History of Acupuncture

Acupuncture originated in ancient China 2000-5000 years ago. It is described in ancient texts such as the Haungdi Neijing as a healing modality. It spread outward of China in 500 BCE, and to Europe in the 16th century. It came to the United States in 1972 when president Richard Nixon took a trip to China. One of his adversaries got sick and got surgery, being sedated by acupuncture instead of Anastasia. After this many doctors traveled to China to learn acupuncture. There are many styles of acupuncture do to all the places it has spread.

Benefits of Acupuncture

Acupuncture works by stimulating meridians to unblock stuck energy and promote energy flow

1. Healing injuries

Acupuncture  improves tissue perfusion by improving vasomotor control, and can improve strength by removing motor inhibition.

2. Reduces inflammation

Recent advances in electroacupuncture may permit activation of specific neuronal networks to prevent organ damage in inflammatory and infectious disorders.

3. Lowers blood pressure

In this clinical trial, hypertensive patients were divided into an acupuncture group, and a medication group. The group who received the acupuncture treatment had significant improvement over the medication group.

4. Anxiety

A meta analysis has found strong evidence that acupuncture can treat chronic anxiety disorders. Another meta analysis of 12 studies and 916 people showed that the acupuncture group had significantly less anxiety than the placebo group.

5. Thyroid issues

A meta analysis of 29 studies showed that acupuncture can benefit patients with a variety of thyroid disorders. Patients experienced reduced symptoms and improved biomarkers.

Different Types of Acupuncture

There’s a variety of different styles of acupuncture because of all the places it has spread. There is also a variety of needles that have different purposes. Even electroacupuncture that uses electromagnetic energy along with the needles.

Chinese acupuncture-

This is the most common form in the U.S. It focuses on bringing balance to the body no matter what the condition by managing chi flow. Practitioners insert 1.5 inch needles into acupoints.

Japanese acupuncture-

This is similar to Chinese acupuncture, but is more subtle. They don’t use as many needles, and they are less long. They also incorporate more touch into their practice.

Korean acupuncture-

This is also similar to the other styles, but uses many more needles. They also use copper needles instead of stainless steel.