/south. Looking at the Tai chi ball (pictured) this represent Yin Yang. The black/white represent the opposite forces. It shows that these opposites are in movement and at different points in the circle, they are at relatively different strengths. There is no point within the circle where there is only black or only white. Even when one is at its apex, there is a Seed (the smaller inner circle) of the other color still present. Yin Yang theory demonstrates that everything contains its opposite and everything is always moving or changing. In Chinese Medical Theory, the root of all disease is an imbalance in the natural flow and change of Yin Yang within the body. In Western science, this may be defined as homeostasis.

Yin Yang can be translated into every physiological function body and emotional component of the mind. Let’s take the cardiovascular system for example: The Heart can be seen as a Yin organ but its activity of pumping can be seen as its Yang component. The arteries can be seen as Yin because they hold the blood, while the blood moving through them can be seen as a Yang. All of these need to be working in harmony in order for the body to maintain proper circulation. A disruption in one area will thereby affect everything else. Again, since Yin and Yang exist at different levels within everything, in different instances a Yin component can be seen as Yang and vice versa. For example, the front of the body is considered more Yin, while the back of the body is seen as more Yang. But in dividing the Front of the body in half, the upper half which contains the head and torso or seen as Yang when compared to the lower half of the body, the lower abdomen and legs.

Five Element Theory:
Chinese Medicine theory states that we are comprised of the same Elements that make up the Universe: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood. These Five Elements engender and control each other in ways that correspond to the Natural Laws of the Universe. Our bodies also follow these Laws. All physiological disease and emotional disorders that arise within the body first originate from imbalances (excess and deficiencies) in these Elements. In Chinese Medicine, people’s constitutions and personalities are also defined by which Element(s) are most prominent. The manner in which these Elements work within our body mimics the way they act in our environment. For example, Fire is hot, spreads quickly its nature is to rise and to be fierce. A person with excess Fire will tend to be easily angered, be described as a “hot head.” This person may tend to feel warm easily and suffer from headaches, high blood pressure and tinnitus (all conditions that rise to the upper areas of the body). This person would be diagnosed with having Excess Fire. The Practitioner would use acupuncture points, herbal formulas, foods and breathing exercises that would help to drain the excess Fire and nourish other Elements that may be deficient, thereby restoring balance within the body.