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Acupuncture and Moxibustion Treatment’s healing power and its wide range

Acupuncture and Moxibustion is a medical treatment that has been practiced for thousands of years in China and other Asian countries as well as now around the world. It is used as a means of treating and preventing disease. Acupuncture treatment involves the insertion of fine, sterile needles into specific sites (acupuncture points) along the body’s meridians to clear energy blockages and encourage the normal flow of energy (Qi) through the individual. The general theory of acupuncture is based on the premise that there are patterns of energy flow (Qi) through the body that are essential for health. Disruptions of this flow are believed to be responsible for disease. Acupuncture corrects imbalances of flow at identifiable points close to the skin.Today, acupuncture is an effective, natural and increasingly popular form of health care that is used by people whole over the world.

The modern scientific explanation about the effectiveness of Acupuncture treatment is that needling the acupuncture points stimulates the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord, and brain, including endorphins, enkephalins and other neurotransmitters. Either these chemicals will change the experience of pain, or they will trigger the release of other chemicals and hormones that influence the body’s own internal regulating system, bringing about a normalizing effect on neuroendocrine function. The improved energy and biochemical balance produced by acupuncture results in stimulating the body’s natural healing abilities, and in promoting physical and emotional well-being.

Acupuncture needles are so fine that there is no discomfort when they are inserted but a slight tingle (known as needle sensation) may be experienced. The needles are usually left in for approximately twenty minutes to more. The Doctor may also stimulate the acupuncture points using other methods, such as moxibustion (a traditional technique that involves the burning of mugwort, a small, spongy herb used to facilitate healing), cupping and electro-stimulation etc. in order to re-establish the flow of qi.

Why we consider Acupuncture Therapy for our treatment ? Because:

01. It is very effective to treat some diseases, where other methods of treatment could not achieve good result or failed like Arthritis, Rheumatism or different types of pains, Autism (ASD), Depression, Anxiety / Psycho-somstic problems, Delayed speech, Sleep problems, Attention deficit disorder, Mental/Behavioral problems, IBS, Depression, Sleep problems, Hyperactivity, Epilepsy, Tonsillitis, Sinusitis, Bronchitis, Headache, Bronchial Asthma, Angina pectoris (heart’s pain), Paralysis, Hair falling, Acne, Burger’s / Raynuad’s Disease, Chronic wounds, Hair falling, Cerebral palsy, Weak memory, Dyslexia (weakness in study), causeless sterility  etc.

02. This therapy don’t require any medicine. So toxicity due to medicine will be avoided.

03. It is free from side effect.

04. It helps to increase immunity power of the body; therefore Acupuncture makes defensive mechanism of the body strong.

The effectiveness of acupuncture is well-documented. Throughout its long history, acupuncture has established a solid reputation as an excellent alternative for health care that actually works, and is very effective to treat some diseases, where other methods of treatment could not achieve good result or failed. The World Health Organization recognizes Acupuncture as a viable means of treatment for a wide range of conditions.

An Acupuncture doctor should possess adequate knowledge and experience for providing proper treatment to his/her patients. To avoid the unwanted complications in Acupuncture treatment please avoid taking treatment by quack / fake Acupuncturist. There are many around us without proper qualifications. Because inadequate knowledge and experience may lead to serious medical problems.

Though this method of treatment has already been started in our country but due to quite less number of medically qualified acupuncture doctors available in our country and lack of proper perception about the application of this method in some specific diseases, the patients are depriving from the advantages of Acupuncture & Moxibustion treatment. So, I have made an attempt to provide little information about the effects of Acupuncture and Moxibustion in few conditions. Many of the facts and figures quoted in the following sections are the clinical trials carried out in China and others countries and results from my own clinical experiences.

Diseases of the Muscles, Bones and Joints:

Sprains: Sudden injury or sprains usually respond well to acupuncture. The pain resulting from a sprained shoulder, ankle etc will often continue for some days or weeks after the initial injury. Once a clear diagnosis has been made acupuncture can usually be used to relieve this type of pain. The experience of a many of Acupuncture doctors including me, shows that, of the people treated for differing acutely painful conditions, about 70 percent obtain significant pain relief. The main advantage of treating these acute pains with acupuncture is that chronic pain can be avoided. A sudden shoulder injury may produce pain and immobility for many months, sometimes years, but if acupuncture is used when the pain occurs then it seems that chronic pain may be avoided. However, Acupuncture treatment also very helpful to manage chronic problems too.

Arthritis: Arthritis and the rheumatic pains are quite a common problem. People frequently complain that their arthritic knee pain is worse in cold or damp weather and this demonstrates quite clearly the origin of the concept of pathogens in traditional medicine.

A great deal of research work has been done to investigate the effects of acupuncture on the pain. Clinical trials have been completed on knee, hip, elbow, neck and lower back pain, and the information from these trials shows that significant pain relief can be achieved in about 70 per cent of those who receive acupuncture. Acupuncture also has a ‘magical quality’ that drugs do not have. In spite of these problems, acupuncture is a safe and effective form of treatment for arthritis.

Headaches: Acupuncture treatment has been used to treat a wide variety of headaches, particularly migrainous headaches, and the results obtained have been very encouraging. The published work suggests that between 65-95 per cent of all headache sufferers obtain significant and long lasting pain relief from acupuncture treatment. Migraines seem to respond as well as, if not better than, other types of headache. Acupuncture therapy for headaches may cause the headaches to vanish completely, or occur with a markedly decreased intensity and/or frequency. The pain relief resulting from acupuncture treatment can sometimes be maintained for some years and re-treatment is usually required less frequently for headaches.

Diseases of the Nervous System:

Strokes: The brain is divided into many different functional areas; one area controlling movements, while another dominates the sensations of touch, speech and pain. The functional impairment that occurs with a stroke depends on the area of the brain that is damaged; if the speech or movement area is damaged by a lack of blood supply then the patient may be unable to speak or move properly. The research work suggests that acupuncture increases the blood supply to the brain, and for some unexplained reason this seems to improve functional ability and acts as a stimulus to recovery after a stroke. Clinical reseach trials completed by the Chinese doctor’s state that some effect can be gained from acupuncture in about 80 per cent of strokes. Western medicine often has little to offer the stroke patients and therefore acupuncture therapy is always worth considering. Ideally strokes should be treated within six months of the damage occurring.The Chinese doctors also treat their patients for long periods and a stroke patient may receive one hundred or two hundred acupuncture treatment sessions before being declared a success or a failure.

The Neuralgias (Nerve Pain): Trigeminal neuralgia usually presents with severe unilateral facial pain. Its cause is unclear but the painful facial spasms are often precipitated by cold or wind. The Chinese acupuncturist claim to be able to gain improvement, with acupuncture, in about 70 per cent of cases of trigeminal neuralgia. Acupuncture can undoubtedly have a beneficial effect on this type of pain.

Postherpetic neuralgia is the pain that occurs after an attack of shingles.Shingles is a viral infection of the nerves, It seems that of those patients with established postherpetic neuralgia, about 40 per cent gain some degree of long term benefit from acupuncture treatment. There are a vast number of aches and pains that are often described as neuralgic. Many of these occur as facial pain and most of them cause severe discomfort. It is always worthwhile to attempt to alleviate these pains by using acupuncture treatment.

Anxiety, Depression, Insomnia and Other Mental disorders: Acupuncture is clearly effective in helping symptoms such as insomnia and bed-wetting, anxiety, behavioral problems, depression etc. The Chinese doctors have completed trials on some of the more serious mental diseases, such as schizophrenia. In a trial involving over 400 patients they claim a 54 per cent cure rate for this disease, with a further 30 per cent showing ‘significant improvement’. However, from a variety of excellent research papers it is clear that acupuncture can influence quite radically many areas of the central nervous system, as well as neurotransmitters and others brain functions also. Therefore this therapy has a great role in brain related problems or neuro-developmental dysfunction.

Nerve Paralysis: Paralysis can also be treated by a variety of acupuncture techniques. The acupuncture must be continued for a long period. Sometimes daily for six months and the results from some of the research works are very encouraging. Researchers claim that some 50-60 per cent of patients are likely to gain significant return of function if treated with acupuncture.

Acupuncture and moxibustion can be used to treat Facial paralysis and the research claim a 75 per cent complete recovery rate The Chinese research also claim that a further 20 per cent gain benefit from acupuncture, although not complete recovery. Sometimes very old cases are also response with tremendous results, as I noticed.

Parkinson’s disease, Epilepsy, CP, nerve deafness etc: Acupuncture treatment is also very effective in Parkinson’s disease, Cerebral Palsy (CP), Epilepsy, Nerve deafness, and a large variety of this kind of other problems. According to some studies, Parkinson’s disease may be accompanied by an imbalance of energy along one or more meridians. The muscle stiffness, soreness, imbalance etc. of Parkinson’s may be alleviated by a series of treatments. It is always wise to remember that acupuncture is a harmless technique and can sometimes give excellent results in above cases where other medical methods have failed.

Autism /ASD, Cerebral Palsy etc: Acupuncture along with herbal therapy have been found highly effective for treating children with brain dysfunction, resulting in improvement in the patient’s overall functional abilities. Excellent results are being achieved through simultaneous application of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicine in the cases of ASD / Autism and Cerebral Palsy in different countries of the world. There are several research papers, articles etc. that has been published all over the world about the efficacy of Acupuncture and Herbal Medicines in this context. In my clinical practice I am also getting very effective result by applying integration of Acupuncture and Herbal treatment. I noticed that, formulated Herbal Medicine along with acupuncture session gives much result other than only Acupuncture treatment or only Herbal Medicine. Like other diseases, I treated several patients. Some of them improved tremendously just after few days of treatment.

ADD and ADHD: Acupuncture can help the patients to manage the Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and Attention Deficit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). It can be an excellent complementary therapy for the treatment of ADD and ADHD. In some cases Acupuncture works as a magic bullet for the treatment of ADD and ADHD. A research showed that, Acupuncture treatment has a good effect on attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, its total effective rate was higher and the changes in abnormal electroencephalogram and the curative effect were better.

Diseases of the Digestive System:

IBS: An increasing number of studies have been conducted on treating IBS, with promising results. These studies have documented that Chinese medicine can effectively treat IBS in a safe and drug-free way. In some of cases, from the first session of treatment patients started to realize that Acupuncture works.

Indigestion: Exact figures for success rates are not available, but the ‘clinical impression’ that arises from a number of acupuncture doctors indicates that about 60 per cent of patients gain some long-term relief of their symptoms with acupuncture.

Diseases of the Respiratory System:

Asthma: Acupuncture causes the contracted muscular walls to dilate; the mechanism of this is unknown, but there is good Western research data to support this claim. A recent Chinese clinical trial on asthma showed that some 70 per cent of asthmatics gained a ‘very good effect’ from acupuncture and moxibustion. The acupuncture treatment was able to decrease the frequency and intensity of asthmatic attacks over a period of a year or more. This result is encouraging as it shows that acupuncture and moxibustion can affect the response of the body to the environmental stimuli causing asthmatic attacks. Our clinical experience also supports this efficacy of Acupuncture and Moxibustion medicine. I noticed that after completion of course of treatment some patients fell and live better without attack for a several years. It seems that they never have asthma.

Bronchitis: By opening up the breathing tubes Acupuncture, can allow the lung tissue to function efficiently. The mechanism of acupuncture in bronchitis is probably much the same as in asthma, allowing more air to enter the lungs. Recent research works has shown that about 50+ per cent of bronchitis ‘benefit’ from acupuncture. It is also very effective for the treatment of some ENT problems like Tonsillitis, Sinusitis, Pharyngitis, Laryngitis, Discharge from ear etc.

Diseases of the Heart and Blood Vessels:
Angina: Using sophisticated measuring equipment the Chinese researchers have completed a variety of trials to assess the effects of acupuncture on the heart, and they have shown a marked increase in the functional ability and efficiency of the heart muscles after acupuncture. Several  experiments carried out in the western countries give clear support to the idea that acupuncture does have an effect on the circulatory system. This is further supported by clinical work, which shows that some 80 per cent of patients with angina have improved after acupuncture.

The Correction of Abnormal Heart Rhythms: Heart diseases can frequently cause an abnormal rhythm to the heart beat; this may manifest itself as palpitations, an irregular heart beat, or dropped beats. In recently acquired arrhythmias, acupuncture can be effective in up to 70 per cent of cases.

The Use of Acupuncture in Addiction and Obesity:
There is some excellent physiological and clinical evidence to support the use of acupuncture method to treat obesity, smoking and hard drug addiction. The withdrawal symptoms experienced by people giving up smoking, or drugs, can be alleviated by raising the levels of endorphins in the nervous system.

Some people believe that the desire to eat is also mediated by the endorphin level in the brain. It is clear that endorphin levels throughout the nervous system can be increased by Acupuncture. It must be stressed that acupuncture cannot replace willpower. It can only help the withdrawal symptoms, or hunger pains, experienced by those already motivated and committed to solving their particular problem.

Reduce the Discomforts and Side Effects of Chemotherapy for Cancer:

The effect of acupuncture on chemotherapy-induced nausea, vomiting, insomnia etc. has been studied over the past 20 years, and clinical evidence gathered to date has been favorable. Current practice guidelines recommend acupuncture as a complementary therapy for insomnia, uncontrolled nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy.

Fertility and Gynecologic Problems: Women who are having problems with conception, premenstrual symptoms or menopausal issues will often see positive results with Acupuncture medicine. If drugs or hormones must be used, side effects may be reduced. For women who are experiencing disorders of conception, my own experience suggests that acupuncture along with herbal medicine is more effective and much less unpleasant and dangerous than hormonal treatments or in vitro fertilization procedures.

Foetal Malposition: In about 60 percent of women the foetus turns naturally prior to the thirty-fourth week of pregnancy; this can be increased to 90 per cent with the aid of this treatment After the thirty-fourth week, when natural version is less likely, the Chinese claim that 80 per cent of foetal malpositions will be corrected permanently by this procedure.

Anaesthesia for Labour and Delivery: Acupuncture anesthesia is widely used for caesarean sections in China. A report recently published, discusses the results of 1,000 cases managed in this manner. The Chinese Acupuncturist claim a 98 per cent success rate in the abolition of pain, a quicker recovery rate from the operation, less blood loss, and the obvious advantage of the mother being able to see the baby at, or soon after, birth. Acupuncture can also be used to provide pain relief in normal obstetric deliveries. The experience of a wide variety of acupuncturists in the western world would indicate that it is a useful and effective procedure.

Acupuncture Anaesthesia:

Acupuncture anesthesia is widely used in China and it has been used in a wide variety of operations, from minor procedures to open heart surgery or brain operations. It is undoubtedly an effective form of pain relief in the majority of people, but there is always a small percentage who fail to gain adequate analgesia from acupuncture. In general, acupuncture allows for a safer operation, with less likelihood of complications, and a swifter post-operative recovery.