Acupuncture: What You Should Know About Fine Needle Treatment

What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture, acupuncture, or zhen-chiu therapy is a branch of traditional Chinese medicine that has existed for more than two thousand years. Since the end of the 20th century, it has become popular in the West, where it is considered an offshoot of alternative medicine.

Adherents of acupuncture believe that the vital energy of qi circulates through the human body. In Chinese philosophy, this is the name for any substance that supports life: blood, air, bile, water. When a person is sick, the qi circulation is disrupted. To restore the flow of vital energy and recover, it is necessary to stimulate specific points on the body. This is done with special thin needles.

What is treated with acupuncture?

In Chinese tradition, acupuncture is believed to cure almost everything. However, most often acupuncture is used to relieve chronic pain, migraine and fibromyalgia, arthritis, disruption of the gastrointestinal tract, to eliminate nausea and vomiting.

What does the treatment look like?

Regardless of what the patient is sick with, the treatment is always about the same. The patient lies down on the couch, undresses. The doctor inserts thin needles into special points on the body. Electric current can be passed through the needles, they can also be cauterized with wormwood mini-cigarettes. To heal, the patient must undergo several acupuncture sessions.

It hurts?

The acupuncture needles are very thin, so most patients experience no discomfort.

How it works?

Despite the fact that scientists every year research the effectiveness of acupuncture for the treatment of certain diseases, no one still fully understands the mechanism of its action. Absolutely, acupuncture stimulates Acupuncture and endorphins to produce endorphins, which are responsible for relieving pain and leveling the emotional state. Influencing the points also improves Changes of Local Blood Flow in Response to Acupuncture Stimulation: A Systematic Review organ blood supply and changes the electrical activity of the brain.

However, skeptics believe that the method only works because people and doctors believe in it. In other words, placebo is at the heart of acupuncture.

Is the effectiveness of acupuncture proven by at least someone?

Most of the scientific work on acupuncture has conflicting conclusions. It helps some people, but not others.

To test the effectiveness of acupuncture, scientists have developed a method of fake acupuncture. Its essence lies in the fact that the doctor does not stimulate the acupuncture points, but which ones are horrible, or uses needles that do not go under the skin. Acupuncture treatment for pain: systematic review of randomized clinical trials with acupuncture, placebo acupuncture, and no acupuncture groups has proven that fake acupuncture relieves chronic back pain and nausea no worse than real. It also relieves neck pain, headaches and osteoarthritis of the knees. Again, both the real method and the fake one help.

This allows us to believe that the effectiveness of treatment depends to a large extent on our belief in it.

Can acupuncture be harmful?

Acupuncture is safe when practiced by licensed professionals and sterile needles… In some cases, treatment can lead to minor bleeding, bruising, and nausea. An unqualified physician can harm the nerves and internal organs. And non-sterile needles can cause infection or even HIV.

Who Shouldn't Get Acupuncture?

It is better for pregnant women, children and the elderly to abstain. Also, acupuncture is contraindicated in case of damage to the skin and cancer.

Will acupuncture help me?

It depends on what you are sick with and how much you believe in the effectiveness of the treatment. There are no guarantees that you will be cured, despite the high cost of the procedure.