Explain about working principle of acupuncture ?

Question

Explain about working principle of acupuncture ?

Answer 1

The Chinese have mapped the way the energy flows around the body.  We all know how the blood flows because it can be seen and traced in an autopsy.  Mapping the energy was a much greater feat.  They call the energy Qi (pronounced chee in China) and found that it travels around the body in 12 main channels, one spilling into the next and into the next in a closed circuit.  There are also smaller, capillary vessels to carry the qi to every cell in the body.  When the qi is flowing well, the body is in a natural state of good health- there should be no pain, organs should function properly, sleep should be appropriate and restful, etc.  For a variety of reasons, however, the flow of Qi can become obstructed.  Then it is like a river that has been dammed.  Where there was once clear flowing water, the dam causes it to back up and it can become murky and turbid.  Also, downstream, there is a lack of the nourishing water.  Acupuncture can be thought of as clearing the dams in the body and helping restore normal functioning.  It can also be thought of as a circuit board:  by understanding how the body is wired, we can use the needles to "throw switches" and redirect the flow of qi in the body, again restoring balance.

While it may sound esoteric and hooky-spooky, it works.  Belief in the system is not necessary to experience the benefits.  Veterinary acupuncture shows that even the most skeptical animals improve with acupuncture.

Answer 2

The interrelationship of exactly how fertility and acupuncture relate is not completely clear. Most acupuncture experts now are of the opinion that acupuncture works by improving overall body functions by increasing blood flow to the genital organs and maintaining blood hormone levels.

Answer 3

Basic working principles of acupuncture are these:  The Chinese maintain there is a life energy in all living beings they call ch'i.  They further state this energy runs into, throughout and out of the body through pathways called meridians.  They state there can be blockages in this life force energy that impede the proper and full-functioning of the body, the person, the healing/life-giving force(s), and the proper functioning of the organs.  They state there are, I believe, 14 organ pairs in the body, one yin and one yang, so as  set of examples, lungs and large intestine are paired (Metal energy), liver/gall bladder are paired (Wood energy), spleen/pancreas/stomach (stomach in some systems--Earth energy) are paired, kidney/bladder/adrenal/sexual organs (Water energy) are paired.  There is also a Fire pairing which if memory serves is heart/small intestine.  In this system there are also other energetic vessels/organs most notably heart governor, and  triple heater which are not found in Western anatomy, and may be seen as more metaphorical or conceptual, than they can be as actual organs.  This is not to say the Chinese are wrong, or that the system is false because these organs cannot be found in a disected body, but that the Chinese view the body and its energy receptacles and bodies completely differently than do Western doctors.  The function of acupuncture then, is to remove blockages, to enhance flow, to drain and dry areas that are too wet, to decrease excess wind as needed, to cool areas that are too hot, to warm and rebalance areas that are too cold, basically to create better balance and flow of energy.  Seems pretty logical and pretty intelligent to me, so I don't know what all the fuss is about.

Answer 4

I'll try to give the most accurate and understandable answer I can without letting it be too long.

Unforunately, the entire field is so misunderstood that most of people out there commenting on it don't really understand the concepts and there's a lot of conflicting information on it.

First off, the chinese believe a human being is composed of a series of ascending systems or energy bodies, with each successive system being a higher system binding those one below it, being harder to detect than that before, and having the power to effect all below it, especially that nearest.

The first body is referred to as the physical on, and all direct factors of health reside here (which shouldn't be too hard to understand). Since Chinese medicine is primarily concerned with treating someone's health, given the rules I just described most of their work thus works on the body directly above it (the Chi body). There are plenty of exception, but they are outside the scope of this explanation, generally things beyond this are instead part of meditation.

For most conditions, Chinese medicine essentially believes that if you have problems in your Chi body, it translates to problems in your physical health, so the best approach to treating disease is to fix the Chi. Unfortunately, Chi is impossible to detect currently with scientific devices, and most people lack the sensitivity to do so, so many of these viewpoints intrinsically clash with western science. Although, many other cultures have come up with similar conclusions to the Chinese.

Problems with Chi tend to be broken into two types.

1) There is too much or too little. This can be perfectly analogized to someone being too hot or cold, either way their physiology has problems. This is why balancing yin and yang and returning the body to homeostasis is essentially the concept behind most Chinese medicine.

2) The chi is stuck and cannot flow through the body.

There are many many many ways to affect chi in the body (ie. herbs are prescribed for how they change the bodies energy rather than active ingredients). One of these is accupuncture.

Most of the energy within someones Chi body moves along paths and channels in the body, commonly referred to as meridian lines (often analogized to a network of blood vessels for energy instead of something physical). Different meridian lines connect to the body or meridian lines, and have different effects on the physical body they lie above. If a meridian line is stimulated in the correct place, it will in turn affect many of the things it's linked to and cause some change in the patient. Since people are all born with very similar meridian line positioning, by having charts drawn up with meridian lines to be memorized, it makes it possible for people lacking the ability to feel them to be able to know where to find them.

The only remaining question is "how does the acupuncturist know how to manipulate the meridian lines to create the desired health effect."

There quite a few accupuncture systems existing, although the simplest one (TCM) is by far the most common. TCM evaluates the patient for Yin/Yang imbalances in a few common categories, along with specific problems to organ systems (which often extend beyond the physical organ they are named after), and then use methods they are taught to boost or reduce flow to malfunctioning parts. Exactly how you do this varies case by case and requires a few years of training to explain, but when this is all put together it means

A TCM doctor sees you and notices a few of the TCM diagnostic criteria are incorrect (or links the problems you described to common Chi body malfunctions).

He then picks the points he knows will stimulate the meridian lines/Chi body to fix the problems, and puts needles in where he thinks the points- are on your body.

For certain energetic problems, herbs work much better than accupuncture (especially long term things and changes the bodies actual energy, accupuncture works best for problems arising from meridian lines being blocked).

I'm actually not a fan of TCM because I think there's way better versions, but that's what 95% of the country knows.

Hope that helps, if you'd like to know more about any specific branch of Chinese Medicine I'd be happy to tell you!