The Birth of Acupuncture

Discovered by the Chinese more than five thousand years ago, acupuncture is one of the oldest forms of eastern medicine. The unique methodology of acupuncture represents the core paradigm of eastern science. The philosophy of eastern science greatly differs from western science. In the east, holistic patterns, processes, cycles and relationships are the source of diagnosis and medicine. In contrast, the western scientific paradigm utilizes reductionistic explanations, linear thinking, and causality

It wasn't until the 17^th century, however, that Europe and eventually the rest of the western world was introduced to acupuncture. In the beginning, the western scientific community scoffed at the idea of acupuncture, mainly because they simply did not understand the concept. Their linear thinking could not understand how a needle inserted into the hand could cure a toothache! Thus, many scientists, doctors, and practitioners rejected acupuncture. For decades to come, the only evidence that acupuncture really worked was through word of mouth. Very few scientifically controlled experiments were ever conducted. However, during the 1970's, scientists and researchers began conducting experiments to test the effectiveness of acupuncture. Now, there are thousands of journals, articles, and publications of scientifically controlled experiments affirming the benefits and healing power of acupuncture.

Research has shown that "specific", or true acupuncture, actually relieves pain while "sham acupuncture", needles inserted in non-acupuncture points, have no pain relieving effects. There have been numerous controlled clinical trials comparing true acupuncture to sham acupuncture on patients with chronic pain showing that acupuncture truly works better than a placebo. More notable is the fact that when conventional treatments, such as pain relievers and anesthetics, were compared to acupuncture they found acupuncture to be just as effective with fewer side effects.

The effectiveness of acupuncture is astounding. In approximately 70% to 80% of patients, acupuncture has been proven successful. There is not a 100%success ratio because acupuncture does not work ALL the time with ALL people. The reason is due to a chemical our body produces called cholecystikinin, or CCK. Individuals who have high CCK respond poorly to the effects of acupuncture. CCK blocks the body's tolerance for acupuncture by blocking messages of pain from the brain to the rest of the body.

Unlike many pain medications and relievers, acupuncture is not physiologically addicting. The effects of the therapy, however, can be additive. The effects of acupuncture are cumulative in nature. Thus, the benefits of acupuncture therapy become more powerful after ten or fifteen treatments. Research has also shown that most patients neurologically respond in a positive way.

With a history of more than five thousand years, acupuncture has deeply rooted itself not only into eastern medicine, but into western culture as well. There are large bodies of empirical and anecdotal evidence from both eastern and western cultures proving the overall effectiveness and benefit of acupuncture. In addition to relieving chronic pain, acupuncture has been found to be an effective treatment for addiction and withdrawal of various different drugs, environmental and cardiovascular illnesses, gastrointestinal functions and also aids in learning, memory and conditioning. Along with the growing research and body of evidence, more and more western doctors are making acupuncture a part of their practice.