The Art And Practice Of Acupuncture
At times and in cases where modern medicine fails to provide an effective treatment, alternative or traditional medicines have come to rescue.
Even though these alternative medicinal practices lack scientific evidence to support their tall claims, patient testimonies have always given them an upper hand.
Modern medical professionals doubt the effectiveness of alternative medicinal practices and state that they might be nothing more than simple placebo effects but again patient testimonies prove otherwise.
One such alternative medicinal practice is acupuncture.
In this article we will try to shed some light on this traditional medicinal practice and will explain some of its aspects.
History Of Acupuncture
Acupuncture originally originated in ancient china. The exact dates or the period of its origin are still covered in the deep layers of history.
Since it has been practiced in china from times immemorial, no one is really sure about its period of origin.
One theory suggests that in ancient china during a battle some Chinese soldiers were wounded by arrows fired by enemy soldiers. The Chinese doctors noticed that the wounded soldiers were showing no signs of illness or infection or any other fatal condition.
It is believed that those Chinese doctors then used this idea and developed the theory and practice of acupuncture. It is assumed that travelers and scholars then took this knowledge to different parts of the world and to neighboring countries like Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Mongolia.
However, contrary to these theories and their supporting evidences, there are some proofs that show acupuncture being practiced in other parts of the world too, particularly in Eurasia (Europe and Asia).
Theory Of Acupuncture
The doctrine of acupuncture is based on the traditional Chinese belief that all of the functions of human body are controlled and regulated by an energy knows as “qi”.
Ancient Chinese texts and scripts of Chinese doctors state that this energy (qi) flows throughout the human body and whenever the flow of this energy is disrupted, it becomes the primary cause for diseases.
The entire practice of acupuncture is centered on removing these disruptions so that qi can flow freely throughout the entire body resulting in healing of the affected patient.
Procedure Of Acupuncture
The theory of acupuncture describes specific pressure points on the skin of human body. It describes that introducing a needle to these pressure points by puncturing the skin can correct and remove the disruptions to the flow of qi.
The needles used in acupuncture these days are made from stainless steels. Using stainless steel for their production ensures that these needles are resistant to rusting and are flexible enough. It is a very common practice to avoid making too sharp needles as such needles break easily.
A drawback of using blunt needles is that they cause more pain to the patient. However, this pain is also dependent on the skill level of the practitioner performing acupuncture.
Highly skilled practitioners can insert the needles without causing any or negligible pain. The pressure points can be identified with the help of a chart and needles are usually inserted with the help of a guide tube.
A typical acupuncture session can last anywhere between ten to sixty minutes, however, at times one or more needles are left n their place for more than an hour or even more than a day.
