Acupuncture - You're Not Sticking Me With That!

Acupuncture is an ancient and innovative Chinese Medicinal
procedure, similar and linked to the other ancient technique
of Acupressure. Acupuncture treatment heals while keeping
the body healthy and stress free. The procedure involves
inserting fine needles within the skin on predetermined
points or meridians, considered energy pathways similar to
acupressure. The positive energy that is responsible for
good health and a state of wellbeing is know as chi or qi
and flows through the energy points known as the meridian.
When a person experiences sickness or injury the chi gets
blocked and positive energy stops flowing. There are totally
14 paths of energy meridians in our body and 365 acupuncture
points distributed on the surface of the body along these 14
meridians

Special needles or acupressure used at precise locations
along these meridians release the blockages by stimulating
the trapped chi. This can be compared to a river blocked
with debris. Removing the blocking debris allows the river
to freely flow without obstruction. Chi, depending on the
situation, may flow either too slowly or too quickly - in
either case, acupuncture is normally used to regulate the
energy's pace.

Within China, this particular form of medicine has been
being practiced for a minimum of four thousand years, with
all of these needles being found within archaeology digs of
the late Shang Dynasty. There are three types and they are;
Five Elements, Traditional Yin / Yang Theory and Western (or
medical Acupuncture). Although all three have the same
system of points and they use similar methods of diagnosis,
each takes a dissimilar approach towards treatment of an
illness and its cause. Alternative approaches are taken to
arrive at the basic cause and treatment of an illness.

The five elements acupuncture, being strictly based on
Chinese medicine's five element cycle, believes or assumes
that a particular illness is most likely to be caused by
either a physical cause or emotional stress. The inner
stress has to be treated and eased in order to heal and
alleviate the physical symptoms. As the emphasis in five
elements is on treating the underlying cause of an illness,
it can be a slow process reaching full recovery although it
is possible. According to the Yin/Yang theory the overall
balance of the Yin and Yang has to be maintained for good
health. Simultaneous stimulation of more than one element is
achieved by stimulating the different acupuncture points on
different meridians together.

The Western Acupuncture methods are faster and the period of
treatment is not very long - this form of treatment is a
combination of both western and eastern practices.
Pertaining to the medical aspect of acupuncture, there are
two different sub-categories, which includes acupuncture
which is used in dental and surgical procedures. The second
type of medical benefit of Acupuncture which is
"symptomatic" is to be seen in the area of temporary pain
relief and not in diagnosis. Medical researches and studies
have revealed that acupuncture has been very successful in
the treatment of migraines, depression, asthma,
gynecological disorders, allergies, infertility, and
arthritis. Acupuncture is found to be one of the most
effective methods to treat illnesses that persist for a long
time without any results from conventional treatment or when
the illness is caused by problems caused by one's lifestyle.

You can find many more Acupuncture and related articles at
(http://www.acupuncture-news.info) Acupuncture Body Points