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 .
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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