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By Melinda T. Willis
May 24 ！ When you're in pain, the prospect of having someone stick needles
into your body may not seem like the greatest of ideas. Yet most of the more
than five million Americans who visit acupuncturists each year are doing
just that.
Increasingly, research experience is showing Western practitioners that when
it comes to certain conditions, acupuncture can be just as effective as
conventional treatments like medications.
"It's not so much that acupuncture is used in every instance to eliminate
drugs. It may be used to reduce reliance on drug therapy as a way to deal
with symptoms," says James Dowden, executive administrator at the American
Academy of Medical Acupuncture, a professional society of physicians who are
trained to practice acupuncture and seek to incorporate it into their
practice. "It becomes an alternative way to address a chronic condition."
Acupuncture has been used for thousands of years by Chinese practitioners
for a wide array of ailments, but it is only recently that it has moved from
the fringe of Western medicine.
A critical moment came in 1975, when New York Times reporter James Reston
wrote about his experiences with acupuncture to relieve pain following an
appendectomy in China. "That really started to open the gates for the first
time to the West considering acupuncture as anything other than something
bizarre and off the beaten path," says Dr. James Dillard, assistant clinical
professor, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons in New
York.
The first license was granted to an acupuncturist in the United States the
next year. Yet until 1995, the Food and Drug Administration officially
considered acupuncture needles to be experimental medical instruments.
Further strides were made in moving acupuncture towards the center of heath
care in 1997, when the National Institutes of Health released a consensus
statement on acupuncture in which a 20-member panel endorsed its use for
pain and nausea and suggested it may be helpful in other conditions.
• Interactive: Acupuncture For What Ails You?
"Since that time, and certainly with the increasing interest in alternative
and complementary medicine, there has been an increase in published
literature on acupuncture," says Dillard. "Instead of tens of papers, we now
have hundreds of papers in the literature and more in the pipeline."
It's Ancient History
As scientists continue their quest to understand the potential uses of
acupuncture and how it relates to Western medicine, they are also striving
to understand more about acupuncture's great mystery ！ to figure out
precisely how the simple insertion of a handful of tiny needles under the
skin can bring about physiological changes in the body.
The ancient Chinese belief about acupuncture is that humans have energy or "qi"
(pronounced "chee") running through channels in our bodies called meridians
and ill health is related to a blockage in the flow of this energy.
"The idea is that you put a needle on a point along the meridian and
hopefully stimulate the points to reopen the channels," explains Lixing Lao,
a licensed acupuncturist and associate professor in the Complementary
Medicine Program at the University of Maryland in Baltimore.
"The meridians are not only distributed on the surface, but they also
connect to the internal organs," he adds. "So that's why stimulating the
points on the surface can stimulate the organs inside."
There are more than 2000 of these acupuncture points distributed on the
body. Stimulation of the right sequence of these points is thought to be
effective in addressing certain problems.
The Connective Tissue Connection
So how do scientists think that these hair-thin needles can make you feel
better? One of the most widely accepted theories of acupuncture is that the
needles stimulate endorphins ！ the feel good chemicals associated with the
"runners high."
"When you perform the acupuncture treatment, there is a release of
endorphins that have the effect of increasing the sense of well-being and
making the patient feel better," explains Dowden.
This theory may explain why acupuncture relieves pain and stress and why
some studies suggest it may help depression. Other theories speculate that
acupuncture may increase one's threshold of pain, thereby making people
better able to tolerate it later on.
Other researchers have focused on what happens when needle meets tissue in
the hands of an experienced practitioner.
"When the needle is inserted into the tissue in acupuncture, the
acupuncturist manipulates the needle for a certain amount of time to achieve
a certain reaction called de qi [day chee]," says Dr. Helene Langevin, a
licensed acupuncturist and research assistant professor in the department of
neurology at the University of Vermont in Burlington. This sensation is
compared in ancient Chinese texts to a fish tugging on a fishing line.
"We found in animal studies that connective tissue tends to wind around the
needle when it is rotated," adds Langevin. "All it takes is a small amount
of winding and after that any movement of the needle will pull on connective
tissue."
This pull on connective tissue may be sending mechanical signals to the
surrounding cells, including cells of the nervous system, which may further
explain its mechanism of action. The next step, according to Langevin, will
be to find out what is happening on a cellular and molecular level.
Moving Into Mainstream
One of the reasons that acupuncture has been so well-embraced in the West
may have to do with its low rate of side effects.
"For a medical procedure, you almost cannot get anything that is more
benign," says Dowden. "About the worst thing that can happen is you won't
get better."
Side effects include minor bleeding, bruising, and lightheadedness.
Extremely rare is the possibility of a collapsed lung, which experts say is
highly uncommon and only likely to happen with careless practitioners.
"In hospitals, we put a regular venipuncture needle right into somebody's
artery and take a blood specimen and put our finger over it for a minute to
stop the bleeding," reasons Dr. Woodson Merrell, a physician acupuncturist
and director for the Center for Health and Healing at Beth Israel Medical
Center in New York City. "Compare this to an acupuncture needle, where you
can fit half a dozen of them over the whole of the needle used to [take
blood]. Because of that the risk of side effects is very uncommon."
However, because these risks are even lower for experienced acupuncturists,
Merrell offers tips on how to find a well-credentialed practitioner.
"Even if somebody has a license, that doesn't mean that they're good," he
cautions. " [But] being a member of a state association shows that they're
actively involved in getting continuing education credits, and someone who
has been in practice for a number of years and have some experience under
their belt."
Additionally some states have online sites where you can check to see if
there are any actions being taken against practitioners. And don't discount
good old-fashioned word of mouth as more and more people seek out
acupuncturists as an effective, low-risk way to approach their health
problems.
"Ten years ago, it was probably considered in the quackery area by the more
conservative physicians," says Merrell. "Now it's being considered as a
practice that people can think of for patients the same way that they can
think of giving a drug or physical therapy or surgery. Eventually it will
just be part of mainstream care."
Information resource:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/living/DailyNews/acupuncture020524.html |
