by Marina Stein

Created on: May 15, 2009   Last Updated: May 16, 2009

Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese medical practice. It is based on the principles of Chinese philosophy called Daoism. According to that philosophy everything in the world, alive or not, consists of two opposites (Yin and Yang) and if they are balanced then the item (whatever it is) does not have any problems (diseases in case of humans). If the balance between Yin and Yang is broken then it needs to be restored in order to get rid of those problems.

To further develop this concept, Chinese philosophy introduces the theory of Five Elements. Five Elements are Water, Wood, Fire, Earth, and Metal. They are connected to each other in different ways, for example, Water nourishes Wood; Wood feeds Fire; and so on. That kind of connection is called Mother-Child connection. There is another type of connection which goes across the circle. In this case too much Fire can dry the Water or an excess of Metal can kill the Wood.

A person is considered to be born with all five elements in perfect balance but later in life one of the elements can be weakened or strengthened too much which causes the imbalance and, as a result, a disease. In order to cure disease an acupuncturist needs to figure out what is the cause of the problem and fix it. To do that an acupuncturist uses the system of meridians (channels) in the human body. Those meridians are considered to be the pathways of the living energy Qi (pronounced Chee). Each meridian corresponds to an organ in the body. If the balance of Five Elements is broken then the Qi will not be able to flow freely and there will be disease. By inserting needles in the special points on the meridians, an acupuncturist is able to restore the flow of Qi and thus the balance.

How does an acupuncturist makes a diagnosis and know which meridians to use? Let's use the following example. The Fire element in the body is too strong (excessive Yang). It can be caused either by weakness of Water element (excessive Yin) which can't control Fire or it can be caused by too strong Wood element (excessive Yang) which gives too much "food" to the Fire. Then depending on the cause it is necessary to strengthen Water or to lessen Wood. It is also possible to work with Fire itself.

In Chinese medical theory Fire corresponds with heart, Water with kidneys and Wood with liver. If you think about heart condition being caused by weak kidneys or inflamed liver it all starts make sense. Because of that connection between elements Chinese practitioner will ask a lot of seemingly unrelated questions. The final diagnosis will also depend on how you smell, on the intensity of your voice, on the color of your skin and on your emotions. After a diagnosis is made, by using the certain points and certain manipulation of needles an acupuncturist can increase or decrease the energy flow in the corresponding meridian and thus control the element.

The theory of Five Elements explains why two patients with the same symptoms are often treated differently: it depends on the cause of the problem since Chinese medicine treats the underlying cause of a problem and not the symptoms.

Sources:

Gavaa Luvsan, "Methods of eastern reflex therapy", Science, 1991

http://www.qi-journal.com

http://www.atlasacupuncture.com

Learn more about this author, Marina Stein.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.