by Mayra
| Acupuncture
is a technique of inserting hair-like, fine needles into
known "acupuncture points" along
"meridians”. The intentions behind such
treatments are those of balancing and tonifying the flow
of Qi or vital energy throughout the physical, emotional
and spiritual bodies. Needling is said to "reduce
what is excessive, increase what is deficient, warm what
is cold, cool what is hot, circulate what is stagnant,
move what is congealed, stabilize what is reckless, raise
what is falling and lower what is rising." Once
the needle is in place, a sensation of a dull ache, a
light electric current circulation along the treated
limb, to a nice heat may be felt. Some people don't feel
anything. This sensation is always within bearable limits
and is considered a sign that the acupuncture vessels are
opening up to the flow of Qi and that healing is
imminent. The
practice of acupuncture is at least four to five thousand
years old, perhaps much older. The first systematic
compendium on the subject was the Huang Ti Nei Ching Su
Wen, or The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal
Medicine, written about 400 B.C.E. There are about 365
points on the body (not including the "special"
or "extra" points or those which are part of
the modern auricular or ear systems), although most
practitioners only use about 150… |
Oriental medicinal methods as
acupuncture have a milenar origin as searches have discovered.
Since the western world met the treatments, they are compared and
related to mystical and religious practices, which have no real
or reliable foundations and offered us just dogmatic
explanations. In spite of this lack of credibility, we notice
positive results. Many people had their healing attributed to
these methods. So, how to distinguish which are trustful and
which are fake. From a couple of decades science has been testing
and trying to prove why some of these treatments really work,
resulting in health recovers. Some results really surprise the
society, the tests sometimes take off the mask of practices
everybody believes! Just to confuse us more!
On the other hand, these researches got to conciliate occidental theories with alternative eastern methods as acupuncture, which was recently recognized as a medicine practice in western. It was established a relation between nervous system and the “acupoint” that acupuncture stimulates.
The techniques are being so
recognized, that the City Hall of São Paulo is implanting a
health program in the public system which teaches conventional
health professional who they call “formers” to teach
the population in public health posts, hospitals and first-aids
belonging to the city.
With all these
discoveries and investments in the area, everybody just has to
win. More modern and functional instruments are being invented,
the technique itself is being developed and with this
recognisement of occidental part of world, we start to think and
see things differently, with a more complete view. Finally
starting to gather two points of view that always have seemed
contradictory.
