Are you sick and tired of trying all kinds of cure to your problem? Are you disgusted about the drug system of medicine and wanna go natural? Try ACUPUNCTURE.
Acupuncture is a part of the traditional Chinese medicine, which involves pricking of very fine needles to specific points on our body to treat various disorders. Its history dates back to a period earlier than 3000 BC. It is widely practiced all over the world .In China, it is used as the first line of medicine, similar to how we use the drugs for the cure here in India and in most parts of the world. Acupuncture in India is still in its developmental phase and has a good future.
Acupuncture has fantastic cure for many diseases like a headache (migraine, sinusitis, tension headache etc.), painful menstruation, arm pain, knee pain, foot pain, sleeplessness, paralysis, bell’s palsy, common cold, schizophrenia, psychosis, sciatica, cervical spondylitis, disc prolapse, asthma ………. The list goes on and on, even beyond the scope of this article. World Health Organization (WHO) in 2003 has published a report about clinical trials researching the effectiveness of acupuncture. More than one hundred indications were discussed, which can be found on Google.
Even though it is a traditional medicine, it has a lot of scientific evidence. It is a field in which extensive research has been done, is being done and will be done in future. It has the second highest number of researches done, next to the conventional medicine (also called allopathy or English medicine) which bags first place. It is practiced now in many parts of the world as evidence-based practice and is very trustworthy.
Acupuncture works on a basic principle called “Qi” pronounced as “chi”, which is the vital force that sustains a life. Qi has two components called Yin principle (negative/passive/female principle) and Yang principle (positive/active/male principle). Similar to the blood flowing in blood vessels, Qi flows in vessels that are called energy channels. There are 20 channels, 12 paired and 8 unpaired, paired channels being the important ones. They are lung, large intestine, stomach, spleen, heart, small intestine, gall bladder, liver, pericardium, triple warmer, urinary bladder and kidney. Blockage to the flow of “Qi” anywhere along the channels or imbalance in yin and yang, leads to diseases. These imbalances are corrected by puncturing needles to specific points which are located along the channels on the skin which are called acupuncture points. There are 359 standard acupuncture points.
Based on the symptoms a patient presents, 12 to 20 suitable points are selected and pricked. A single session may last from 20 minutes to 45 minutes. Like that, 7 to 10 sessions are given, one session or 2 sessions per day. 7 to 10 session constitute a single course. Based on the severity of the condition of the person, he/ she is recommended to take repeated course with a gap of few days to months. But usually, the patient responds within the 1st course of treatment. During the treatment one feels very less pain or no pain at all, since the thickness of the needle is about the same as the thickness of the hair. So no worries at all.
Advantages: Very effective treatment for diseases ranging from common cold to paralysis, No side effects
Disadvantages: time-consuming, infections through unsterile needles
Precautions: properly sterilized needles to be used, care to be taken in case of cancer, pacemaker implants, pregnancy, small children, very old people and epileptic patients.
In India, we can find a lot of acupuncture clinics or acupuncture setup in few hospitals. It is not difficult to find an acupuncturist in India. Along with acupuncture, acupressure and moxibustion are also used as complementary treatment.
Get pricked, Get cured. Take the best out of it. Make the best out of your life.
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