The True Meaning of Acupuncture
Acupuncture is an ancient and innovative Chinese Medicinal procedure, similar and linked to the other ancient technique of Acupressure. Just like acupressure, there is an emphasis on the energy path points on the skin and the need for energy to flow well through the body.
Good health is associated with energy, called chi or qi, flowing freely through the meridian channels; disease or injury blocks the chi preventing the free flow of energy. There are totally 14 paths of energy meridians in our body and 365 acupuncture points distributed on the surface of the body along these 14 meridians
Trapped energy or Chi is stimulated and released by inserting special needles at specific locations or through acupressure depending on the nature of the illness. It is something like clearing the blocks in the path of the river to allow its free flow again. Chi may also flow either too quickly or too slowly, in which case acupuncture is used to regulate the stream of energy.
The needles used in Acupuncture where found by archaeologists in the digs of the Shang Dynasty which dates back to 1000 BC; for the past four thousand years the Chinese have been practicing acupuncture as a form of medicine. Acupuncture is of three kinds: traditional Yin/Yang Theory, Five Elements and the Western or medical acupuncture. Although all three have the same system of points and they use similar methods of diagnosis, each takes a dissimilar approach towards treatment of an illness and its cause.
The basis of five element acupuncture is the five element cycle seen in Chinese medicine; the underlying belief is that an illness can be due to a physical cause or emotional stress. Based on this it is thought that only if inner stress is taken care off then physical illness or symptoms can be cured.
Since the main emphasis within the five elements theory focuses on treating an illness’s underlying cause, one should realize that it can be a very slow process in order to reach a complete recovery even though it is quite possible. According to the Yin/Yang theory the overall balance of the Yin and Yang has to be maintained for good health. Combinations of the different acupuncture points on the meridians are simultaneously stimulated so that more than one element is affected.
Western Acupuncture uses a combination of both Eastern and Western medical techniques, focusing on critical and vital short-term treatment. Acupuncture is further divided into two classes, the first one being anesthetic acupuncture that is used by the dentists and during surgeries.
Symptomatic or ‘first aid’ is the second sub category; this is used mainly for temporary analgesic pain relieving. Problems like allergies, asthma, arthritis, depression, gynecological problems, and high blood pressure, infertility, and migraine have found effective cures in this line of treatment according to research done. As with healing methods dealing with energy, acupuncture effectively heals conditions not treatable with conventional treatment, persistent conditions and disorders and maladies arising due to lifestyles.