Acupuncture has been employed as a health care modality for over 3,000 years.
Practitioners of this ancient medical practice have experienced clinical success with a variety of health issues. Today, acupuncture is receiving wide acceptance as a respected, valid and effective form of health care.
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When most people think about acupuncture, they are familiar with its use for pain control. But acupuncture has a proven track record of treating and addressing a variety of endocrine, circulatory and systemic conditions.
Acupuncture and modern medicine, when used together, have the potential to support, strengthen and nurture the body towards health and well-being.
What is known about the physiological effects of acupuncture
Over the last few decades, research has been conducted seeking to explain how acupuncture works and what it can and cannot treat.
The 1997 National Institute of Health (NIH) Consensus on Acupuncture reports that “studies have demonstrated that acupuncture can cause multiple biological response, mediated mainly by sensory neurons, to many structures within the central nervous systems. This can lead to activation of pathways, affecting various physiological systems in the brain, as well as in the periphery.”
The NIH Consensus also suggests that acupuncture “may activate the hypothalamus and the pituitary gland, resulting in a broad spectrum of systemic effects. Alteration in the secretion of neurotransmitters and neurohomones, and changes in the regulation of blood flow, both centrally and peripherally, have been documented. There is also evidence of alterations in immune functions produced by acupuncture.
Below are current theories on the mechanism of acupuncture:
1. Neurotransmitter Theory – Acupuncture affects higher brain areas, stimulating the secretion of betaendorphines and enkephalins in the brain and spinal cord. The release of neurotransmitters influences the immune system and the antinociceptive system.
2. Autonomic Nervous System Theory – Acupuncture stimulates the release of norepinephine, acetylcholine and several types of oplaids, affecting changes in their turnover rate, nomalizing the autonomic nervous system, and reducing pain.
3. Gate Control Theory – Acupuncture activates nonnociceptive receptors that inhiit the transmission of nociceptive signals in the dorsal horn, “gating out” painful stimuli.
4. Vascular-intersititial Theory – Acupuncture manipulates the electrical system of the body by creating or enhancing closed-circuit transport in tissues. This facilitates healing by allowing the transfer of material and electrical energy between normal and injured tissues.
5. Blood Chemistry Theory – Acupuncture affects the blood concentrations of triglycerides, cholesterol, and phospholipids, suggesting that acupuncture can both raise and diminish peripheral blood components, thereby regulating the body toward homeostasis.
According to a study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, 51% of medical doctors understand the efficacy and value of acupuncture, and medical doctors refer patients to acupuncturists more than any other alternative care provider.
The NIH Consensus on Acupuncture further states that clinical experience, supported by research data, suggests acupuncture may be a reasonable option for a number of clinical conditions.
Evidence – research into acupuncture as a medical treatment
Research into acupuncture as a medical treatment has grown exponentially in the past 20 years, increasing at twice the rate of research into conventional biomedicine. Over this period, there have been over 13,000 studies conducted in 60 countries, including hundreds of meta-analyses summarising the results of thousands of human and animal studies.1 A wide-variety of clinical areas have been studied, including pain, cancer, pregnancy, stroke, mood disorders, sleep disorders and inflammation, to name a few.
A German research found acupuncture for low back pain are more effective.
German doctors found that acupuncture treatment for low back pain is more effective (almost twice) than the conventional therapy, a combination of drugs, physiotherapy and exercises.
Dr. Michael Haake from the University of Regensburg, who presided over the clinic trial, said: “Acupuncture provide a effective way to treat low back pain, and has less effects.”
Acupuncture is more effective than Physical therapy
In the clinical trials, Dr. Haake and his colleagues recruited 1162 patients with chronic low back pain. These patient in average have 8 years of low back pain. These 1162 patients were divided into three groups and received 30 minutes treatment twice per week for a total five weeks. One group received acupuncture treatment; the second group received “Sham acupuncture” treatment; The last group received conventional routine treatment, a combination of drugs, physiotherapy and exercises.
6 months after treatment, a questionnaire has sent to patient who received the treatment. Of which nearly half of the patient who received acupuncture treatment (47.6%) claimed the treatment is effective, compare to the conventional therapy group, only 27.4% found the treatment helpful.
The result showed that low back pain improved after acupuncture treatment for at least 6 months. effectiveness of acupuncture was almost twice that of conventional therapy.
Researchers believe acupuncture may change the mechanism of brain receiving pain signals, or acupuncture may stimulate brain to release a natural analgesic substances leading to pain relief.
The theory of Five Elements, also known as Wu Xing （五行） in Chinese medicine, is a fundamental concept that seeks to understand the dynamic interplay and relationships between various aspects of the natural world. It suggests that wood, fire, earth, metal, and water are not just physical substances, but also represent energetic qualities and principles that shape the material world.
Wood (木 Mu)
Wood represents the energy of growth, expansion, and vitality. It is associated with the season of spring, the colour green, and the direction of east. Wood is also linked to the liver and gallbladder organs in the body.
Fire (火 Huo)
Fire represents the energy of warmth, transformation, and enthusiasm. It is associated with the season of summer, the colour red, and the direction of south. Fire is linked to the heart, small intestine, pericardium, and triple burner organs.
Earth (土 Tu)
Earth represents the energy of stability, nourishment, and grounding. It is associated with the season of late summer or transition periods, the colour yellow, and the central direction. Earth is linked to the spleen and stomach organs.
Metal (金 Jin)
Metal represents the energy of clarity, precision, and contraction. It is associated with the season of autumn, the colour white, and the direction of west. Metal is linked to the lungs and large intestine organs.
Water (水 Shui)
Water represents the energy of fluidity, adaptability, and conservation. It is associated with the season of winter, the colour blue or black, and the direction of north. Water is linked to the kidneys and urinary bladder organs.
In the theory of Five Elements, these elements are not viewed as static entities, but rather as dynamic forces that interact with and influence each other. The relationships between the elements are categorised into two main cycles: the generating cycle and the restraining cycle.
Generating Cycle
Wood generates Fire, Fire generates Earth, Earth generates Metal, Metal generates Water, and Water generates Wood. This cycle describes how each element supports and nourishes the next in a continuous flow of energy.
Restraining Cycle
Wood restrains Earth, Earth restrains Water, Water restrains Fire, Fire restrains Metal, and Metal restrains Wood. This cycle illustrates how each element has the ability to control or restrain another element to maintain balance and prevent excessive energy.
The theory of Five Elements is utilised in traditional Chinese medicine for diagnosis, treatment, and understanding the interconnections between various aspects of health and well-being. It provides a framework to analyse and address imbalances in the body’s energy system and guide the use of acupuncture, herbal medicine, dietary adjustments, and lifestyle recommendations to restore harmony and promote optimal health.
“The skilled practitioner examines the countenance and feels the pulse. First dividing them into Yin and Yang, he judges the pure (Yang ) and the impure (Yin) and thus knows the diseased part of the body… He feels the pulse to ascertain whether it is floating (Yang), deep (Yin), slippery (Yang) or rough (Yin) and knows where the disease orginated. Thus, no mistake would be made both in diagnosis and in treatment.” – Su Wen (Plain Questions)
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In treatment
In the treatment of disease:
If Yang is hot and over-abundant, thus injuring the Yin fluid (Yang excess causing a Yin disease), the surplus Yang can be decreased by a method called “cooling what is hot“;
If Yin is cold and over-abundant, thus injuring the Yang Qi (Yin excess causing Yang disease), the surplus Yin can be decreased by the method called “heating what is cold“.
Conversely:
If Yin fluid is deficient and so, unable to control the Yang, causes it to become violent; Or
If Yang Qi is deficient and unable to control Yin, causes it to become over-abundant, then the deficiency must be tonified.
The Neijing (Internal Classic) describes the method:
Thus: “In Yang diseases treat the Yin; in Yin diseases treat the Yang.”
Yin Yang is one of the most fundamental concepts in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), as well as the foundation of diagnosis and treatment.
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What is Yin Yang?
Yin Yang is:
The Tao of heaven and earth (the basic law of opposition and unity in the natural world),
The fundamental principle of the myriad things (all things can only obey this law and cannot transgress it),
The originators (literally parents) of change (change in all things is according to this law),
The beginning of birth and death (the birth and creating, death and destruction of all things begins with this law).
The storehouse of Shen Ming (the location of all that is mysterious in the natural world).
The treatment of disease must be sought for in this basic law (man is one of the living things of nature, so the curing of disease must be sought for in this basic law).
~ Shu Wen (Plain Question)
For life as we know it to be possible with all its richness and variety, its infinite potentialities for good and ill, this world had to be split in two. The Unity had to become a duality; and from this duality arose the idea of the complementary opposites, the negative and the positive, which the Chinese called the Yin and Yang. These two principles are at the very root of the Chinese way of life; they pervade all their art, literature and philosophy and are therefore also embodied in their theories of traditional medicine.
These principles are of course, up to a point, accepted in the West. Every phenomenon can be divided into its two contrary components. Male and female, hard and soft, good and bad, positive and negative electrical charges, laevorotary and dextrorotary chemical compounds – all these are “opposites “. It is indeed a fact that nothing can happen in the physical world unaccompanied by positive or negative electrical charges.
The perpetual interplay of the Yin and the Yang is the very keystone of thinking. It is the law operating throughout all existence that the states of Yin and Yang must succeed one another, so that, in a Yin condition, the corresponding Yang state can be precisely foretold. The practical application of this law to acupuncture can be illustrated thus:
Yang Yin
In the natural world
day – night
clear day – cloudy day
east/south – west/north
spring/summer – autumn/winter
upper – lower
exterior – interior
hot – cold
fire – water
light – dark
sun – moon
In the body surfaces of the body interior of the body
spine/back – chest/abdomen
male – female
energy (Qi) – blood
In disease acute/virulet – chronic/non-active
powerful/flourishing – weak/dacaying
hot feeling – cold feeling
dry – moist
advancing – retiring
hasty – lingering
Organs
Gall bladder – Liver
small intestine – Heart
Stomach – Spleen (pancreas)
large intestine – Lung
bladder – Kidney
triple warmer – pericardium
The qualities of Yin and Yang are relative, not absolute.
For example, the surface of the body is Yang, the interior is Yin. But this relation also remains constant within the body, for the surface of every internal organ is always Yang and its interior always Yin, down to the individual cells that compose it.
Similarly, gas is Yang, solid Yin; but among the gases the more rarefied are Yang, the denser are Yin. Life and death belong to Yang, growth and storage to Yin, so that
“if only Yang exists, there will be no birth; in only Yin exists, there will be no growth.”
The life of every organism depends upon the correct balance of its various components.
Since everything in the life can be classified according to its Yin and Yang components, it is said:
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“Now the Yin/Yang has a name but no form. Thus it can be extended from one to ten, from ten to a hundred, from a hundred to a thousand, from a thousand to ten thousand (i.e. it can embrace all things).”
– Ling Shu (Spiritual Pivot)
Each component not only opposes but also contains its opposite, for:
“There is Yin within the Yin and Yang within the Yang. From dawn till noon the Yang of the Heaven is the Yang within the Yang; from noon till dusk the Yang of heaven is the Yin within the Yang; from dusk till midnight the Yin of heaven is the Yin within the Yin; from midnight till dawn the Yin of heaven is the Yang within the Yin.”
– Su Wen (Plain Questions)
Thus ”functional movement” belongs to Yang, ”nourishing substance” to Yin, nor can the one exist without the other; for, if the intestines and other internal organs do not move, ”nourishing substances” can not be digested and, if over a long period ”nourishing substances” are not provided, the organs cease to move.
“yin in the interior is the guardian of Yang; Yang in the exterior is the activator of Yin.”
– Su Wen (Plain Questions)
The opposition of Yin and Yang is not static
It is a perpetually changing rhythm of movement, whose interplay produces growth, transformation and death.
“The relation of Yin and Yang is the means whereby the myriad things are able to come to birth, Yin and Yang react upon each other, producing change”.
– Su Wen (Plain Questions)
This changing rhythm in the balance of Yin and Yang ensures that there is never an excess of either of these polar opposites, for overactivity of Yang is a once adjusted by the yielding passivity of Yin.
“In winter on the 45th day (the beginning of spring) the Yang Qi is slightly superior and the Yin Qi slightly inferior; in summer on the 45th day (the beginning of autumn) the Yin Qi is slightly superior, the Yang Qi slightly inferior”.
– Su Wen (Plain Questions)
In the former case, Yang Qi waxed with the upsurge of spring as Yin Qi Waned; in the latter, Yin Qi waxed with the decline to winter as Yang Qi waned.
”When speaking of Yin and Yang, the exterior is Yang, the interior is Yin; when speaking of Yin and Yang in the human body, the back is Yang, the abdomen is Yin; when speaking of Yin and Yang of the Zang and Fu in the body, then the Zang are Yin, the Fu are Yang; liver, heart, spleen, lungs and kidneys are all Yin, the gall bladder, stomach, large intestine, small intestine, bladder and triple warmer are all Yang.”
Thus the back is Yang and the Yang within the Yang is the heart.
The back is Yang and the Yin within the Yang is the lungs.
The abdomen is Yin and the Yin within the Yin is the kidneys.
The abdomen is Yin and Yang within the Yin is the liver.
The abdomen is Yin and the extreme Yin within the Yin is the spleen” – Su Wen (Plain Questions)
If this balance of Yin and Yang is upset there is a reaction
“Excess of Yin causes a Yang disease, excess of Yang a Yin disease. Yang in excess produces heat and Yin in excess produces cold; If the heat is extreme, it will produce cold; and if the cold is extreme, it will produce heat.”
