How does acupuncture work ? What is it doing ? These are the questions that I asked when first introduced to Oriental Medicine and now answer every day as an acupuncturist. Those of us who practice acupuncture in the West have done a disservice to the medicine by only giving the simplistic explanation of “moving Qi,” and then defining Qi as “energy” that travels through invisible “meridians.” Being a skeptic comes naturally to me. I have an inquisitive mind that is not easily dissuaded by simple esoteric explanations OR reductionist Western scientific rationalizations. However I have found truth in both Western scientific and Eastern philosophical reasonings. True to my integrative approach of taking the best of eastern medicine and accentuating with the best of western medicine, I discovered that the poetry of Oriental medicine can not singularly be explained by Daoist philosophy or Western diagnostic imaging. Instead Oriental medicine is better served by looking at it from both points of view to find the synthesis where they both meet. (more…)
Posts Tagged ‘acupuncture’
How does Acupuncture work? The physiology behind the mystery.
Wednesday, October 3rd, 2012Kids LOVE acupuncture too : )
Sunday, December 4th, 2011
Kids respond very quickly to pediatric acupuncture which involves more massage, herbs and moxa than needles for the youngest. I have treated a newborn less than one hour old with respiratory distress from inhaling meconium, a 2 year old with spastic hemiplegia as a result of Encephalitis, many teenage girls with painful peroids…countless ear infections, colds and flus….and ALL have left with smiles : ) (more…)
Modern Imaging used to Decode the Mystery behind How Acupuncture Works ?
Saturday, December 18th, 2010High-Tech Tools Show How Acupuncture Works in Treating Arthritis, Back Pain, Other Ills
Just want to share an article I found in the Wall Street Journal written by Melinda Beck. Western science continues to have a difficult time explaining why acupuncture works but new technologies in imaging are making it possible to see how it works on the most rudimentary level. The benefits go much further than scientific technologies can interpret in study, for instance there is no measure for the individual effects on balancing a patient’s emotional state because no two people are exactly the same. I still find this news article interesting enough to share. The bottom line is that acupuncture works, and patient results are all the proof I need.
