Acupuncture may seem exotic and mysterious in the movies, but the clients of the Asheville Center for Acupuncture count on its practical, effective results.
As you probably know, acupuncture uses sterilized, hair-thin needles to stimulate points on or near the surface of the skin. It is the precise placement of this stimulation that creates healing. Happily, since the treatment occurs so near the surface of the skin and within such small points, visits are usually completely painless and relaxing. Some patients have even been known to fall asleep during treatment.
How does acupuncture work?
While Eastern and Western Physicians generally agree on the effectiveness of acupuncture, their explanations of how it works differ greatly.
The Eastern view of medicine is often described as holistic. In other words, acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine focus on the interaction of entire systems within the body, whereas the Western view traditionally stresses the functioning of individual organs. Because of their systemic approach, Chinese Medical practitioners speak in terms of the body's vital energy or chi. The oriental explanation for acupuncture's success stresses it's ability to regulate the flow of energy or remove blockages from the body's main energy pathways or meridians.
Western Medicine practitioners seek to understand acupuncture with their own well-established way of viewing things. Their view goes something like this:
Acupuncture stimulates the nervous system and creates specific brain activity, particularly of the hypothalamic-pituitary system. A skilled acupuncturist's treatments can release neurotransmitters or endorphins for pain blocking, serotonin for mood elevation or dietary discomfort, or a wealth of other chemicals that naturally occur as part of the body's normal immune system.
Medical practitioners of both systems agree that acupuncture makes use of the body's natural immune system to achieve healing. But, more importantly, experts from both traditions agree that acupuncture works. Western medicine has done hundreds of clinical trials to test the effectiveness of acupuncture. The results have been remarkable Evidence of acupuncture's effectiveness continues to mount. Today, even the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' National Institute of Health accepts the validity of acupuncture and discusses its benefits on their website.
Acupuncture is one of the oldest, most commonly used medical procedures in the world. But it is only one part of Traditional Chinese Medicine. As such, it remains the preferred treatment method for over one fourth of the world's population, with a history of success and improvement that exceeds two thousand years. |