Acupuncture aims to promote health as well as to relieve pain. Acupuncture is a traditional Chinese practice which uses tiny needles placed at certain points in the body. The traditional Chinese explanation of how acupuncture works is that it clears and stimulates energy pathways in the body. The energy that runs through our body is known as Chi. When our Chi is disrupted or blocked, pain, sickness and illness can occur. Acupuncture contributes to the restoration of full flowing Chi which in turn brings good health.

 

Western medicine also gives its own explanation of how acupuncture works. When a pressure point is stimulated, the nervous system sends a message back to the brain. The brain then responds by altering pain and hormonal signals. Blood pressure can be increased or decreased or white blood cells could be increased, boosting the immune system. Stimulating the nervous system in this way can help keep many systems of the body functioning properly.

 

Some medical researchers believe that nerve signals generated by acupuncture needles actually help block out sources of pain. The gate control theory of pain suggests that pain signals in the nervous system must travel through certain “gateways”. These gateways can only process so many signals at one time. Quicker and more recent signals can travel faster through the body, surpassing and blocking out other signals. For example, the dull ache of back and neck pain would send pain signals to the brain through the “gateways”. Some researchers believe acupuncture creates competing, fast moving signals reaching the brain first. This would stop the brain from receiving the back and neck pain message.

 

 

In the USA acupuncture has experienced considerable growth in popularity. A recent study conducted in 2008 by the USA government organisation the National Institutes of Health (National Centre For Complimentary and Alternative Medicine), found there were $3.1 million American adults using acupuncture, an almost 50% increase since 2002.