Natural Healing: Acupuncture
Acupuncture in Sandton
Acupuncture is a complementary medical practice that entails stimulating certain points on the body, most often with a needle penetrating the skin, to alleviate pain or to help treat various health conditions.
Acupuncture (a·kyuh·puhngk·chuh)
noun: A system of complementary medicine in which fine needles are inserted in the skin at specific points along what are considered to be lines of energy (meridians), used in the treatment of various physical and mental conditions.
Acupuncture is a complementary medical practice that entails stimulating certain points on the body, most often with a needle penetrating the skin, to alleviate pain or to help treat various health conditions.
Developed millennia ago in China, numerous recent studies conducted by scientists have found that acupuncture is at least moderately effective in treating pain and nausea.
Some people claim it works by balancing vital energy, while others believe it has a neurological effect. Acupuncture remains controversial among Western medical doctors and scientists.
Conditions it is used for include different kinds of pain, such as headaches, blood pressure problems, and whooping cough, among others.
Conditions in which they say acupuncture has been proven effective include:
Traditional Chinese medicine explains acupuncture as a technique for balancing the flow of energy or life force — known as chi or qi (chee) — believed to flow through pathways (meridians) in your body. Illness is said to be the consequence of an imbalance of the forces.
Developed millennia ago in China, numerous recent studies conducted by scientists in Europe and the United States have found that acupuncture is at least moderately effective in treating pain and nausea.
How Does it Work?
Traditional Chinese medicine explains that health is the result of a harmonious balance of the complementary extremes of "yin" and "yang" of the life force known as "qi," pronounced "chi."
Qi is said to flow through meridians, or pathways, in the human body. These meridians and energy flows are accessible through 350 acupuncture points in the body.
The patient will be asked to lie down on their back, front, or one side, depending on where the needles are to be inserted. The acupuncturist should use single-use, disposable, sterile needles. As each needle is inserted, the patient may feel a very brief stinging or tingling sensation.
After the needle is inserted, there is occasionally a dull ache at the base of the needle that then subsides. Acupuncture is usually relatively painless. Sometimes the needles are heated or stimulated with electricity after insertion. The needles will stay in place for between 5 and 30 minutes.
The number of treatments needed depend on the individual. A person with a chronic condition may need one to two treatments a week over several months. An acute problem normally improves after 8 to 12 sessions.
Inserting needles into these points with appropriate combinations is said to bring the energy flow back into proper balance.