According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), illness and disease are caused by imbalances or breaks in the flow of life force throughout the body. To restore its harmonious flow and health, this “qi” or life force is manipulated by the inserting fine needles into acupuncture points throughout the body. These acupuncture points are primary to the practice of acupuncture by licensed acupuncturists, and according to Traditional Chinese Medicine, there are dozens of them all over the human body.
In all, there are over 360 acupuncture points which can be used for stimulation. When fine needles are inserted into these points, the flow of energy through those points can be either interrupted or strengthened. By directing this energy, many health problems can be healed or improved. Tender acupuncture points may indicate area of abnormal energy flow.
Because of their fear of needles, many people are afraid to try acupuncture. Luckily, the insertion of these hair-thin needles along acupuncture points is most often painless. And during the few times when discomfort is experienced, the sensation is akin to a mosquito bite and is far less painful than receiving an injection or donating blood.
The paths or flows of energy, called meridians, formed between acupuncture points are still being mapped out by Western science. The challenge of this task lies in the fact that the meridians don’t correspond closely to the established nerve or blood pathways already mapped out by Western medicine. Some scientists are beginning to think that the meridians are located throughout the body’s connective tissue.
Western scientists are also attempting to put together the mechanism by which acupuncture points affect the body. New data is suggesting that acupuncture points are actually specialized conductors of the body’s biological electromagnetic signals. For example, the flow of a pain signal from a body part to the spinal cord and eventually to the brain are controlled by what Western science posits are “gates” throughout the central nervous system. Like streets and alleys, the body’s nerve pathways can handle a limited amount of information or flow through its pathways.
To continue with the streets and alleys metaphor, some signals are given a higher clearance than normal signals such as pain. These higher priority/clearance are like emergency vehicles – ambulances, police cars, fire trucks – which supersede the slower, lower priority signals in their quest to reach the brain. These super signals may even bump the slower signals off the road altogether, preventing them from ever reaching the brain. Acupuncture may generate these priority signals, which crowd out pain signals because of the limited throughput of the nerves. The acupuncture signals may not only diminish the speed and severity of the pain signals, they may actually prevent them from being received by the brain at all. Acupuncture may also trigger the release of chemicals and hormones which reduce pain, and they may also alert the immune system to pay special attention to certain part of the body’s roads.
Experimental and clinical evidence has found that acupuncture not only inhibits pain but also has a direct effect on circulation, blood pressure, blood cell production, and the immune system. It is believed that acupuncture points stimulate the brain and spinal cord to release chemicals into the muscles, spinal cord and brain, altering brain chemistry in a positive way.
Acupuncture is still in many ways a mystery to Western medicine. That by no means, however, diminishes its efficacy. Whether acupuncture works by balancing the complementary forces of yin and yang in the body or by manipulating the electrical signals of the nerves, we don’t have a definite answer yet. We do know, however that acupuncture works wonders on many modern ailments, and that it is, in many cases, at least as effective as Western modalities in eradicating pain, promoting health, and restoring well-being.
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