What are the benefits of acupunture. if there even are benefits?

Question

If there are benefits from acupunture, then what are they? Please try to research this or make an educated guess. 10 points to the most accurate [in my opinion] and detailed answer.

Answer 1

I visited a Chinese traditional acupuncturist for the first time this year when I was suffering from frozen shoulder.  

I was under the impression that he would help me with pain.  

My experience was that I did not notice a significant difference in pain.  However he did tell me he would help a little - which was true.  What he did help me with was my sleep which was difficult due to pain.

What was explained to me is that it does improve circulation, which in turn improves overall health.

It is not a cure all.  Also a physiotherapist had months previously used acupuncture to help me.  Without any effect.  My second experience with a traditional acupuncturist was very different.

Ask questions before you go in for treatment of what they will do, number of treatments needed and what type of results you can expect.  It's like anything else there are some great ones and some not so good ones out there.

Answer 2

Acupuncture has been shown to produce a placebo effect, which can make you think you're being helped for slight pain relief.  

Thats it.

Answer 3

One of the major benefits one can derive from acupuncture therapy is one of pain relief.  This can cover a very broad spectrum of pain, and it is the #1 health problem that acupuncture excels at treating.

Acupuncture can provide a very strong calming and anchoring effect on stress and mental/emotional disturbance.

Acupuncture therapy can help increase joint ROM after injury and in cases, such as, frozen shoulder.

Acupuncture can have a positive effect on nausea and upset stomach.  In fact, PC6 is "recognized" by the AMA for just this health concern.  Most of those anti-nausea bands stimulate the wrist at PC6, or between PC6 and PC7.

Some studies have shown that Acupuncture therapy can increase fertility, and boost IVF success rates.  It is often used by women with gynecological issues and menopausal symptoms.

Many other health concerns can be treated by Acupuncture therapy, however, Oriental Medicine practitioners often look to combine herbal formula therapies and other accessory therapies to garner the best possible response for any treatment process.

Answer 4

Acupuncture  is a technique of inserting and manipulating fine filiform needles into specific points on the body  with the aim of relieving pain and for therapeutic purposes.   these acupuncture points lie along meridians along which qi, a kind of vital energy, is said to flow. There is no generally-accepted anatomical or histological basis for these concepts,(however the chinese have been doing this for 500 or so years.) and modern acupuncturists tend to view them in functional rather than structural terms. Acupuncture is thought to have originated in China and is most commonly associated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Different types of acupuncture (Classical Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and Korean acupuncture) are practiced and taught throughout the world.

While acupuncture has been a subject of active scientific research since the late 20th century, its effects are not well-understood, and it remains controversial among researchers and clinicians. Acupuncture is effective for some but not all conditions.

There is general agreement that acupuncture is safe when administered by well-trained practitioners using sterile needles.

it is something that you have to understand completely, and understand the way the meridians flow in the body in order for it to be succesful. my instructor (for massage) went to china to study massage, Qi-Gong, and actupuncture with the masters over there for two years!

if you want more info go to and read about the TCM

Answer 5

There are many benefits to using Acupuncture for pain. Acupuncture, as I understand it, deals with pains along the Meridian nerves of the body - I remember reading somewhere that the ancient Chinese viewed acupuncture as working on the body's "qi" and blood (sorry, I have no references).  The needles create blocks and circulation-points to prevent the bodily chemicals and micro-organisms from communicating pain to the brain, but by supressing all the pain, the body is allowing muscles to heal, the immune defense to take a rise, and the body get a break from a constantly, nagging pain, which probably blocks a healing process from taking place all together.

Acupuncture DOES work! I have tried it for my back, and please consider that not only was I very sceptic, but I was/am terrified of needles as well.  Acupuncture isn't a form of magic medicine, though it certainly looks that way to the eye of an outsider. The proof to the effects are the Chinese people themselves, who have practiced acupuncture successfully for hundreds on hundreds of years!