Specialized Medical Inc

Acupunture

 

Acupuncture dates back to at least the Shang Dynasty, approximately 1600 B.C. Its modern practice, though, has been heavily influenced by China's first communist leader, Mao Zedong, who attempted to align TCM more with Marxism and anti-superstition. Moreover, Western acupuncturists tend to ignore various spiritual components of TCM. Thus, in the field of TCM, there is disagreement on how TCM and acupuncture should be conducted.

 

 

In theory, acupuncture treatment is said to work by regulating a flow of energy in the body called qi, or chi, a central tenet to TCM. Disruptions in the flow of qi are thought to be responsible for all disease. Acupuncture stimulates points on or under the skin called acupuncture points or acupressure points, releasing the qi. The qi travels through channels called meridians.

Over the centuries, volumes have been written on the nature of qi (there are at least five kinds) and mechanics of acupuncture. Nevertheless, modern science has yet to identify qi, the meridians or the acupuncture points. The notion that imbalances in energy flow cause disease is antithetical to modern Western medicine, which is based onempirical evidence and which has greatly advanced world health with the discovery that disease is caused by microbes, genetic instructions, and other chemical messaging at a cellular level.

But broadly generalizing this theory, one could argue that qi and its meridians and points resemble the central nervous system and its neurotransmitters and hormones. Needles, in theory, could stimulate this.

 

(Citation: http://www.livescience.com/29494-acupuncture.html)