Does Acupuncture Hurt?
For practitioners of TCM and East Asian medicine, it is the concept of “Qi” (the bodies vital energy) and it’s dynamic within a living organism that most skeptics find hard to swallow. We have to appreciate that the Chinese are an ancient civilization whom developed a unique approach to healing and medicine, when the world was very different to the one we know today. If I use the analogy of a mechanical engine, it’s easier for us to understand the concept of Qi, relative to the human organism.
Fuel alone is not what gives an engine the “Energy” and power; it is the combustion that follows when fuel is ignited; this combustion is an energetic phenomenon, which then produces the energy needed to power the mechanical components. Together with the cooling and lubricating qualities of oil and water, good mechanical function is possible. The fact is, the balance between all of these elements must be maintained, and is absolutely essential for the life of the engine, a disturbance in either of these elements will insure mechanical failure.
Mechanical diagnosis is generally made easy because an engine is a pragmatic and logical system of each element supporting the other. From an East Asian medical perspective, the body functions in a very similar way, fuel in the form of quality food and water is ingested, and through the digestive process the same combustible, energetic phenomena occurs, resulting in what the Chinese refer too as “Qi” (vital energy). The Qi is at first dense and becomes Blood, body fluids and the remainder is left as the original Qi (vital energy), which circulates through the body along pathways called Meridians.
Similar to an engine our bodies too rely on the balance between its own vital elements, of Blood, body fluids and Qi (energy) to support each other. Pain and disease occurs with an imbalance of these vital substances, due to a disturbance in the internal and or external environment of the organism. Naturally the body indicates this imbalance with symptomatic changes that can be experienced both internally and externally.
With Acupuncture & Moxibustion, the therapist then gather’s this organic information and use’s the acupoint network and problematic area’s of the body to balance the disturbances that are presenting. It is this pragmatic, logical and holistic perspective and approach to diagnosis and treatment that makes Acupuncture so clinically reliable in treating such a wide variety of conditions.
