Ancient China has given us a great deal by way of medicine and acupuncture, which has similarities with acupressure, is one of them. It is used to treat ill-health and maintain good health; using fine needles which are inserted into the skin at specific points along pathways of energy called meridians (as in acupressure). Good health is associated with energy, called chi or qi, flowing freely through the meridian channels; disease or injury blocks the chi preventing the free flow of energy. The exterior surface of the human body has 365 acupuncture points across 14 main meridians.
Trapped energy or Chi is stimulated and released by inserting special needles at specific locations or through acupressure depending on the nature of the illness. This can be compared to a river blocked with debris; removing the blocking debris allows the river to freely flow without obstruction. Acupuncture regulates the flow of ‘chi’ so it flows at a steady pace, not too fast and not too slow.
The needles were found in the late Shang Dynasty archeological digs and it can be seen that for at least 4000 years China has been practicing this type of medicine. Three schools of acupuncture exist today, these being the Traditional Yin/Yang Theory, The Five Elements and the Western or Medical Acupuncture. Though the methods used in the different kinds of acupuncture both to diagnose as well as to treat are the same, the approach towards the determination of the basic origin of the ill-health and the treatment vary.
As the name suggests Five Element Acupuncture follows the five element cycle of Chinese medicine and it also takes the relationship between the mind and body seriously in the diagnosis of illnesses as much as the physical causes. Based on this, it believes that physical cure can be achieved only by removing the mental stress first. Although fiv elements acupuncture may help curing a person completely from his physical aliments it is a slow and gradual process because it begins by treating the fundamental causes of the ailment. The traditional yin / yang theory focuses on restoring the overall balance of yin and yang in the body. Combinations of the different acupuncture points on the meridians are simultaneously stimulated so that more than one element is affected.
Western Acupuncture tends to focus on urgent, short-term treatment, combining Eastern and Western medical techniques. Among the two categories of medical benefits of Acupuncture, the first type, Anesthetic Acupuncture finds its place in surgeries and dental procedures. The second one is the ’symptomatic’ one, or also known as first-aid and is not used mainly to cure illnesses but used along with analgesics as a pain reliever and has a temporary effect. Medical researches and studies have revealed that acupuncture has been very successful in the treatment of migraines, depression, asthma, gynecological disorders, allergies, infertility, and arthritis. Acupuncture has been very successful in treating illnesses that do not go away with normal medication; it has also helped in treating psychological disorders that are related to a person’s well being.
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