What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a primary modality of Oriental Medicine practitioners. It's history goes back 5000 years. With it's effectiveness proven with time-tested results. Acupuncture incorporates a number of modalities, see acupuncture techniques to learn more.
It draws a constellation of your unique symptoms connecting them in a cohesive pattern. We suss out these symptoms by asking a lot of questions and observing. I will probably ask you what seems like random and funny questions, things your MD probably would never ask. Oriental medicine is a holistic medicine, we understand how the body should work in physiologic harmony and are able to identify disharmony. These disharmonies are responsible for what ails us. It is why we can't fall asleep or why our emotions are abrubt, yet it goes deeper and can also help with the symptoms of life-threatening diseases. With very few to no side effects acupuncture is a great option for people who want to feel better.
Learn more about the benefits of acupuncture
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes over 100 conditions that acupuncture can help treat
Acupuncture is a primary modality of Oriental Medicine practitioners. It's history goes back 5000 years. With it's effectiveness proven with time-tested results. Acupuncture incorporates a number of modalities, see acupuncture techniques to learn more.
It draws a constellation of your unique symptoms connecting them in a cohesive pattern. We suss out these symptoms by asking a lot of questions and observing. I will probably ask you what seems like random and funny questions, things your MD probably would never ask. Oriental medicine is a holistic medicine, we understand how the body should work in physiologic harmony and are able to identify disharmony. These disharmonies are responsible for what ails us. It is why we can't fall asleep or why our emotions are abrubt, yet it goes deeper and can also help with the symptoms of life-threatening diseases. With very few to no side effects acupuncture is a great option for people who want to feel better.
Learn more about the benefits of acupuncture
The World Health Organization (WHO) recognizes over 100 conditions that acupuncture can help treat
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Abdominal pain
Acne vulgaris Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever) Bell’s palsy Biliary colic Bronchial asthma Cancer pain Cardiac neurosis Cholecystitis Cholelithiasis Competition stress syndrome Craniocerebral injury, closed Depression Diabetes mellitus Dysentery Dysmenorrhoea Earache Epidemic haemorrhagic fever Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease) Eye pain Facial pain Facial spasm Female infertility Female urethral syndrome Fibromyalgia and fasciitis Gastrokinetic disturbance gastrospasm) Gouty arthritis Headache Hepatitis B virus carrier status Herpes zoster |
Hyperlipaemia
Hypertension Hypo-ovarianism Hypotension Induction of labour Insomnia Knee pain Labour pain Lactation Leukopenia Low back pain Male sexual dysfunction Malposition of fetus Ménière disease Morning sickness Nausea and vomiting Neck pain Neuralgia, post-herpetic Neurodermatitis Obesity Osteoarthritis Pain in dentistry Pain in shoulder Polycystic ovary syndrome Postextubation in children Postoperative convalescence Postoperative pain Premenstrual syndrome Prostatitis Pruritus Radicular pain syndrome Raynaud syndrome |
urinary-tract infection
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy Renal colic Retention of urine Rheumatoid arthritis Schizophrenia Sciatica Sialism Sjögren syndrome Sore throat (including tonsillitis) Spine pain, acute Sprain Stiff neck Stroke stroke Temporomandibular joint dysfunction Tennis elbow Tietze syndrome Tobacco dependence Tourette syndrome Ulcerative colitis, Urolithiasis Vascular dementia Whooping cough (pertussis) |
How does it work?
The mechanism of action is still unknown. There are some strong theories about how it might work. Personally I think that the acupuncture meridians are a map of an information super highway within the body where the Einsteinian laws of physics appy. Yes, I'm thinking worm holes, which follow quantum mechanics. I could spend days writing out equations to prove this idea, but I'm sure I would have lost you, that is if I haven't already.
Two interesting studies were recently published:
1. Using dyes lighting a map of classical acupuncture meridians
Kwang-Sup Soh, Bonghan Circulatory System as an Extension of
Acupuncture Meridians, J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2009;2(2):93−106
2. Utilizing fMRI to demonstrate that areas of the brain responsible for controlling a function are highly active when points used on meridians are activated. These points are for example on the foot to control LV function. When this point is needled, fMRI showed activity in this area of the brain.
Huang W, Pach D, Napadow V, Park K, Long X, et al. (2012) Characterizing Acupuncture Stimuli Using Brain Imaging with fMRI - A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis of the Literature. PLoS ONE 7(4): e32960. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0032960
3. Resistance at a specific acupuncture point is highly different than in surrounding tissues