Acupuncture

Acupuncture is one of the oldest and most commonly used traditional naturopathic therapies in the world. Primarily developed in China over thousands of years, it is now used and integrated into modern healthcare settings worldwide.

Acupuncture involves the insertion and stimulation of ultra-thin therapeutic filiform needles into specific points on the body. However there’s more to acupuncture- a lot more! Acupuncture is a complete system of medical diagnosis and treatment that focuses on holistic and functional health.

In addition to therapeutic needling, acupuncture also utilizes heat therapy (moxabustion), massage (acupressure), and cupping therapy, as well as diet and lifestyle counseling, herbal medicine, meditation, and exercise. It’s goal is to support the body’s natural self healing abilities and processes, and promote total holistic wellbeing.

As a standalone procedure involving the use of therapeutic needling, acupuncture works by activating and supporting the body’s innate self healing mechanism. It aims to help an individual better adapt to any number of factors that may be compromising health.

According to Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) theory, when acupuncture points are stimulated it balances and restores the flow of life-force energy (qi) in the body’s energetic meridians (jingluo) to influence the movement and quality of blood (xue) and other body fluids (jing and jin-ye). When these basic vital substances are balanced, the body is encouraged to heal, reducing pain and other symptoms, and giving a person the support to cultivate long-lasting health, vitality, vigor and wellness.

While evidence is inconclusive, modern research suggests that acupuncture triggers the body’s self healing capabilities via neural, vascular, immune and endocrine responses, especially those associated with stress, pain and inflammation.

Acupuncture may be used to help improve the body’s natural response and adaptation to a wide variety of factors that threaten health, particularly those related to the inflammatory response such as mental-emotional and physical stress, infection, cellular waste, trauma and pain.

Commonly recommended uses for acupuncture include pain control, muscle relaxation, reducing inflammation and swelling, and regulating blood flow and lymphatic drainage.  It is also commonly recommended for use to enhance tissue and wound healing, normalize immune response, increase joint range of motion, promote homeostatic organ activity, reduce stress, increase mental acuity, and enhance mood.

Some evidence has shown that acupuncture may be effective for a wide variety of Western-defined disorders and diseases. In 2003 the World Health Organization (WHO) and the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) released a report (“Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials”) that  supports the effective use of acupuncture in the treatment of many different types of health problems, including: