Acupuncture was a complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) which introduced into Europe in the 17th century. It is very popular in Asia nowadays, especially in China. However, the use of acupuncture still remains controversial and is not widely accepted.
The procedure of acupuncture is to insert a fine, sterile needle into acupuncture points. Acupuncturists believe we, human bodies, have 360 acupuncture points from head to toe.
Many doctors and scientists do not truly understand the anatomy and physiology of the acupuncture point. Hundreds of research tried to prove and expand the knowledge of acupuncture. Some were successful but a lot did not.
One of the scientific research on acupuncture indicated that this alternative medicine managed to provide pain relief of patients with pain cancer. The use of acupuncture helped them relax their muscles which then improved the pain. The use of acupuncture also helped treat disease such as obstructive pulmonary disease. Another article by Thomas, M. and Lundberg, T. had an experiment on acupuncture and claimed that it was a good treatment for chronic low back pain.
According to this video, Dr. Everett Heinze is a neurologist and suggests that putting a needle into acupuncture points causes a reflex relaxation in the muscle and endorphin release in order to provide pain relief.
Although there are many successful cases on this alternative medicine, many people do not accept it and think that is only a placebo effect. Acupuncture needs further investigations. We hope this one day acupuncture will be proven all around the world and treat diseases alternatively.
Sources:
THOMAS, M., & LUNDBERG, T. (1994). Importance of modes of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic nociceptive low-back-pain. Acta Anaesthesiologica Scandinavica, 38(1), 63-69.
Pan, C., Morrison, R., Ness, J., Fugh-Berman, A., & Leipzig, R. (2000). Complementary and alternative medicine in the management of pain, dyspnea, and nausea and vomiting near the end of life: A systematic review. Journal of Pain and Symptom Management, 20(5), 374-387.
youtube video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QM8Of_hpHwQ
images: http://www.indiatalkies.com/images/acupuncture17754e.jpg , http://anaturalday.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/acupuncture.jpg
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