What is traditional acupuncture?
Traditional acupuncture is a branch of Chinese medicine that’s been around for thousands of years. It uses fine needles to stimulate certain points around the body. It’s worth mentioning that the needles are sterile and for single use only. Different needles (size/gauge) are used depending on the area of the body that they’re being used on. The needles are very fine and come in a plastic ‘guide tube, which keeps them clean.
Insertion of acupuncture needles is painless. Once in place, the needle is manipulated to produce a dull achy sensation known as ‘de qi’. There are hundreds of different acupuncture points on the body. Generally, a choice of points is chosen depending on the patient’s condition.
How does acupuncture work?
The modern scientific explanation of how acupuncture works is that needling acupuncture points stimulates the nervous system. This releases chemicals in the muscles, spinal chord and brain. These chemicals will either change the experience of pain. They can also trigger the release of other chemicals and hormones. These influence the body’s own internal regulating system.
In traditional language, inserting the acupuncture needles affects the flow of qi. This is the body’s vital energy that travels around the body via channels or meridians. For several reasons, qi can become disturbed, depleted or blocked. A common saying amongst acupuncturists is: “pain no flow – flow no pain”. In other words, when qi is flowing correctly, then the body is in balance.
The language of traditional acupuncture is a reflection of its cultural and historic origins. It sees symptoms of pain and illness as a sign that the body is out of balance. This happens due to poor or excess nutrition. It also is caused by emotional and physical stress, injury, infection, or a constitutional weakness. Physical, emotional and psychological symptoms are seen as interconnected.
Acupuncture treats the whole person not just the disease
Acupuncture can be used to treat individual symptoms. Still, the art of good treatment is to find the root cause of the problem. Traditional acupuncturists will aim to treat the person, not only the disease.
In some cases, patients only need a few sessions. For other patients, a longer course of treatment is recommended. This will be discussed at your consultation.