How Does Acupuncture Work?

By the Chinese Pain Center

Acupuncture is a method of encouraging the body to promote natural healing and to improve functioning. This is done by inserting needles and applying heat or electrical stimulation at very precise acupuncture points.

The classical Chinese explanation is that channels of energy run in regular patterns through the body and over its surface. These channels, called meridians, are like rivers flowing through the body to irrigate and nourish the tissues, blood flow and nervous pulses also follow meridians to run through the body to various parts, structures and organs. An obstruction in the movement of these energy rivers is like a dam that backs up the flow in one part of the body and restricts it in others. Any obstruction and blockages or deficiencies of energy, blood and nervous pulses would eventually lead to disease.

The meridians can be influenced by needling the acupuncture points:

The acupuncture needles unblock the obstruction at the dams, and reestablish the regular flow through the medians. Acupuncture treatments can therefore help the body's internal organs to correct imbalances in their digestion, absorption, and energy production activities, and in the circulation of their energy through the meridians.

The modern science explain the functions of acupuncture in 2 major ways:

1. Needling the acupuncture points stimulates the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord, and brain. These chemicals will either change the experience of pain, or they will trigger the release of other chemicals and hormones which influence the body's own internal regulating system.

2. In traditional Chinese medicine YIN represents "-" (negative) and YANG represents "+" (positive). The main principle of Chinese medicine is to keep the YIN and YANG balance or bring YIN and YANG back to balance. YIN YANG balance is the healthy state of the body. Modern science reveals that the very basic unit of the body is cell. Cells' movement follow the movement of electrons. The electrons inside cells act according to its own regular patterns. We call all these electrons in living body bioelectrons.

Energy flow in the meridians is the direct or indirect transportation of bioelectrons. Meridians are the pathways where bioelectons move more frequently than other parts of the body. When positive and negative charges in the bioelectronic movements are not balanced, the cells would act abnormally -- this is YIN and YANG imbalance. In Chinese medicine it is defined as "disease". It is a beginning stage of the physiological cells electrons movement. Only radical change of the cells electrons movement is admitted by Western medicine. as "disease".

All the external factors, such as mechanical, physical, chemical, biological and internal factors such as mental, hereditary, constitutional can cause and force the body's bioelectrical movement turn to imbalance would lead to disease.