by Philp Babitsky

Created on: May 30, 2009   Last Updated: May 31, 2009

Cancer was once thought to be incurable, however, the latest development of a cure for cervical cancer has brought our hopes one step closer to realising our dreams of finally defeating a seerious disease such as cancer. One of the treatments used in battling cancer is acupuncture, which has brought some relief from the pain and weakness of the disease. In fact The American Cancer Society recommends the usage of acupuncture in the treatment of cancer patients, as it increases the immunity of the body and reduces the chance of developing new cancerous cells in the body.

It has been proven in some instances, that acupuncture forces the nerve cells, pituitary gland and specific parts of the brain to repsond to specific stimulii. These acupunctural stimulations allows endorphins, hormones and other chemicals to be released in the brain, that help manage pain and allows improved controlled of some bodily functions. This allows an increased immunal activity in the body and also helps control the blood pressure of the patient. This complimentary treatment together with conventional cancer treating medicines such as radiotherapy and chemotherapy helps improve the states in cnacer patients. Using acupuncture in the treatment of cancer has strict giudelines. For example acupuncture had been researched seriously in the United States since 1974, and the FDA states that needles must be of single use, non toxic and steralised.

Relief from cancer is achieved with the use of hair thin needles, that are inserted into specific acupoints to increase the production of endorphins to ease the pain and improve the immunity. Then according to the patients needs and the acupunturists knowledge he needles have an electric current passed through them. Sometimes the needles are heated to acccelerate the effect at the spesific acupoint. To improve the accesability to the qi, the meridians and thus activate certain energies the needles are also twisted, pinched, poked, pushed and pulled. However, these basic manual techniques aren't the only ones that are utilised or in the treatment of cancer patients. This is, because time is a great factor in sufferers, so many more methods of acupuncture are included to accelerate and promote healing, and prevent the recurrence of carsgenic cells. These other techniques are:

a) Cupping is used to increase the supply of blood flow to the surface of the body, thus improving circulation. Cupping is done by creating a vaccum inside the cups through fire

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