Acupuncture. Find out the benefits, what it cures and if it hurts

 


Acupuncture consists in pricking specific points with needles located along a complex structure of energy channels called meridians that run through our entire body. At the beginning they used needles in bronze or iron, then in gold or silver. Disposable steel needles are currently used.

 

What is acupuncture

According to some, the beginning of this therapeutic practice dates back to over a millennium before the birth of Christ while for others it is even older. However, the theoretical principles on which it is based were collected only later in an ancient treatise, the Nei Ching , written between the fifth and second centuries BC. From China, the spread of acupuncture initially extended to Korea and Japan. It arrived in the West around 1600 through missionaries who returned from those regions and brought the first rudimentary news.

 

But it is only in recent times that acupuncture has taken root in our healthcare system and has been so well accepted by conventional medicine that it is practiced within the hospital system . From the initial technique, the so to speak classic one that uses only needles, other important variants have been developed over the centuries:

 

Acupuncture on the ear

In auricular therapy,  the needles are inserted into the ear where they are left to act for a few days.



How does it work

Once you have decided that acupuncture can be useful for you, we proceed to the actual session. Usually between six and twelve needles are used,  some placed symmetrically, others not. The session can last, depending on the points used and the therapeutic purposes, from a few seconds up to forty-five minutes. Usually the needles are removed after twenty to thirty minutes. Even a few sessions are enough to have positive results and without contraindications. The cost then depends on the skills ofthe acupuncturist. What is the right number of acupuncture sessions? It depends. In China there is a tendency to prescribe cycles of ten sessions, possibly repeatable once or twice if the therapy is ineffective. Even some Italian doctors tend to set cycles of ten sessions.

 

Like a Western medical visit, the acupuncturist will ask questions about your family members, your development, the diseases you have suffered, your lifestyle habits and, of course, why you have addressed to them. Chinese medicine has developed without the aid of instrumental investigations and the questioning of the patient is of the utmost importance . Do not be surprised if you will be asked to bring the results of the laboratory tests or perhaps to carry out further diagnostic investigations because the acupuncturist is also a Western doctor and uses both medicines for the best he can offer. The interrogation will take about an hour, it will be meticulous: regularity of the heart rhythm, respiratory disorders, appetite,digestion , urinary and menstrual problems, pain in general (nothing new so far) but also sleep quality, dreams , preference for one taste, aversion to another, preferred or unwelcome climates, if you sweat easily, if you are cold, if you drink many or few liquids and at what temperature do you like them, if you prefer to be in motion or remain quiet, what is the prevailing mood in you ( sadness , anger , fear, brooding) and much more.

 

In the meantime, the doctor observes you, examines your general appearance, posture , your gestures, appreciates the tone of your voice, the intensity of your gaze. The doctor is trying to frame your disorder within your constitution , he is trying to understand the origin of your affection, to distinguish between secondary symptoms (perhaps those that led you to his office) and primary ones ( the deep origin of the disease), to decide whether it is more useful to dedicate oneself initially to the former or to focus on the latter from the beginning.

 

He will ask you to undress and will devote himself to a Western medical exam (using the stethoscope and the blood pressure device) but will also look for painful touch points on the body surface, touch your abdomen, carefully examine your tongue, eyes.  and will appreciate the heartbeat at the radial wrist, taking it both to the right and to the left by exerting light pressure first, then deeper in six positions, three to the right, three to the left, three on the surface, three in depth, for a total of twelve .

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By doing so, he will obtain information about your general energetic state by appreciating the regularity of the heartbeat, the prevalence of superficial pulses over deep ones, of those on the right compared to those on the left, the individual positions that indicate the energy state of the various organs. . This is one of the aspects that Western-trained doctors have the most difficulty accepting, but the indications provided by the wrist selected in 2500 years of clinical practice are of fundamental importance to formulate a diagnosis and institute an effective therapy.

Generally a good acupuncturist is able to understand after two or three sessions whether the patient will respond to therapyand often this number of sessions is enough to start seeing results. Too many sessions without seeing any improvement should make you suspect that acupuncture is useful to others but not to you. After the initial period of attack with bi-weekly or weekly sessions, generally there is a tendency to space out the sessions that are monthly and finally quarterly, except for relapses of the disease. In ancient China the doctor was paid as long as the patient remained in a state of good health, otherwise he treated him for free, or arranged to pay a doctor better than himself.

 

Often the acupuncturist will prescribe preparations of Chinese pharmacology (which in Chinese medicine has an important part at least as much as acupuncture). The study of Chinese pharmacology has been introduced in Italy for about ten years and, as has always been the case in China, it is necessarily part of the cultural background of an acupuncturist. Herbal preparations will be prescribed to you in the form of infusions , decoctions, extractsbuckets, pills or tablets. To obtain the recipe, it is highly recommended to contact a pharmacy that can correctly prepare the prescription and carry out checks on the quality of the remedies. We strongly advise against buying products not labeled in Italian with words only in Chinese ideograms, containing animal substances, products with an uncertain or not clearly specified composition, without a European manufacturer or importer to guarantee them.

Also be wary of those doctors, fortunately few, who do not send the prescription to the pharmacy but sell it directly to the patient or include it in the cost of the visit. Ask the doctor for guarantees on the substances in the recipe because not everything that is natural "is either good or not bad" because in nature there are lettuce  but also poisonous substances because what benefits one patient is contraindicated for another, because any therapy , if effective, also the widespread ginseng has indications and contraindications.

 


Finally, the acupuncturist will provide you with indications about the diet  often correcting food inconsistencies that can cause or aggravate your problems, and will give you advice about your habits (sleep, physical activity , work, etc.).

 

It hurts?

The insertion of the needle is essentially painless, at the most it causes a slight discomfort in the most inflamed , innervated areas or with less subcutaneous tissue such as the fingers. Although for many years sterilized multipurpose needles have been used from time to time without any reported transmission of infectious diseases, nowadays most acupuncturists use disposable needles . Reject the proposal (some still do) to have personal needles that are not sterilized from time to time under the responsibility and supervision of the doctor.

 

There are numerous sensations that can be felt when the stimulation of the point with the needle has taken place: however these vary greatly depending on the subject and the type of stimulation that is performed. It is possible to feel sensations of stretching of the skin as well as of heaviness or swelling around the area where the needle is inserted, sometimes accompanied by a sense of tension or burning. The characteristic impression that is perceived very often even when treating the points manually without needles is that of the so-called electric discharge, fast irradiation along non-random paths (which generally coincide with the course of the meridian to which the stimulated point belongs), similar to a tingling or to the sensation of a flowing liquid.

 

The Chinese experience tells us that the needle should be manipulated "until the arrival of Qi ", consisting of a sensation of skin tension or heaviness . Many acupuncturists poorly manipulate the needle without arousing this sensation and, nevertheless, obtain excellent results. If the needle causes pain, inform the acupuncturist as even a slight movement of the needle will eliminate it.

 

Meridian points

The preventive aspect is very important in Chinese medicine and quarterly sessions with seasonal changes  carried out according to the indications even of the wrists alone in the absence of symptoms, generally are used to keep the patient in the best psycho-physical conditions. These fine adjustments to the patient's balance will normally cause the acupuncturist to change the chosen points which will change to a greater or lesser extent from session to session.

 

A generalized sense of heaviness can give the impression of feeling one's body gain weight, similar to the sensation of "sinking" into the sand. It is a good sign of the energy that begins to circulate correctly as  well as of the relaxation that gradually takes over. All these sensations are generally understood as perceptions of the arrival of Qi or energy at the stimulated point. According to an ancient text, the Lingshu, the therapeutic effect generated by the arrival of energy at the point is seen as "a wind that sweeps away the clouds", symbolically meaning the result of rebalancing and harmonization exercised by the therapy in the points where the energy accumulates in excess.

 

Even those who manipulate the needle perceive this particular phenomenon that always generates amazement and wonder: the arrival of the Qi on the point seems to capture the needle, "like a line drawn in depth when the fish takes the hook". When this does not happen, however, "the arrival of Qi is similar to a person who spends hours of idleness in a huge empty building" (from Ode on the secret of acupuncture

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