Tag Archives: needles

The Art of Acupuncture

Have you or someone you know experienced a persisting headache that didn’t go away even after taking painkillers? If you were from a Chinese family like mine, perhaps the first remedy would be the suggestion of Acupuncture: the practice of penetrating skin on certain areas of the body with needles to “heal” physical pains and ailments. For over thousands of years, the Chinese have been using this method to treat pains, allergies, paralysis, asthma and many other illnesses.

A sterile needle used in Acupuncture (lengths may vary). No drugs are introduced into the body. Source: Wikimedia Commons

As a victim of these needles, I had wondered, how could pricking one’s body with very fine needles provide relief of ailments? Could science be used to explain this treatment? First, let’s look at the basic concepts of this practice.

Qi and the Meridians

Acupuncture practitioners believe that aches and pains are a result of blockage or irregular flow of Qi (pronounced “chee”): life energy that flows throughout the body of all living things. This “Qi” flows throughout the body via pathways or Meridians, which are known to reach tissues of the skin, muscles, bones, joints and organs. Unlike the conventional needles used for giving shots, acupuncture needles are very thin and do not puncture or damage tissues. Inserting these needles in certain areas (known as pressure points) of the meridians unblock or assist the proper flow of Qi, ultimately relieving the individual of ailments.

 Outline of the different meridians in the body.
Source: Wikimedia Commons

Seems pretty far-fetched right? The idea of fixing the flow of “magical life energy” inside one’s body isn’t exactly convincing to scientists and especially those who hate needles. However, a large abundance of testimonials, reviews and research articles have repeatedly claimed the effectiveness of acupuncture and this in fact, has garnered the interest of many western doctors and researchers.

A Scientific Approach

In an attempt to provide a scientific explanation for the effects of acupuncture, researchers have studied the impact of needle insertions on the brain using fMRI. It was found that triggering certain pressure points decreased the activity in structures of the brain involved with pain sensation, with no negative effects on other areas of the brain.

In addition, several studies have also discovered the correspondence between pressure points and nerve bundles or muscles within the body. For example, an individual having a heart attack will experience pain running from their chest to the length of their left arm. Coincidentally, this pathway is associated with what acupuncture practitioners know as the “heart meridian”. One study finds the stimulation of this area to affect heart rate and areas of the brain associated with cardiac muscle regulation.

Although many doubts still remain about the evidence behind acupuncture treatments, interest in this practice has become increasingly popular, with more and more evidence supporting the effectiveness of these needle insertions.

Check out the video below for more information on Acupuncture

YouTube Preview Image
Video from user: aguinther

   – Grace Lam

 

To fear or not to fear

Is there something you are afraid of? Fear is a psychological trait that is found in everyone. People develop fear throughout their lives, but most of our fears are developed during childhood when the mind is more vulnerable. There are many fears in the general public, the most common ones being: height, public speaking, small spaces, the dark, snakes, spiders, needles and dentists.

Spider by cheetah100 via Flickr Creative Commons

Fear comes in different forms and it can be on a conscious and unconscious level. One might find themselves fearing harmless objects due to their connection to the object or thing they actually fear. For example, one who is afraid of heights may find themselves developing a fear of skyscrapers, since it subconsciously reminds them of high places.

We all know what we fear, but why do we fear and how does fear develop? The most obvious answer may be that when we experience something unpleasant, it can trigger us into fearing the object or thing that traumatized us. For instance, if a child was bitten by a dog when they were young, they may start fearing dogs. From that moment on, whenever they come across dogs, their first instinct is to get away from the dogs as far as they can. In contrast to our beliefs, studies show that there is another cause of fear.

Shocked baby by mjtmail (tiggy) via Flickr Creative Commons

One study based their experiment on monkeys and snakes. Initially monkeys and snakes were placed in a room and the response of the monkeys was monitored. From the observations, it turns our monkeys do not fear snakes. However, when the monkeys were isolated from one another and a shocking noise was accompanied each time a snake was introduced, the monkeys started becoming afraid of the snakes. Furthermore, when the response of a frightened monkey was shown to another monkey, the second monkey also developed a fear for snakes. From this experiment, it can be concluded that people can develop fear without having to personally experience a traumatic event to learn to fear something.

Take a look at a video of a fearless seven year old kid skydiving:

YouTube Preview Image

From YouTube user: woods852

As it turns out, we learn our fears and we can overcome them by stepping out of our comfort zones and continuously exposing ourselves to what we are most afraid of. So what will you do next?

For further readings on another study based on learning fear see here.

-Alice Lin