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May 1996
By Christopher Hudson,M.AC., L.Ac.
Acupuncture, an art of medicine that has a well-documented clinical history
of over 3000 years is an ¡°energetic medicine¡±: it deals with the energy of
life, called ¡°qi¡± (chee). Acupuncture is one of the treatment modalities
that comes under the rubric of Traditional Oriental Medicine. Other
modalities include Tuina (Chinese massage), meditation, qi gong, therapeutic
exercise, dietary and nutritional work and herbal medicine. Traditional
Oriental Medicine has recently been getting a lot of attention as an
¡°alternative medicine,¡± but as a practitioner I¡¯d prefer to consider it
¡°complimentary.¡± Its essential nature is to treat the energy of the human
system. It works with the medical techniques of the West by supporting and
enhancing treatment protocols that are often harsh or difficult for the
person due to severity of treatment, or the side effects of strong
medication. This paper will outline the nature of acupuncture, explain the
use of needles and moxibustion, and show how acupuncture and Traditional
Oriental Medicine, because of its essentially flexible nature, is an
excellent treatment form for people with compromised immune systems.
Acupuncture is a method of balancing qi by intentionally moving it around
with the aid of acupuncture needles. When I was small, a trip to the doctor
occasionally meant getting a shot: a source of great trepidation and
outright terror. Experience had taught me that when the guy with the tie in
the long white coat told me ¡°it wasn¡¯t going to hurt¡±; it often hurt like
heck. That¡¯s where many of us learned our experience of needles.
Fortunately, acupuncture needles are not hypodermic needles. Acupuncture
needles are very fine, called ¡°filliform,¡± meaning hair like. They are of
solid bore construction, and made of high quality stainless steel. They are
both strong and flexible. They range in length from about ½" to around 6".
Shorter needles are used in places where there is not much tissue such the
ear, the longer ones where there is more tissue, such as the place where you
sit down. The tip of the acupuncture needle is rounded. It is used to push
tissue out of the way rather than cut through them. A skilled acupuncturist
can insert an acupuncture needle through the skin without the patient
feeling it at all. It is the purpose of the acupuncture needle to access the
place in the tissue where the qi is collecting. This place is known as an
acupuncture point.
Traditional Oriental Medicine operates on the simple idea that qi not only
permeates all living tissues, but that it moves throughout the organism.
Illness and disease are the end products of the imbalances of qi. Qi has
often been compared to water in its properties of movement and nourishment
of the terrain. Qi flows in pathways known as ¡°meridians.¡± It is thought
that these pathways are lines through the fascia of connective tissue where
electromagnetic resistance is low. As the qi flows in these pathways, it
tends to pool, or eddy, due to changes in anatomical structure, much like
water flow in a river changes because of changes in the structure of the
riverbed. It is these places of flow, or swirling, or collection, which are
the locations of the acupuncture points internally. It is into these places
that an acupuncturist seeks to go with the tip of the acupuncture needle.
An adjunct to the use of needles is moxibustion. The term is derived from
the Japanese mogusa and refers to the burning of the pulverized plant
material of Mugwort, Artemisia vulgaris-folium. The frequency of the heat
produced seems to be especially complimentary to human tissues. It has a
deeply penetrating effect, which can be quite soothing locally as well as
systemically energizing when correctly applied. Together, acupuncture and
moxibustion are the basic tools of this most flexible treatment form. Its
flexibility is derived from its essentially simple nature of seeking
energetic balance.
As energy, qi exists at a variety of frequencies. An acupuncturist seeks to
balance qi at any or all of these various levels. This is why acupuncture is
so successful at effectively treating such a broad variety of complaints
beyond those of a simple physical nature. As a treatment choice for those
people who are immunocompromised, acupuncture and Traditional Oriental
Medicine is excellent because treatment takes place at the mental, the
emotional, and the spiritual, as well as the physical level. Indeed, one of
the most enjoyable examples of feedback I¡¯ve received from a person was the
statement: ¡°I feel well; I had forgotten what that was like; I thought I¡¯d
never feel well again.¡±
This is the magic of Traditional Oriental Medicine: by teaching a person it
is possible to feel well as a result of receiving acupuncture, the person
comes to understand that a return to health is an accessible option.
Acupuncture provides relief for many problems which are caused by disease
pathogens or are side effects of medications provided by Western medicine.
Such symptoms include night sweats, diarrhea, digestive difficulty, nausea
and vomiting, depression, insomnia, anxiety, peripheral neuropathy, muscle
pains, and sinus congestion¡ªto name a few. To an acupuncturist, each of
these complaints may be seen as elements of a symptom complex, each of which
may be different from person to person, for each person is recognized being
ill in his or her own way. The person can expect a thorough subjective
interview coupled with objective observation and physical examination. From
this information the acupuncturist synthesizes a diagnostic pattern and
attempts to alleviate the imbalances within the pattern. For the first time
acupuncture client some of the questions may seem pretty far removed form
the main complaint. However, when all the symptoms are viewed as a whole, a
clear yet often complex pattern emerges. The practitioner then treats the
pattern of which the main complaint is a part. When the main complaint is
resolved, other symptoms in the pattern are also alleviated.
Finally, as a compliment to acupuncture, herbal formulations are often
recommended. The Chinese Materia medica is large and varied. Formulations
are given to people as ¡°patent medicines¡± which are prepared and bottled in
pill or capsule form; or as bags of raw herbs which are taken as decoctions
or ¡°soups.¡± Raw herb formulations are used when a practitioner needs to
tailor a formula to an individual by adding or subtracting an herb from a
classical formulation. And varying the amounts of the ingredients. Most
herbal decoctions are prepared by boiling herbs for about half an hour,
straining off the liquid and drinking it. They are well known to often smell
bad in the cooking and taste worse in the drinking. As most people would
prefer to take a pill than go through the effort of making a soup, prepared
herbs are more general in their scope and easier to take. Each form has its
advantages and difficulties. As patents are more generalized, they can be
given to more people, they are easier to take and easier to prescribe. But
the true art of the medicine is in the custom formulation of the raw herbs,
and it is in this realm that the subtlety and the power of the medicine are
truly evident.
Acupuncture and Traditional Oriental Medicine have almost as many variations
of application as there are practitioners. There are many schools of thought
about knotty problems that are ¡°hard to treat.¡± One would expect this from a
medicine that is over 3000 years old. The more questions one answers, the
more questions one has. I¡¯ve tried in this article to give a cursory
overview of the medicine and why it is so effective for people living with
HIV and AIDS. I enjoy my work and always welcome questions. By simply
balancing energy, it is possible to enhance the quality of a person¡¯s live,
to encourage longevity and wellness, and to help people take control of
their well being.
Information resource:
http://www.projinf.org/fs/acupuncture.html
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