Why Acupuncture?

You may be wondering, “Why get acupuncture?” The simple answer is, “Why not?!” Acupuncture works on the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Instead of Western diagnosis, which is important for referral and insurance purposes, Acupuncture uses Chinese diagnostics to differentiate patterns of disease which are then treated. The main goal is to restore the body to a sense of equilibrium, homeostasis. It is for this reason that two different people could come in for headaches, just as an example. Whereas Western Medicine would just see the headache and treat these two cases the same, Chinese Medicine would treat the individual. One person may have headaches because, with the weather changing, they left a window in their bedroom open while they slept. This caused them to wake up with a headache, stuffy nose, and a sore neck. The second person may be getting headaches around and at the time of her period, which happen to be heavy.

So how does it all work? Acupuncture is a treatment modality in Traditional Chinese Medicine. When a patient comes in, every part of the person’s life, health, constitution, emotional health, diet, stress level, etc, are examined. That why the Acupuncture Intake Form is so extensive. The more information I have, the more exact the diagnosis and treatments. In Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), the human body is an expression of Qi (pronounced “chee”), the vital energy of the Universe. TCM looks to examine the body in relation to Nature. It is an imbalance or blockage of qi that causes disease. Acupuncture uses specific points on the Meridians (350+ acupuncture points and 20 main meridians) to bring the body back to balance.

The number and frequency of treatments is based on the pattern of disease. Obviously, long standing issues will take longer and more treatments than something that is more acute and just starting. The goal is to get the patient well and to keep them there. So a person could get treatments once a week for a month, but the goal is to make the treatments farther and farther spaced apart.