How Does Acupuncture Work?
Posted in Uncategorized on 04/28/2009 10:21 pm by adminThis is one question that arises in the clinic more often than any other question. The answer is simple, yet difficult to express in a way that satisfies western minds. There are multiple answers.
The Chinese have described a detailed and organized network of channels or meridians in the body. These conduits link the internal organs of the body with the exterior. The channels connect to each other forming a network throughout the entire body. This explains how we can press or needle a point on the hand and affect the face.
Our body creates somewhat predictable signs and symptoms when one or more of these channels has too much or not enough energy & blood coursing through it. Through well respected and detailed diagnostic testing an Oriental Medicine Practitioner can identify which of the meridians is eliciting the imbalance. They would then choose specific points to treat to help create more circulation in the channels, and then homeostasis is achieved again. The massage, needles, and/or herbs act on the body to remind a person’s energy how to flow more efficiently.
The body’s innate healing capacity is called into action when we stimulate the channels and these points. The improvement of the signs and symptoms serve as one feedback for the practitioner and patient as to the efficacy of the treatment. Practitioners will also listen to the pulse, feel the abdomen, and look at the tongue for changes. These diagnostic tools help a practitioner decide the prognosis and course of treatment.
Western medicine has a few explanations based on research. Please read the research that is happening at UVM about the role of fascia in acupuncture. http://www.uvm.edu/~annb/faculty/langevin/ This is very exciting work that is happening right in our backyard here in Vermont.
“Other experts believe that acupuncture works by transmitting signals via the fascia. Fascia is like a thin sheath that surrounds all of the body’s muscles. Some acupuncturists consider the meridians to represent myofascial chains – which helps explain why stimulating an acupuncture point in the lower leg can affect the back or other areas. Interestingly, research shows that acupuncture points have a lower electrical resistivity than surrounding areas. In a practical sense, the meridian system provides a navigable energetic map of the body for acupuncturists to locate and treat many conditions.” This quote was taken from http://my.clevelandclinic.org/services/acupuncture/hic_acupuncture.aspx
I hope that some of this information helps. Please post any comments or questions that you have.
In Health and Healing,
R. Scott Moylan
05/02/2009 at 4:12 pm
fascia comments
“The body’s innate healing capacity is called into action when we stimulate the channels and these points”
I agree that the body’s innate (ie inborn, naturally occurring) healing ability is called into action when the channels and specific points along the channels are stimulated. Touch (using needles, hands, or other tools) brings the attention to an area and sends a signal that says “hey, pay attention to me here!”. It directs/calls the qi and blood to the particular area. The stimulation reminds the qi and blood where and how it is supposed to flow. This has a harmonizing and “corrective” action of reducing excesses and nourishing/tonifying deficiencies, depending on where and how the body is stimulated. For a western thinking mind this may seem oversimplified or even ridiculous, which is understandable because not everyone has been exposed to the “story” the Chinese medicine theory tells about qi and blood. It is a beautifully simple and insightful story of how the universe and the body operate similarly in patterns of cyclical harmony. One “story” or perspective on how the immune function and physiology works does not negate the other. Instead, they are different ways of explaining the natural phenomena that occur in the universe of our bodies that are not mutually exclusive of each other.
For those out there who evaluate and understand things in a more western scientific frame of reference, there are many ways of demonstrating how the stimulation of channels and points effects change in the body. An observation that I have made when combining the western physiology I have learned and the things I have learned from listening to the Chinese medicine “story” are that channel/point stimulation has great potential to trigger all of the western scientific “types” of immune response, not just what is called the innate immunity. The fascia is a denser form of qi that surrounds and supports all structures and perhaps even forms what Chinese medicine calls the channels/meridians. Connective tissue proper, one aspect of fascia, includes loose areolar and dense connective tissue, which is the peripheral tissue in the body that houses and is patrolled by many of our immune cell types. The immune cells use this tissue as a place to check in and see what is going on in the body. In this way the fascia serves as a pathway and a communication hub that integrates the functions of the body.This tissue hosts mast cells that release histamine and heparin which cause inflammation the triggers immune response, macrophages that patrol the connective tissue for pathogenic invaders- they gobble them up and call other immune cells to join on the fight, microphages that also mount an immune response, mesemchymal cells that are special stem cells which differentiate into immune cells in response to infection or injury, and lymphocytes that appear and multiply whenever tissue damage occurs. Lymphocytes differentiate into cells that trigger immunity for immediate needs, and they also differentiate into the cells that serve as antibodies stored for subsequent exposure to pathogens (which is what scientists are trying to stimulate when they sell you a vaccination). Because all of these cell types (and many more) are either full time residents or migrating components of the fascia, we can influence their activity, and therefore all aspects of our immune function by stimulating the fascia that lies just below the skin with our hands, needles, or other tools. If you think about it, this is what medications are trying to do - influence the immune response.
The Chinese system of medicine has been using mechanical stimulation (movement, touch, needles and tools) to influence the immune response for thousands of years. This system was being developed and utilized to treat disharmony (what we now refer to as illness) long before man ever conceived of isolating key components of plants and minerals in scientific labs to make medications in an attempt to do the same. This system of medicine is based on our innate desire to comfort ourselves by touching our bodies, and the observations that have been made about what happens when we touch specific areas which are now referred to as channels and points.
“Other experts believe that acupuncture works by transmitting signals via the fascia. Fascia is like a thin sheath that surrounds all of the body’s muscles. Some acupuncturists consider the meridians to represent myofascial chains – which helps explain why stimulating an acupuncture point in the lower leg can affect the back or other areas. Interestingly, research shows that acupuncture points have a lower electrical resistivity than surrounding areas. In a practical sense, the meridian system provides a navigable energetic map of the body for acupuncturists to locate and treat many conditions.”
One of the most fascinating (pun intended) things about fascia is that is not only supports the organs, muscles, and other structures by virtue of its own structural make up, but also by virtue of the electrical characteristics which are determined by the cells that allow for the fascia structure. The ground substance that is a gluey matrix which holds the flexible yet supportive collagen cells together in fascia has a highly negative electrical charge that attracts water to it. The water binds with the protein in the fascia to make a gel within the fascia that holds nutrients released from the bloodstream via the tiniest blood vessels. These nutrients are literally what nourishes the muscles and other structures. It supports (fuels) their functions. The gel holds and diffuses the nutrients into the muscles as they are needed. This ability to diffuse nutrients is an important example of how fascia provides metabolic and structural support for the muscles and organs. The elastic cells in the fascia also aid in metabolic and structural support in that they are able to expand and accommodate energy stored in the muscles as fat which can later be utilized as fuel for vital functions in times of reduced availability of glycogen. This ability to stretch and store fat insures that the muscles can maintain an emergency cache of glycogen to fuel functions when the liver cannot deliver enough glycogen to the system. Again, we have an amazing ability to effect this system and treat disharmony that manifests by stimulating the fascia via the channels and points. We can use this knowledge to treat what we label as diabetes, hypoglycemia, poor assimilation of nutrients, muscle cramps and spasms, to increase an athlete’s endurance, and…