Acupuncture benefits

 Acupuncture is considered a green therapy in terms of the inherent properties of drugs - the "side effects of drugs". For health reasons, some people, especially the middle-aged and elderly, believe that because it is a green therapy, they can "zap" it often, or even "zap" it every day. Acupuncture does not produce the imaginary "infinite superposition" of therapeutic effects, and the body will not benefit more from it.

　　 1. Scientific acupuncture does have a beneficial effect on health

　　 Acupuncture has a long history in China. According to literature, acupuncture first appeared in the Neolithic era. At that time, humans made a greater variety and finer stone tools, which made the acupuncture stone suitable for medical use. A sharp stone was the precursor to needles and was considered the earliest medical tool, used mainly to break open canker sores, drain pus and blood, or stimulate certain parts of the body to remove pain.

　　 The stainless steel needles used in acupuncture therapy today are based on the original needles of ancient times, such as stone, stone, bone and bamboo needles, and have been developed through various stages, such as copper and gold needles. On the other hand, moxibustion refers to the treatment of disease by applying fixed warm stimulation to a particular part of the body.

　　 In China, acupuncture and moxibustion is a discipline guided by Chinese medical theory, studying meridians, acupoints and acupuncture methods. And exploring the laws of using acupuncture and moxibustion to prevent and treat diseases. It includes the study of meridians, acupoints, acupuncture methods, clinical treatment, acupuncture medical scriptures and medical books, and experimental acupuncture. In addition to being a means of treating disease, acupuncture also has a certain role in maintaining health.

Even the most brilliant acupuncturists have not been able to unravel the mystery of how a small silver needle can cure so many of the most difficult diseases that even Western medicine has not been able to solve. Modern medical practitioners have conducted a great deal of research on the substance and mechanism of acupuncture from the perspective of physiology, anatomy, and even molecular biology and genetics, but what has been achieved is quite limited. Some people then use the fuzzy theory or black box theory to explain it, with some justification. A great deal of medical practice has confirmed the unique efficacy of acupuncture in treating many diseases.

　　 Through acupuncture, acupuncture points and meridians can be stimulated to mobilise the body's internal resistance to disease and to prevent and treat illness. Among other things, acupuncture therapy must be operated by professionally qualified medical personnel and cannot be performed by unqualified personnel or by the patient himself. Moxibustion, by contrast, is not as demanding and is relatively safe and easy to perform. When following medical advice, people can select different acupuncture points, such as Foot San Li, Guan Yuan, Qi Hai and Shen Que, according to their physical condition and seasonal characteristics for health care moxibustion. And use point kneading and massage to obtain the effect of warming and tonifying Yang Qi. For example, to improve the function of the spleen and stomach, you can press or moxibustion the Foot San Li point every day.  For sleep problems, you can moderately rub the Shen Men point every day, rub the Yong Quan point, press the Zhao Hai point and rub the ear point before going to bed to help improve sleep.

When the body is out of balance, acupuncture stimulates a certain part of the body to mobilise the body's potential, causing a response, readjusting the body's functions and enhancing the body's ability to regulate purpose of healing and saving lives. The amount of stimulation for acupuncture treatment varies from person to person and from disease to disease. For acute illnesses and physically strong, the intensity of stimulation should be increased, while for chronic illnesses, long term illnesses, the old and the weak, the amount of stimulation should be reduced. Acupuncture has both needles and moxibustion, which can be applied separately or in combination. Acupuncture is mostly used for unblocking and moxibustion is mostly used for warming and tonifying.

　　 

2, often acupuncture ≠ maximum effect

　　 Many people believe that the more times and the longer the acupuncture, the better the effect. However, in clinical practice, it has been found that prolonged, uninterrupted acupuncture stimulation or multiple days of acupuncture treatment does not guarantee an "infinite stack" of acupuncture effects.

　　 In most cases, such as chronic pain, fire acupuncture, menstrual disorders, peripheral neuropathies, etc., it is necessary to have appropriate intervals between treatments to help the patient's "acupuncture to obtain qi" helping to correct and dispel the disease. The so-called "acupuncture to obtain qi" refers to the acupuncture points, after manipulating or longer retaining needles, so that patients appear sore, numb, swollen, heavy, and other sensations, the practitioner feels the needle sink tight. The degree of this needle sensation and its duration are often closely related to the therapeutic effect.

　　 Of course, for some illnesses such as acute pain, solid eruptions (commonly known as "hiccups"), external coughs, acute diarrhoea, sudden deafness, etc., it is recommended that a professional acupuncturist needles daily, even two to three times a day, in order to relieve symptoms and restore health effectively.

　　 In addition to this, it is not recommended that people blindly "zap" or "zap" every day for health maintenance.

　　 3. Before and after acupuncture

　　 Acupuncture is a delicate treatment method. Before and after acupuncture, we should pay attention to some safety matters. Otherwise not only can we not achieve the curative effect, but it also may endanger health.

　　 Be careful not to perform acupuncture when you are too hungry, too full, too tired or too drunk. Before acupuncture, it is important to keep a relaxed mood, avoid excessive emotional stress, and try not to wear make-up, shave your tongue or spray perfume to prevent affecting the doctor's correct judgment of your physical condition. In particular, you should go to the bathroom once before acupuncture to avoid discomfort after acupuncture by leaving the needles in place (meaning that the needles are left in the acupuncture points without moving after entering them to enhance the sensation of needles and the continuous effect of needling, usually staying for one to twenty minutes) or irritation to the bladder when acupuncturing the abdomen.

　　 It is important to pay attention to skin cleanliness after acupuncture. There is no need to specifically disinfect the skin, as long as it does not come into contact with dirty water, oil and other unclean things, to avoid needle eye infections. At the same time, it is essential not to take a shower, wash the hair, touch cold water, go out to blow or blow on the air conditioner immediately, otherwise, the patient may develop symptoms similar to external sensation (external wind-cold, external wind-heat, external summer humidity) or minor local infection of the needle eye, etc. Besides, the patient should take adequate rest.

　　 It is important to note that acupuncture treatment is performed by inserting acupuncture needles into acupuncture points or lesions. In addition to acupuncture-related theory, acupuncture practitioners are required to have a basic knowledge of anatomy, especially the anatomical structures of some dangerous areas. Therefore, it is recommended that patients go to a regular hospital to determine whether they are suitable for acupuncture therapy and have acupuncture performed by professionals to avoid adverse consequences.

　　 4. A small amount of bleeding is average after the needles are removed

　　 In recent decades, domestic scholars have conducted systematic scientific research around acupuncture, and in addition to bone and joint diseases, acupuncture has significant therapeutic effects on vascular diseases, neurological diseases, chronic gastrointestinal diseases, kidney diseases, respiratory diseases, endocrine diseases, as well as cosmetic weight loss and some skin diseases.

　　 However, there are still some incorrect beliefs about the perception of acupuncture and its implementation. The most common misconception is that "acupuncture points should not bleed".

　　 In clinical practice, some patients believe that needles should not bleed. If they see bleeding after the needles are removed, patients, especially first-time acupuncturists, will feel scared and think that they have "missed the mark". In fact, capillaries are found all over the body and when needles are inserted into acupuncture points, sometimes the capillaries underneath the points are also pierced. If there is a small amount of bleeding or a small local bruise after the needle is removed, this is normal and will not have any adverse effects on your health. Bleeding" is not a contraindication in Chinese medicine. For example, bloodletting is also used for fever and stagnant diseases. Therefore, patients do not need to be overly nervous about a small amount of bleeding at the site of the needle, as a few moments of pressure with a dry cotton ball will stop the bleeding.

　　 "It is also a common misconception that needling can cause the body to leak Qi, especially for the elderly and people who have been ill for a long time. The term "qi" as used in everyday life is a completely different concept from the term "qi" as used in Chinese medicine. The human body is not like a balloon, where there is a small opening and all the air inside leaks out.

　　 The so-called "qi" in the human body is referred to in TCM theory as "positive qi", which is the normal function of the body and the functions of the internal organs. By combining the relevant acupuncture points and using appropriate acupuncture techniques, the practitioner can replenish the body's needs and enhance the function of the internal organs. This is what acupuncture calls "replenishing qi", which means supporting the body's "positive qi". The principle of clinical treatment in acupuncture is "if there is a deficiency, then diarrhoea is applied; if there is a deficiency, then tonic is applied".

Precautions for acupuncture: 1.

1. Overly tired, highly nervous, hungry people should not be acupuncture; old and frail people acupuncture should try to take a lying position, take appropriate points less, the hand should be light method.

2. Pregnant women should not be acupuncture too violently, the abdomen, lumbosacral and can cause uterine contraction points such as hegu, san yin jiao, kunlun, to yin, etc. prohibited acupuncture.

3. In children, needles are not usually left in place because they do not cooperate. For infants and children, acupuncture is forbidden in the fontanelle area and at Fengfu and Mute Gate points.

4. Patients with bleeding disorders, or those who often have spontaneous bleeding and cannot easily stop bleeding after injury, should not be acupunctured.

5. Skin infections, ulcers, scarring and tumour sites should not be acupunctured.

6. The depth and angle of needling in the eye area, chest and back, kidney area, collar area, abdomen of patients with gastric ulcer, intestinal adhesions and intestinal obstruction, and the pubic symphysis of patients with urinary retention should be controlled, and straight needling is prohibited to prevent accidental injury to important organs.

7. Acupuncture does have excellent curative effect on certain diseases. Still, it is not a panacea, especially for the treatment of some acute and serious diseases. Comprehensive treatment should be used in a timely manner according to the situation to be more beneficial to the patient and give full play to the role of acupuncture.

A new study led by the Indiana University School of Medicine demonstrates how electroacupuncture triggers a neural mechanism that can help promote tissue repair and relieve injury-induced pain. Their findings provide the first-ever comprehensive picture of how electroacupuncture stimulates the brain to promote the release of stem cells, and new insights into the healing properties of these stem cells. The findings were published online in the journal Stem Cells on 16 March 2017.

Using modern medical and biomolecular approaches, researchers at the Susan Samueli Center for Integrative Medicine Research at the University of California School of Medicine have revealed that the blood pressure-lowering effects of electroacupuncture are achieved by affecting enkephalin synthesis in the ventral lateral region of the medulla oblongata in the rat brain.

Cold-induced hypertension (CIH) rats were randomly divided into EA (electroacupuncture treated group), sham-operated, and untreated hypertensive groups. The rats were treated with repetitive electroacupuncture or sham surgery at the Foot San Li and Upper Ju Xu points, or only after being kept in the cold chamber for 6 weeks, respectively, and given 30-minute treatments twice weekly for another five weeks. Over the course of 11 weeks. The blood pressure (BP) of all groups of rats was evaluated weekly using tail-sleeve manometry. At 24 or 72 hours after five weeks of treatment, rats were decapitated or microinjected to examine proenkephalin mRNA levels and the role of δ-opioid receptors in the ventral lateral region of the medulla oblongata, respectively.

A cold-induced hypertensive rat model increased systolic blood pressure after four weeks and induced sustained hypertension for six weeks. Blood pressure and heart rate in the hypertensive and sham-operated groups of rats remained elevated until 11 weeks.  In contrast, the EA (electroacupuncture) group and remained low during the EA treatment. Furthermore, blood pressure in the CIH rats treated with electroacupuncture remained significantly lower three days after electroacupuncture treatment than sham-operated EA.

The data suggest that the level of enkephalin precursors in brain tissue, especially in the ventral lateral region of the medulla oblongata, was significantly increased by RT-PCR due to electroacupuncture stimulation of the foot San Li and Shang Ju Xu acupoints.

In collaboration with the Institute of Acupuncture and Meridians of Shanghai University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, the School of Acupuncture and Tuina and the Department of Acupuncture and Moxibustion of Longhua Hospital, the Physical Biology Laboratory of the Shanghai Institute of Applied Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences, explored the molecular mechanisms of acupuncture in a mouse model of Parkinson's disease. The study found that acupuncture at the Yanglingquan point on the legs of mice could regulate the autophagy pathway of dopaminergic neurons in the brain through a non-mTOR-dependent pathway, restoring their impaired autophagy levels, clearing the accumulation of α-synuclein in the brain, and significantly improving their motor abilities. A related study, acupuncture promotes mTOR-independent autophagic clearance of aggregation-prone proteins in the mouse brain, was recently published in Scientific Reports. Scientific Reports.

In a recent large-scale study conducted by researchers from the University of York, they found significant relief from chronic neck pain using the Alexander Method or Chinese acupuncture.

Chronic neck pain is very difficult to treat, and previous studies have shown that single treatments do not provide long-term benefits. After evaluating the effectiveness of the Alexander Method and Chinese acupuncture, the researchers concluded that both methods could reduce pain and mobility problems in patients and provide benefits for up to 12 months. The study was published in the international academic journal Annals of Internal Medicine.

In the study, 517 volunteers were recruited and randomly divided into three groups: the first group was given up to 20 sessions of the Alexander Method, plus conventional treatments, each lasting 30 minutes; the second group was given up to 12 sessions of Chinese acupuncture, plus conventional treatments, each lasting 50 minutes; and the third group was given only conventional treatments. The third group of volunteers will receive only conventional treatments. These treatments are only given for four to five months. The regular treatments included taking prescribed medication and receiving treatment from a physiotherapist or other health professional.

The study results showed that after 12 months there was a 32% reduction in pain in the volunteers who received acupuncture in Chinese medicine and a 31% reduction in pain in the volunteers who received Alexander Method classes (a 25% reduction in pain would be clinically significant). After comparing the two treatments with conventional treatment, the researchers found that the decrease in pain was more effective in patients using both treatments and that both groups of volunteers were better able to cope with or reduce their pain levels without medication.

Researchers from the University of California, Irvine, have found that using acupuncture techniques to treat hypertension can boost blood pressure in hypertensive patients for up to a month and a half. This work is the first scientific evidence that this traditional Chinese medicine treatment is beneficial in managing mild to moderate hypertension, suggesting that regular acupuncture treatments may help people manage their blood pressure and prevent the risk of stroke and heart disease.

Dr John Longhurst, who conducted the study, noted that the clinical study culminated in more than a decade of experimental research in the field, using Western scientific thinking to validate ancient Eastern treatments and integrating Chinese and Western medicine to provide new guidelines for the treatment of hypertension.

Swedish researchers investigated the effectiveness of acupuncture in relieving the side effects of radiation therapy in 215 cancer patients and compared them to an additional 62 cancer patients who received conventional treatment. The researchers found that only 37% of the cancer patients treated with acupuncture felt nauseous during the treatment and 7% experienced vomiting. In contrast, these rates were significantly higher among patients receiving conventional treatment, at 63% and 15%, respectively.