Life in modern society is pretty exciting – we get to see, feel and taste the culture of the world wherever we are, and America is most certainly a melting pot for so many cultures and experiences.
This can be said for the medicinal side of life, as well.
Ancient Acupuncture Treatment, for one, is one of those practices that made it’s way fast into the modern man’s lifestyle. This Eastern medical practice can now be enjoyed, for the most part, everywhere around the world with many western cultures adopting the benefits of ancient acupuncture treatment.
But are we sure it actually works, and how much do we know about acupuncture?
What Is Acupuncture, Exactly?
Ancient Acupuncture Treatment involves the insertion of tiny and sharp needles into your skin at strategic points in your body. As a part of traditional Chinese medicine, its purpose is to treat pain, stress, and overall wellness of the body and mind.
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Benefits of ancient acupuncture treatment include balancing the flow of energy or life force, known as chi. It is believed that energy flows like pathways or meridians through our bodies.
For Western medicine, these pathways are actually nerve endings that, when pressed right, stimulate nerves, muscles, and connective tissue. The western medical culture has yet to embrace bioenergetic medicine fully.
Often practitioners use a combination between Eastern and Western medicine to determine, detect and take care of the problem. Ancient Acupuncture Treatments usually take about 60 minutes and, if the problem zone requires it, you may need two or three sessions a week.
Energy Medicine is a branch of Integrative Medicine that studies the scientific implications of subtle energies and our bioenergetic system. Western Medicine focuses on the internal systems such as the organs, tissues, cells, etc. Physiology is how the body interacts with its environment such as the energy received from these energy fields. The bioenergetic system is more of a functional system or a system that relates to the external and internal environment of the person.
Energy Medicine was a term coined by three researchers in the late 1980s. They defined Energy Medicine as the energy that interacted with the biological system to bring about homeostasis. In the 1990s, The National Institutes of Health defined Complementary and Alternative Medicine through five subdivisions; Mind-Body Medicine, Biologically based practices, Energy Medicine, Manipulative and Body-Based Practices, and Whole Medical Systems. At the core of all of these modalities is subtle energy, also known as vital force life energy or chi, that sustains life.
When Should You Have Ancient Acupuncture Treatment?
One of the benefits of ancient acupuncture treatment is to heal your body faster after a surgery, accident, or any other medicinal intervention. It could ease the pain after being to the dentist, headaches, lower back pain, osteoarthritis, and even menstrual cramps. It is most commonly used for pain relief.
Does Acupuncture Have Side-Effects?
Risk-wise, professionals claim the possibilities of something backfiring or going wrong are pretty low.
Common side effects are bleeding or having a sore or bruise where the needles have been.
Even if the risk possibility is low, there may be complications if you have a bleeding disorder, have a pacemaker (or any other electronic device inserted in your body), or are pregnant. Pregnant women are at risk because some of the pressure points or pathways that are set to relieve them of stress may cause premature birth.
Are Needles Called That Because We Need Them?
The thing that everyone agrees on is that ancient acupuncture treatment works and works best if the person’s mindset is open to it.
Western and Eastern medicine recommend a certain level of commitment to the idea that it will help to feel the actual effect of the treatment.
Another key factor is to have expectations of receiving what you expect to receive. It sounds odd, but many people agree that it works best when this is a part of the process.
Ka-Kit-Hui is the founder and director of the UCLA Centre for East-West medicine, and his take on the health benefits of ancient acupuncture is that it works by activating the body’s self-healing mechanism.
Hui continues by saying that it should be a part of a comprehensive approach to solving problems rather than looking at it as a cure on its own.
It is fascinating how professionals are looking to present ancient acupuncture treatment to the medical world as a substitute for opioids, especially the ones that are given after medical manipulations to the body.
For some institutions globally, there is no better way to treat patients that undergo chemotherapy than acupuncture.
To Wrap It Up
The bottom line is that western doctors learn more and more about the techniques and possible outcomes of acupuncture each year. More facilities are open to these services, and while we do not currently offer them we are very open to referring them. I personally appreciate ancient acupuncture treatments and the benefits that they provide.
Even if we can’t understand and explain the technique to its molecular level, it doesn’t mean it’s not effective. So go ahead and try it for yourself, it might as well be the next best thing you have done for your health, body, and mind! Acupuncture is a widely recognized system of healthcare that has the capacity to treat numerous symptoms and disease processes.
References
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27641603/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6396053/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2952118/
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