Acupuncture is the practice of inserting thin needles into specific body points to improve health and well-being. This holiday season, why not give yourself a gift of health and try acupuncture?
Please contact our acupuncturists to set up an appointment.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese art which has evolved over thousands of years. The Chinese used bones, sharpened stones and bamboo sticks to locate ashi (points of pain) to administer relief.
To date there is still a lot of research being done on acupuncture. Many of the ideas used in acupunctural treatment have never been reconciled with main stream sciences like physics, chemistry and biology and it is viewed in many circles as mysticism.
However, the World Health Organisation has approved acupuncture as being effective treatment for at least 28 illnesses. Acupuncture is also recognised as a form of alternative medicine by the American Medical Association. In Uganda, the first acupunctural clinic was registered and licensed by the Ministry of Health in 2005.
How does acupuncture work?
Wikipedia, the on line encyclopaedia gives a description of the basic elements of acupuncture. Acupuncture practitioners believe that in order for one to be healthy there must be a state of balance between yang and yin. Yang is vital energy while yin is linked to, though not necessarily identified, with blood. When yin and yang are not balanced, then one’s health deteriorates.
Another major tenet of acupuncture is the belief in qi. Dr. Liu De Zheng of Natural Chinese Herbal and Acupuncture Clinic says qi is something we cannot see but can only feel as it flows through our body causing relief and healing. Qi is believed to be a form of life energy that flows through our body meridians.
These meridians are presented as lines connecting different parts of our body to vital organs. For example a headache can be treated by locating an acupuncture point around the back of the leg. Acupuncture points are said to exist on twelve main and two extra meridians. What acupuncture does is improve blood circulation and open up blood vessels so qi can flow freely through the body and cause better health and well being.
It is in these acupunctural points that several needles are inserted to treat particular ailments. These needles are usually retained in the body for about ten minutes to an hour. The practitioner may choose to manipulate particular needles at particular acupunctural points to give the desired effect. Sometimes small amounts of electrical stimulation may be employed.
Zheng advises that acupuncture is even more effective when used with lightable Chinese herbs to further stimulate the nerves.
What ailments can acupuncture treat?
Zheng says that unlike conventional medicine, acupuncture actually cures and does not just relieve the symptoms of a disease. For example, for diseases like high blood pressure and arthritis whose drugs are known to cause adverse side effects and even damage some body organs, acupuncture can be good alternative and more effective treatment.
It is also said to cure joint pain, strokes, paralysis, stress, epilepsy and diabetes. The Natural Chinese and Herbal Acupuncture Clinic leaflet lists haemorrhoid, herpes, obesity and weight loss, malaria, fibroids, infertility, sinuses, skin infections, fungal infections, acne and ulcers as yet more diseases that can be treated by acupuncture.
