Benefits of Acupuncture

Conventional medicine as failed miserably in curing many chronic diseases, especially in those cases that are grouped as auto immune disorders like rheumatism, arthritis, etc. Even the relief provided in many cases is temporary and patients have to depend on drugs throughout their lives. Finding little or no relief many people turn to alternative and complementary modes of treatment like acupuncture. Even modern doctors are increasingly acknowledging the effectiveness of acupuncture as an effective form of complementary therapy because of its numerous benefits. Here are some of the benefits of acupuncture.

One of the major benefits of acupuncture is that there are no medicines involved. In China acupuncture had developed as a complete system of therapy and therefore there is no need for drugs. Consequently there are also no side effects of acupuncture unlike many of the so called "wonder drugs' of today. Acupuncture is based on the belief that like every thing else in this world the body is influenced by opposing forces of yin and yang. Yin represents the slow cold and passive principle whereas yang represents the excited, hot and active principle.

In a healthy body both these opposing forces are in balance and the life force energy called Chi passes through all the meridians or energy pathways of the body unhindered. In disease some of these energy pathways are blocked and the corresponding body parts are affected. By stimulating a few points on the blocked meridians with fine needles the energy flow is restored and the corresponding parts of the body are brought back to normal health. As the needles used are sterilized and very fine there is no pain at all. In fact the worst that can happen in acupuncture is that it will have no effect at all due to the wrong selection of points by and inexperienced therapist.

Researchers have observed that the physiologically beneficial effects of acupuncture are due to the increased release of endorphins and also other such natural opioid peptides in the body. The resultant analgesic or pain relieving effects of acupuncture therapy have also been well documented by medical researchers. It has also been found that acupuncture is responsible for modulating immunoglobulins, the proteins from which the body makes antibodies. Therefore acupuncture improves the body's immunity. It also does this by enhancing the functioning of the white blood cells that fight against disease and also of the phagocytes.

The analgesic benefits of acupuncture are being widely used to reduce the level of pain and also the quantity of potent painkillers required, before and during a surgical operation with the additional benefit that the patient is saved to a great extent from the side effects that are associated with opioids or anesthetics. Researchers have also found that a stimulation of a combination of some of the specific acupuncture points like ST36, L14, SP6 has resulted in the increased release of white blood cells and also immunoglobulins17 that are beneficial for patients suffering from auto immune diseases like rheumatoid arthritis.

Acupuncture is also becoming increasingly popular for treating addiction, postoperative nausea, side effects of chemotherapy, headache, osteoarthritis, lower back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, asthma, menstrual cramps and many more diseases. However, all these benefits will only accrue if the acupuncture procedure is carried out by a trained and experienced therapist.