Clinic Services: Acupuncture

Acupuncture is like a concept of umbrella, which generally embraces Chinese Acupuncture and Medical Acupuncture. Acupuncture is practiced by utilizing fine solid pre-sterilized, disposable needles on selected body points

Chinese Acupuncture is based upon Chinese Medicine philosophy, which is a complete healing system used to assess and treat illness, prevent disease, and improve overall health and well-being. This ancient Chinese therapy of healing has been practiced for over 3,000 years.

Inspired by Chinese Acupuncture, On the other hand, Medical Acupuncture establishes itself on the modern medical sciences such as Neuroanatomy and Neurophysiology. It intends to induce positive neurologic responses, enhance chemical release and alter blood flow in the nervous system and musculoskeletal system. The purpose is to reduce the experience of pain or stress level and improve therapeutic result of healing.

Chinese Medicine philosophy primarily consists of Yin and Yang fundamentals, Five-Element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water) theory, Zang-Fu (internal organs) consepts, Eight-Principle Differentiation and Meridian theory. Chinese Medicine focuses on the balance of opposing forces of Yin and Yang. When the body is in a state of health there is harmony between the Yin and Yang otherwise the body is in a state of dis-ease due to a lack of balance.

Chinese Medicine believes that the effect caused by Acupuncture is the direct response to the restoring and balancing of the flow of Qi. Qi is a difficult term to translate; commonly understood as energy flow or life force. An analogy is of a water hose and a garden; think of your body as the garden and the water hose as your circulatory system. If there is “kink” in the water hose, the life giving nutrients that the hose supplies the garden will be decreased and the plants will subsequently suffer. Removing the interrupting circumstance to the “water hose”, the “garden” will hydrate and flourish. Therefore, there is a Chinese saying, “Where there is free flow, there is no pain; where there is no free flow, there is pain.” Through the application of minute needles on specific points (acupoints) along the body’s “meridians or channels”, Chinese Acupuncture achieves this freeing and nourishing of flowing Qi of the human body.

According to Chinese Medicine differential diagnosis and assessment, another goal of Acupuncture is to perform the adjustment of the body’s functions, such as “sedating’, “tonifying” or “nourishing” in specific organ(s) in respect to the levels of Yin, Yang, Qi and Blood. Chinese Acupuncture also pursues its effects of eliminating the body’s internal pathogens described like “wind”, “Cold”, “Heat” and “Dampness”. With this entire comprehensive consideration, Chinese Acupuncture treatment offers a wide-range of powerful and natural solutions to achieving the purposes of relieving symptoms, eliminating causes and improving health.

Medical Acupuncture has been mainly used for the control of pain. The process of pain involves a complex experience which is influenced by a person’s cultural background, previous experience with pain, environmental stress, and emotional and cognitive responses. Pain can be physical, emotional and rational. The following basic concept of the neurophysiology of pain will help you better understand the various physiological mechanisms of pain and its alleviation by means of Acupuncture.

The famous “Gate-Control theory” (Melzack & Wall) has been a significant influence on study of pain, it primarily pointed out that the perception of pain is modulated by interaction between large diameter A nerve fibers and small diameter C fibers throughout synaptic process in the “gate-like “mechanism in the spinal cord. The activities of C fibers (pain-transmitting fibers) which mainly carry the longer-term throbbing and chronic pain, keep open the ‘gate’ and increase the perception of pain; whereas the activities in A fibers (non pain-transmitting fibers), which inhibit the onward flow of C afferent activity to the spinal cord, essentially tends to keep the ‘gate’ closed and decreases the perception of pain. The ‘gate’ is further influenced by the brain’s descending inhibitory system. Therefore it is the A afferent discharges have a pain suppressive effect on C fibers’ irritation which evokes an experience of pain in the brain, if A afferent discharge is of high enough frequency and is maintained for long enough. It is now also recognized that stimulation of large A fiber in remote parts of the body may affect the experience of pain evoked by C fiber inputs coming from other parts of the body.

It is because Acupuncture needling technique (manual adn electrical) that evolves activation of cutaneous, subcutaneous or deeper tissue’s A afferents discharge, and because Acupncture also induces strong release of desired neurohormones (neurotransmitters and neuromodulators) which activate of the brain’s descending inhibitory system, subsequently it can reduce and may even abolish the experience of pain, it is so called “Close the Gate”. These needling skills have demonstrated great success in pain management such as in the treatment of Fibromyalgia, neck pain, back pain adn joint pain; it brings about pain relief for weeks, months, even permanently. In so many cases, Acupuncture can successfully help patients avoid pain-killer drugs and unnecessary surgery. Electric-Acupuncture technique has an especially positive influence on neurohormone release such as endorphin, serotonin and enkephalin. Clinically, it has shown its ideal effect in helping patients establish long-lasting results dealing with physical pain, emotional disorders as well as neurohormone imbalances.

Acupuncture has a proven track record of being incredibly safe and effective for many different illnesses. The 1997 National Institute of Health Consensus Conference on Acupuncture stated, “The data in support of acupuncture is as strong as those for many accepted Western medical therapies. One of the advantages of acupuncture is that the incidence of adverse effects is substantially lower than that of many drugs or other accepted medical procedures used for the same conditions.” One of the primary concerns people have about acupuncture is the handling and hygiene of the acupuncture needles used. The needles used in America are pre-sterilized and individually wrapped in packages. These needles are used once and then discarded. The acupuncturist also practices by a strict code of hygienic principles known as “Clean Needle Technique,” which helps to negate the risk of infection.

This is one of the most common fears of first time acupuncture recipients. Typically people associate and assume that the needles used in acupuncture are the same type used to draw blood or to give injections. This is not the case. The needle used to draw blood or to administer injections has to be a hypodermic needle which is larger and hollow so that fluid can either be removed or inserted through its center. Acupuncture uses much smaller filiform needles, which are solid. These smaller needles can be inserted most times without any discomfort. After insertion, a patient may sense either a heavy, dull, tingling, or a light burning sensation around the needle for short period of time.

The expected amount of time is different person to person. Each individual is evaluated and a tailor made program will be recommended depending on their presenting symptoms and the severity of their condition.

Some people may only need a very small number of treatments because the extent of their dysfunction is minimal and they have only had the problem for a very short period of time. On the other hand, someone who has had an extensive condition for a number of years may require more treatments to dramatically improve their state of well being. Other factors that will contribute to the time of treatment will be your willingness to adhere to different recommendations given by the clinician, such as: dietary changes, herbal therapies, stretching and exercise, breathing and visualization practices. Clinically it is proven that the more the patient complies with the program given the better and longer lasting the results will be. So depending on the circumstances and the willingness of the patient to adhere to recommendations of treatment makes a world of difference to the time that treatment will take. Consistency and persistence many times are the hallmark of success.

While Acupuncture is mainly known for its ability to reduce pain, it has much broader applications. Acupuncture can be effective as the only treatment used, or as an adjunct to other medical treatment in many medical and surgical disorders. The World Health Organization (WHO) has listed over 40 conditions that Acupuncture can treat successfully, including: Addiction, Allergies, Anxiety, Arthritis, Asthma, Back pain Constipation, Diarrhea, Depression, Food cravings, Gastrointestinal disorders, Headaches, Insomnia, Knee pain, Migraines, Menopausal symptoms, Neck pain, Pre-menstrual symptoms, Skin conditions, Smoking cessation, Sports injuries, Stress, Weight management.