Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine

Steeped in a 5,000-year history of clinical application, Traditional Chinese Medicine is a sophisticated approach to healing for the prevention and treatment of illnesses that includes acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, tui na (therapeutic massage), qi gong, tai chi and dietary counseling. Traditional Chinese Medicine serves over 12 million Americans and 2 billion people worldwide.

Acupuncturists specialize in treating people, not symptoms. They look for lifestyle patterns that can negatively affect health, such as high stress levels, poor sleep and unhealthy diet. Acupuncturists help balance and harmonize the patient's health.

Acupuncture treatments use thin, stainless steel needles to stimulate points on the surface of the body.

These acupuncture points are located along numerous channels or pathways, where energy or Qi circulates in the body. Qi, thought to nourish internal organs and tissues is equivalent to alterations in neural impulses that travel through the body to elicit beneficial responses. By stimulating acupuncture points with specific functions and indications, acupuncturists are able to promote and balance the flow of Qi, relieve pain, reduce stress and restore health.

Research at the University of California at Irvine suggests that acupuncture appears to alter sensory information to the brain and inhibit neural impulses associated with pain and stimulate the release of endorphins and enkephalins, the body's natural pain-killing chemicals. Acupuncture can affect parts of the central nervous system to balance hormones (e.g. estrogen, progesterone, and serotonin), improve immune function, and normalize blood pressure.

Acupuncture is an effective treatment for many conditions. In 1997 National Institute of Health released a Consensus Statement supporting the use of acupuncture to effectively treat many conditions:

The World Health Organization (1999) cited that over 100 conditions can be treated with acupuncture based on a review of numerous controlled clinical trials. These conditions are: