by Angeline Oppenheimer

Created on: October 30, 2007

Acupuncture has existed for more than 2,000 years. It was first discussed in the ancient Medical text, "Hung Di Nei Jing" (The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine), the worlds oldest medical textbook, dated between 800 BC to 200 BC. The theories expounded laid the foundation for Chinese medicine which include the Meridian theory and acupuncture. Acupuncture was then introduced to Japan some 1, 500 years ago.

With its long history of medical existence, its popularity in Asia speaks for itself. Used primarily as a form of pain control, acupuncture thrives on the theory that the body's health runs on Qi, the Chinese word for energy force. Qi is the dynamic interaction between two antagonistic yet complimentary energy forces, Yin and Yang. Once this Qi is stagnated or clogged due to illnesses or imbalance of energy forces in the body, acupuncture can be used to release the life force and hence restores the body's well-being.

According to this philosophy, Qi runs along 12 Meridian lines along the length of the body and they each lead to a specific organ. Any given disorder in the body is linked to an increased sensitivity in a specific skin area. By inserting needles into these specific points, they are stimulated to restore the body's natural healing response.

Once acupuncture was looked upon as a questionable alternative medicine, now, it's a recognized form of medicine. In fact, World Health Organization has listed over 100 disorders amendable to acupuncture. Also, as of 1997, the US National Institute of Health (NIH) stated that acupuncture is a very useful method for the treatment of a variety of conditions including post-operative pain, nausea, migraines, arthritis, menstrual cramps, low back pain, sports related injuries among others. They also noted that less side-effects occur than other medical procedures involving drugs or surgeries.

But what if you are a generally healthy person with no major medical setbacks? Acupuncture can not only heal existing medical maladies but also prevent them. Prevention is better than cure and before the body hits the dangerous curve where parts of the body becomes more susceptible to disorders (around the 30 to 40 age range), acupuncture can provide the fortification that your body needs.

Acupuncture has been proven to stimulates neural pathways and neurotransmitter system. It stimulates muscle sensory nerves, which in turn send messages to the spinal cord, midbrain and the pituitary to release pain-reducing hormones,

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>