Acupuncture & TCM Articles

The Medical Benefits of Acupuncture Are Too Numerous To Count
Author: Mike Herman

There are many medical benefits of acupuncture as acupuncture has been used for millennia to treat the symptoms of many diseases and health conditions as well as to promote good health and well-being.

To determine the medical benefits of acupuncture in the treatment of your condition you must speak with a qualified practitioner of acupuncture. He or she will want to know your entire medical history including any allergies you have and what illnesses and injuries you have suffered in the past. Only after knowing these things can a potential form of treatment be decided on?

Acupuncture works by triggering the release of endorphins and serotonin in the brain and central nervous system. These chemicals, endorphins and serotonin have a strong affect on a persons mood and the feelings they have, they can make you feel up, down, in pain or happy and pain free.

The traditional method behind the treatment is to accentuate the flow of "qi", which is believed to be the bodies natural flow of energy. Today qi is used more like a metaphor and acupuncture is one of the most well known, and most widely used treatments in a complementary fashion.

* What is acupuncture used for?

Acupuncture has been used for a wide variety of medical conditions for a few millennia, today we use acupuncture for medical conditions like asthma, high blood pressure, pain, headaches, digestive problems and women's menstrual problems.

According to the World Health Organization (W.H.O.) there are a number of health problems that can be improved upon by the use of acupuncture. These conditions are broken down into respiratory diseases, bronchopulmonary diseases, eye disorders, disorders that affect the cavity of the mouth, orthopedic disorders, gastrointestinal disorders and neurological disorders.

The respiratory diseases that acupuncture can help include acute sinusitis, acute rhinitis, acute tonsillitis and the common cold. Acute bronchitis and bronchial asthma are both bronchopulmonary diseases that acupuncture has been shown to have great results in treating.

The eye disorders acupuncture helps include acute conjunctivitis, cataract that has no complications, myopia, and central retinitis.

The mouth cavity disorders acupuncture helps include toothaches, gingivitis, pharyngitis, and pain or discomfort that sometimes takes place after a tooth is pulled. The orthopedic disorders acupuncture helps include periarthritis humeroscapularis, tennis elbow, lower back pain, rheumatoid arthritis and sciatica.

Acupuncture also improves gastrointestinal disorders as well as neurologic disorders. The gastrointestinal disorders it helps include hiccups, gastroptosis, spasms that take place in the cardia and the esophagus, gastric hyperacidity, acute and chronic gastritis, chronic duodenal ulcer, acute bacterial dysentery, acute as well as chronic colitis, constipation, diarrhea, and paralytic ileus.

The neurologic disorders it helps include headaches and migraines in particular, facial paralysis, trigeminal neuralgia, peripheral neuropathy, meniere's syndrome, intercostals neuralgia, nocturnal enuresis, paralysis after an apoplectic fit, neurogenic bladder dysfunction, and paralysis that is caused by poliomyelitis.

* How is acupuncture done?

Acupuncture is carried out by hundreds of small needles being inserted into special points in the body, these points are known as acupuncture points and are located along meridian lines where qi is supposed to flow likes streams, rivers and seas.

In the body there are hundreds, if not thousands of acupuncture points, all of which are related to different medical conditions and used for alleviating different symptoms.

The points are found by an acupuncture therapist feeling for pulses in the body, mostly around the organs, this will help them determine which acupuncture points to use.