Acupuncture - Side Effects, Treatment Therapy
Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese medical technique for unblocking chi (ch’i or qi) by inserting needles at particular points on the body to balance the opposing forces of yin and yang. Chi is an energy that allegedly permeates all things. It is believed to flow through the body along 14 main pathways called meridians. When yin and yang are in harmony, chi flows freely within the body and a person is healthy. When a person is sick, diseased, or injured, there is an obstruction of chi along one of the meridians.Acupuncture Side Effects and Risks
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates acupuncture needles for use by licensed practitioners, requiring that needles be manufactured and labeled according to certain standards. For example, the FDA requires that needles be sterile, nontoxic, and labeled for single use by qualified practitioners only. Relatively few complications from the use of acupuncture have been reported to the FDA, in light of the millions of people treated each year and the number of acupuncture needles used.
How does acupuncture work?
Here are current thoughts from the National Institutes of Health on the manner by which acupuncture might produce beneficial health results.
Many studies in animals and humans have demonstrated that acupuncture can cause multiple biological responses. These responses can occur locally, i.e., at or close to the site of application, or at a distance, mediated mainly by sensory neurons to many structures within the central nervous system.
Acupuncture Treatment
In Western medicine, vascular headaches (the kind that are accompanied by throbbing veins in the temples) are typically treated with analgesics such as aspirin and/or by the use of agents such as niacin that dilate the affected blood vessels in the scalp, but in acupuncture a common treatment for such headaches is to stimulate the sensitive points that are located roughly in the center of the webs between the thumbs and the palms of the patient, the go points. These points are described by acupuncture theory as “targeting the face and head” and are considered to be the most important point when treating disorders affecting the face and head.
Once the practitioner has acquired all this information from you they will then decide on a diagnosis and a treatment principal. The treatment can usually last anywhere between 10-60 minutes depending on the practitioners diagnosis. There are many different types of treatment methods available to the practitioner. Here are just some of the may options available that may be used during your treatment.
What Acupuncture Can Do for You
Pain Relief: With the safety of pain relievers being questioned and one (Vioxx) being pulled from the market in recent months, a new study gives arthritis sufferers more reason to try acupuncture. One advantage of this type of treatment, says the NIH, is that the rates of side effects are substantially lower than that of many drugs or other accepted medical procedures used for the same conditions.
