If your Western doctor told you they were going to do a procedure or treatment that was thousands of years old, would you be keen to have it done? Maybe, maybe not, right? However, when acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine are described as ancient, it’s presented in a positive light. But is that a good thing?
The answer is yes. Having been consistently practiced for thousands of years is actually one of the strengths of Chinese medicine. Its age gives us clues some as to why and how it works. And the reality is that if acupuncture and other Chinese medical treatments didn’t work, it would not still be around today. Here are some of the many reasons why acupuncture and Chinese medicine are effective:
- Despite being ancient, theories and methods of acupuncture are constantly being updated and incorporated into an ever-expanding body of knowledge. For example, without Dr. Paul Nogier’s experiments in France in the 1950’s, we wouldn’t have auricular (ear) acupuncture. And certainly, without electricity or batteries, we wouldn’t have the effectiveness of electro acupuncture. The beauty of this medicine is that the old theories aren’t discarded; they’re built upon to give us the wide range of methods and schools of thought we have today. In contrast, Western medical discoveries often discard older treatments and practices for new discoveries, even when those older treatments are effective.
- While age-old Chinese medicine treated ancient diseases such as fevers that could kill, malaria, parasites and painful afflictions, it has adapted in a way to treat conditions that are relevant today. For example, acupuncture is commonly used to effectively treat issues that are endemic today, such as stress, high blood pressure, sports injuries, menopausal symptoms and obesity.
- Despite its ancient-ness, acupuncture has the attention of Western researchers and practitioners. There exists a growing body of research that documents conditions for which acupuncture is an effective treatment. In addition, some doctors have studied acupuncture in order to use it in their own practice, and many hospitals in the US offer acupuncture it their patients.
- Scientists have documented the physiological changes that occur from acupuncture treatments. They have discovered that acupuncture can boost your immunity, reduce inflammation, increase circulation, balance your reproductive and stress hormones and increase the activity of certain neurotransmitters that decrease pain sensations, reduce stress and positively affect your mood.
- Chinese medicine is slow medicine. What this means is that it can take time for acupuncture and other treatments to work. But there’s a reason for that. Acupuncture is meant to stimulate your body to heal itself, and that takes time. To do this, your practitioner must have a complete picture of your health and a clear diagnosis in order to begin treating you. That’s because if you only treat symptoms without getting to the heart of the problem, the symptoms are likely to recur.
- Chinese herbal medicine is also a slow and effective medicine. Plants and other herbal substances with specific healing actions are carefully combined into formulas specific to each patient’s needs. While herbal medicine is effective, it can take some time to work. Like acupuncture, the herbs are intended to help your body rebalance and heal itself. As a result, Chinese herbal medicine rarely produces side effects, as the herbs act synergistically, but gently with each other. In fact, if a patient is experiencing side effects from an herbal formula, it is considered to be the wrong formula, and will be reworked.
- Not only is Chinese medicine slow medicine, but it’s also holistic, in the sense that your diet and lifestyle are a part of the picture. For example, dietary medicine is an important component of healing in this paradigm. An acupuncture practitioner is trained to make food recommendations based on your specific diagnosis. In addition, the quality of your sleep, how much and intensely you work, how much you exercise and the amount of stress you’re experiencing all are important factors that may be addressed as a part of your treatment plan.
- Chinese medicine is an umbrella term that covers a number of treatment modalities. In addition to acupuncture, herbal medicine and food therapy, practitioners may incorporate cupping, bodywork, heat therapy, microcurrent, or something called Gua Sha into their treatments. Don’t want acupuncture? There are a number of options that work on the same diagnosis and treatment principles as acupuncture, without the use of needles. However, in many cases, these other treatments can also be used in conjunction with acupuncture.
The bottom line is that the strength of acupuncture and Chinese medicine is that it’s like a circle that continues to make room for new discoveries and schools of thought without losing its underlying principles. It’s flexible, gentle but effective, and natural. If you’ve been suffering from a health issue and feel like you’ve tried everything to no effect, it may be time to take advantage of the healing wisdom that’s thousands of years old.
Cindy Chamberlain is an acupuncturist in Overland Park, KS and the founder of Eastern Healing Solutions, LLC. She is licensed in Kansas and Missouri and has been practicing traditional Chinese medicine since 1996.
