Acupuncture

Acupressure and the traditional Chinese healing technique Acupuncture are intricately entwined. Like acupressure, this method uses the points of energy in the body called meridians; here fine needles penetrate the skin at those points - the method boosts good health and treats poor health.

Good health is associated with energy, called chi or qi, flowing freely through the meridian channels; disease or injury blocks the chi preventing the free flow of energy. The 14 meridians in the body have along them, 365 points of acupuncture all on the body's surface.

The blockage is freed when acupressure or special needles are applied at specific points on the meridian where the 'chi' is trapped. This can be compared to a river blocked with debris; removing the blocking debris allows the river to freely flow without obstruction. Acupuncture regulates the flow of 'chi' so it flows at a steady pace, not too fast and not too slow.

This form of medicine has been practiced in China for at least 4,000 years, with these needles found in archaeology digs of the late Shang Dynasty (c. Acupuncture is of three kinds: traditional Yin/Yang Theory, Five Elements and the Western or medical acupuncture. Although all three have the same system of points and they use similar methods of diagnosis, each takes a dissimilar approach towards treatment of an illness and its cause.

Chinese medicine's five element cycle is the basis for the Five Element Acupuncture discipline; the belief here is that ailments are caused by both physical conditions and emotional stress. Following along with all of this, the physical symptoms are only able to be alleviated when all of that inner stress has been dealt with.

Since the main emphasis within the five elements theory focuses on treating an illness's underlying cause, one should realize that it can be a very slow process in order to reach a complete recovery even though it is quite possible. The Yin /Yang traditional theory on the other hand, is based on reinstating the body's yin and yang balance. The acupuncture points are stimulated along several different pathways (meridians) to simultaneously affect more than one element.

Western Acupuncture has a tendency of focusing on the short-term, urgent treatment which combines Western and Eastern medical techniques. Two sub-categories of medical use of acupuncture are often employed in anesthetic acupuncture for dental and surgical procedures.

The second sub-category is that first-aid or symptomatic isn't used for the illness's diagnosis but in order to assist with the temporary relief of analgesic pain. Medical researches and studies have revealed that acupuncture has been very successful in the treatment of migraines, depression, asthma, gynecological disorders, allergies, infertility, and arthritis. As with healing methods dealing with energy, acupuncture effectively heals conditions not treatable with conventional treatment, persistent conditions and disorders and maladies arising due to lifestyles.