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INTRODUCTION TO ACUPUNCTURE

Acupuncture has probably been practiced in China for more

3,500 years. The first medical textbook dates from about 400BC. Acupuncture has been known to Western doctors since the 17th century and was used extensively by physicians in this country in the early part of the 19th century. The first edition of the Lancet in 1823 carried a detailed report of the use of acupuncture in the treatment of rheumatism, extolling the virtues of the technique.

TRADITIONAL CHINESE MEDICINE

Acupuncture is one of the therapeutic techniques used in Traditional Chinese Medicine ( TCM ), which has its own complete system of anatomy, physiology and diagnosis. The traditional Chinese viewed the human body as a balance between two opposing forces, yin and yang: yin represents placidity or water, while yang represents activity or fire. If yin or yang are deficient or in gross excess, the balance between them is distorted and disease results. The Chinese concept of health can best be defined as a normal fluctuating balance between yin and yang; their system of diagnosis and therapy is designed to particularize the imbalance of yin and yang and correct it, thereby restoring the body to a state of health. In order to effect this change, the Chinese insert needles into acupuncture points, the majority of which are on 14 channels running over the body, each representing an internal organ. Qi, or vital energy, is said to flow through these channels. In disease the flow of Qi is altered and the insertion of an acupuncture needle into an appropriate point is said to correct the flow of vital energy, thereby restoring the body to health. The Chinese also developed a very sophisticated idea of physiology, and specific functions were defined for each of the 12 main organs. The anatomy ( acupuncture points and channels ) and physiology of traditional Chinese medicine, along with a detailed examination of the pulse and tongue, provides the basis for TCM.