Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine – The Basics Behind The Two

acupuncture and Chinese medicine

According to the most recent study of Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine in the United States, a whopping 8.2 million Americans underwent acupuncture treatment at some point in their lives! Out of that enormous number, 2.1 million had used acupuncture within the past year. A 1971 New York Times article by James Reston introduced the idea of using needles to relieve pain and the media has been all over Eastern medicine ever since. Of course, there’s a lot more to Chinese medicine than just a recommended visit to an acupuncture clinic. You have a whole world of herbal medicines and herbal remedies at your disposal.

Over time, we naturally lose some of our “Jing” (or genetics/youthful vigor) from things like excess sexual precariousness, alcoholism, working too hard or emotional drainage. By undergoing Chinese acupuncture, it is believed that the acupuncture points allow entry into energy channels, bolstering the immune system, improving circulation and regulating hormones. It’s widely believed that acupuncture and Chinese medicine enables one to live a longer, healthier life with greater happiness and balance.

Another Chinese theory is called the “Electrical” theory, which says that the body is always discharging slight magnetic energy and that Chinese acupuncture actually works by manipulating the body’s electromagnetic fields, altering chemical neurotransmitters in the process. In 1999, British doctors found that collagen was a good conductor of electricity — and Dr. Mae Won Ho concluded that “the kind of conducting water channels that more or less follow the collagen fibres may correspond to the so-called meridians of the acupuncture channels. So when you put a needle in you are giving a local electrical stimulation which then enables this positive electricity to be conducted to some distant sites.”

While the Chinese medicine books have remained basically in tact for the past 5,000 years, Americans are just starting to recognize the value of alternative medicines. In California, there are now schools offering Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine classes, alongside the standard biology and chemistry. According to the Dean at Los Angeles Samra University of Oriental Medicine, acupuncture classes are always full. Perhaps exercises like Yoga and this Green Tea craze has paved the way for Chinese acupuncture and medicine. Either way, it seems Americans are thrilled with the new options for pain relief being brought to the table.