Informative Essay On Acupuncture

If you're sick, how would you like having even more needles stuck into your body? To many patients, the idea of sticking needles into your body to heal or prevent illness simply brings out a rash of fear at the prospect. Yet in much of Asia, acupuncture has been practiced for thousands of years to treat, cure or prevent many afflictions that patients have.

Yet Western medicine still has not found out why acupuncture actually works. Many studies done over the years have produced only inconsistent or unclear answers. But acupuncture has its foundations in Traditional Chinese Medicine which emphasizes the importance of the natural physical energy and how it 'flows' around the human body.

Practitioners believe that it's the imbalance or blocking of that energy flow (or 'Qi') that causes sickness, disease and distress in their patients. When you visit a professional practitioner of acupuncture, you will often encounter a chart of the human body on the surgery wall depicting the various pathways and pressure points for the flow of your energy.

A typical session involves sitting on the chair while the therapist interviews you and then assesses your physical condition. The therapist is looking specifically at the nature of your pulse, your vital signs, and many other clues to determine what is wrong. Don't expect a standard Western diagnosis

Then the needles are taken out of their packets, and placed against the specific location on your body. With a swift but gentle tap, they puncture the skin ever so slightly. At this point you may experience some minor discomfort from the sting of the needle. What is weird for most Western patients is that the locations may not be physically close to the point of distress or pain that you need to treat, so you may find them inserted on the various pathways because the therapist believes that the whole body is not only connected, but 'interconnected' by these