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How does acupuncture work?

Chinese Medicine is a complete medical system based largely on the understanding of yin and yang, the five elements and channel theory. In addition to describing medical situations, these concepts can be applied to an understanding of everything in our world, from weather patterns to human interactions. When working from a perspective of Chinese medical philosophy, it seems both inappropriate and impossible to transpose the art of acupuncture onto a Western paradigm. Any attempt to do so inevitably shrinks the art of acupuncture down to a tiny fraction of its scope. However, friends and patients often ask How does it work? They are seeking an understanding of acupuncture in terms familiar to them. For an introductory explanation of yin, yang and the theories of Chinese medicine, I recommendBetween Heaven and Earth by Beinfield and Korngold or The Web That Has No Weaver by Kapchuck. Following are several theories, including two recently presented proposals on how acupuncture works from a Western medical perspective (1 and 5), which I have attempted to summarize. None of these theories contradicts any other and I believe there is truth in all of them. I dont profess to present a complete picture. I am certain other theories aboundI just havent heard of them yet.

1. Japanese immunologist Dr. Abo Toro, believes that acupuncture regulates white blood cell production
by creating a state of healthy balance between the parasympathetic and sympathetic nervous systems (which correspond to states of yin and yang). I will attempt a simplification of his theory. For a more thorough explanation, see NAJOM, Vol. 10, nos. 28,29, 2003. Disease, inflammation and pain are caused by the predominance of the sympathetic nervous system in our bodiesthe fight-or-flight state. How do we reach a state of sympathetic dominance to begin with? Stress, injury, exhaustion, irregular diet, allergens, toxic exposureany combination of these can elicit a sympathetic/fight-or-flight response. When we are in this state of sympathetic dominance, circulation and digestion slow down and our immune function is compromised. We become very susceptible to illness. Any pain or anxiety we are experiencing serves to keep us locked in this sympathetic state. It is difficult to heal when we are stressed or in pain because circulation and our capacity to heal are compromised. We get stuck in a cycle of disease. 2. Acupuncture, moxibustion, herbs and massage all work partly by increasing blood circulation, which increases the supply of oxygen to stressed areas. Dr Abo has taken many measurements of white cell production before and after acupuncture. He has found that acupuncture increases lymphocyte production, which is a sign of parasympathetic dominance in the body, the desired state for healing. Circulation, digestion and immune function can all work at their maximum potential when the patient is relaxed, in a parasympathetic-dominant state. 3. Many people have read that acupuncture increases the level of endorphins, putting patients into a relaxed state. Many patients do attain a state of deep relaxation. I believe that endorphins are part of the effect of acupuncture, but not the whole story. However, in a relaxed state, the body can rest from stress mode (sympathetic dominance) and begin to recharge the immune and circulatory systems. 4. By creating micro-traumas (tiny injuries), the needles and/or moxa stimulate healing responses to the specific areas chosen by the acupuncturist. 5. The meridians, as described in Classical Chinese medical texts, are the pathways of least resistance in the body. We function by a vast network of electrical exchanges. The overall flow of electrical energy takes the paths of least resistance. Acupuncture points work like tiny sand traps in this flow where electrical energy tends to get stuck. They are also the points where the internal body is most accessible. (It can be shown that reactive acupuncture points, as measured on the skin surface, are

small, defined areas of increased electrical conductivity.) Therefore, acupuncture needles work like tiny antennae to release stuck electrical flow. It is interesting to note that many pain researchers consider areas of pain or distress to be areas of high concentration of positive ions (positive charges). If acupuncture does allow for free electrical flow, these areas would achieve electrical balance with the rest of the body. 6. Last, but not least, Dr. Jeffrey Dann, Ph.D., has found that an acupuncture needle, inserted barely under the skin and quickly rotated back and forth, causes a liquid crystalline electrical discharge, which spreads like a wave through the fascial sheath deep into the body. He believes that bundles at the skin surface, consisting of nerve/artery/vein, along with abundant neural receptors, are the means by which the surface action of the needle can access deeper areas of the body. The connective tissue thus affected penetrates deeply into cells at the skeletal level and can work to realign the pelvis, vertebrae or other skeletal areas. Dann also pointed out large overlaps between human structural theories from Western researchers and the channel theory of acupuncture.

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