Chinese Herbal Medicine Article
Types Of Acupuncture Treatment
Needles stuck all over the body, some of them dangling. That’s what acupuncture usually brings to mind. You sit around getting poked and you stay that way for a while. Well, acupuncture treatments can be anything from a few minutes to maybe half an hour and it all depends upon what the patient is suffering from and how serious the condition is. The thin needles that are used are inserted into the skin at certain specific points to hold them in place. Sometimes, the practitioner decides on different depths to which certain needles need to go and this again would depend on what the treatment was for.
How exactly are these acupuncture needles prepared for insertion? Well, in various ways, depending on what they have to cure. Sometimes you’ll find that they are warmed up prior to inserting them into the skin, sometimes they have heat applied to them after they have been inserted and sometimes they are twirled and inserted. Does it hurt when a needle is inserted? Usually not, when it is inserted, turned around or taken out. Sometimes you might just feel a twinge, nothing more. What has been noticed however is that most patients feel a little warmer after the treatment than they did before. Or they feel a bit more energetic. Others of course don’t feel any difference immediately but get better with many sessions over time, which could be anything that lasts many weeks.
There are different types of acupuncture and some of them do not use a needle. It might seem a bit difficult to think of acupuncture without the needles but there are variations. The main thing in this healing technique is the way the body is made and the acupuncture points in it. In these types too, the points are the same as the ones used in the regular traditional acupuncture therapy. The only difference is that needles are not used and other devices take their place.
One device that is used on these acupuncture points is one that transmits sound waves into the point where the needle would normally go. This form of acupuncture is called sonopuncture. Other devices that are used are tuning forks because they produce vibrations. Many do practice these variations but they have not had proven results like traditional acupuncture.
Decades ago, there were experiments done with using a low-charge electrical current at these points. This was done sometimes with a needle and sometimes with just a wire that was allowed to touch the point. What the patient experiences is a bit of tingling, nothing more and there is no pain. This variation was tried in both the U.S and in Britain in the 30s and 40s though people lost interest in it for a long time.
Acupressure is also a variation of acupuncture. Here, pressure is applied to the same points and no device is needed because the pressure comes from the fingers of the practitioner. One finds that this technique of acupressure is being used a lot in massage as well, especially in shiatsu massage. This is easy enough for anyone to learn and it can be followed with the help of diagrams to show you just where to apply the pressure. However, treatment is best administered by someone who is a professional who sees healing as a lot more than just having knowledge of where the points are.
Today, acupuncture has grown way beyond its boundaries and there is a great interest in devices other than needles. You’ll find that heat is also used in acupuncture treatment and this could be by warming the needles and then inserting them or applying heat after the needles have been inserted. Devices that are being experimented with are magnets, suction and friction instruments and today, even lasers. This makes this system of healing a very adaptable therapy indeed.
