Many thousands of years ago in China, people would pray to higher powers to help them regain their vitality when they were sick. While praying, elders or other healers would also press certain areas of the body with pieces of sharp stone. Miraculously, the illness or discomfort would be relieved and vitality restored. After a long accumulation of such information and experience, the therapeutic method of acupressure and the use of acupuncture needles finally came into practice. Acupuncture has been a very important part of Chinese medicine and has been practiced for at least 2000 years.

Acupuncture is recognized by the National Institute of Health (NIH) and the World Health Organization (WHO) to be effective in the treatment of a wide variety of medical problems.

Listed below are some of the Western illness health concerns that Chinese medicine and acupuncture have successfully treated:

• ADDICTIONS-ALCOHOL, SMOKING, PRESCRIPTION DRUGS
• MILD TO MODERATE ANXIETY
• ACNE
• ACUTE PAIN
• ASTHMA AND BRONCHITIS
• BACK PAIN
• CARPAL TUNNEL PAIN
• COLITIS
• COMMON COLD
• CONSTIPATION
• DENTAL PAIN
• MINOR TO MODERATE DEPRESSION
• DIGESTIVE DISORDERS
• FACIAL TICS/TMJ
• FATIGUE
• HAIR LOSS
• HEADACHE/MIGRAINE
• INCONTINENCE
• INFLUENZA
• MENSTRUAL IRREGULARITIES/PAIN
• MORNING SICKNESS
• MILD TO MODERATE PAIN
• PRE-POST OPERATIVE RECOVERY
• PMS
• REPRODUCTIVE ISSUES
• SLEEP DISORDERS
• STRESS MANFESTATIONS
• UTI's

A common example of the use of acupuncture is for the treatment of pain. Acupuncture treats acute mild to moderate pain very effectively. The quicker a patient presents with the pain complaint, the more effective and quicker the recovery and relief will be using acupuncture. Treatment course is typically 2-3 treatments per week for 3-4 weeks for acute pain syndromes.

Pain usually has one or more of these physiological hallmarks:

1) obstruction of the flow of oxygen via blood to tissue and 2) accumulation of fluid, dead blood and other biochemical's released by our tissues when damaged.

Acupuncture is able to stimulate neurotransmitters through connective tissue correspondences and help the body restore proper circulation in the blocked or damaged tissue eliminating pain and restoring the delivery of fresh blood, nutrients and oxygen to the area to promote healing.

For a detailed discussion of the relationship between connective tissue, signal transduction and acupuncture stimulation, please refer to the book by Donald E. Kendall, Dao of Chinese Medicine: Understanding an Ancient Healing Art, Oxford University Press 2002.