How is Acupuncture different from Western medicine?

We can best answer this question by explaining the basic framework of both forms of medicine. The main form of medicine in the United States is known as Western medicine. Western medicine relies on the belief that disease is a defect within the human body or a destructive process caused by a specific outside pathogen. In the US, medical doctors use reductionism to employ diagnostic tools, find the disease-causing invader, control symptoms and cure the disease. There are three main components of treatment available within Western medicine: pharmaceuticals, surgery and therapy (physical therapy, psychiatric therapy, orthotics, speech therapy, etc.).

Acupuncture is the main part of another form of medicine called Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). TCM looks at multiple symptoms and their pattern of illness specific to the individual and delineates their cause from a combination of negative imbalances within the lifestyle, psyche, and effects of environmental stress, trauma or invasion by external pathogens. TCM utilizes a holistic approach to medicine and does not try to find one exact reason for illness; rather, it acknowledges that there are several factors that contribute to problems arising in the physical body. There are five main components of treatment available within TCM: acupuncture, Chinese herbal medicine, tui na (similar to massage), Tai Ji/Qi Gong (movement and stretching exercises) and nutrition.

Western medicine evolved in Europe and relies on clinical research to show an exact link between cause of disease and its clinical manifestations. This leads to specific diagnostic tests and then treatments to understand and affect the human body, with vocabulary focusing on genetics and biochemistry. Traditional Chinese medicine evolved in China and relies on human trials that have taken place over thousands of years to validate effectiveness. Because results were based on human experience and not laboratory data, a different vocabulary developed to explain how energy (qi) and blood travel through the body in certain pathways (meridians) and can get obstructed by trauma, emotions, environmental factors and lifestyle choices. It is also worth noting that because TCM is a science that has been perfected through its use on humans, the number of practitioner caused deaths or even negative side-effects is virtually non-existent.

One type of medicine is not superior to the other. They comprise the two main forms of medicine practiced in the world today. Because Western medicine is the primary form of medicine in this country, TCM is considered an alternative form of medicine and is used as a complementary approach to that of Western medicine. We hope this website serves to illustrate that TCM, when applied through acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine, can be used as a successful choice for restoring and maintaining optimal health.

HOW DOES ACUPUNCTURE WORK?

Acupuncture is one of the key components of the system of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). In the TCM system of medicine, the body is seen as a delicate balance of two opposing and inseparable forces: yin and yang. Yin represents the cool, slow, or passive principle, while yang represents the hot, excited, or active principle. Among the major assumptions in TCM are that health is achieved by maintaining the body in a “balanced state” and that disease is due to an internal imbalance of yin and yang. This imbalance leads to blockage in the flow of qi (also referred to as “chi”) along pathways known as meridians. It is believed that there are 12 main meridians and 8 secondary meridians and that there are more than 2,000 acupuncture points on the human body that connect with them.

Preclinical studies have documented acupuncture's effects, but they have not been able to fully explain how acupuncture works within the framework of the Western system of medicine that is commonly practiced in the United States. It is proposed that acupuncture produces its effects through regulating the nervous system, thus aiding the activity of pain-killing biochemicals such as endorphins and immune system cells at specific sites in the body. In addition, studies have shown that acupuncture may alter brain chemistry by changing the release of neurotransmitters and neurohormones and, thus, affecting the parts of the central nervous system related to sensation and involuntary body functions, such as immune reactions and processes that regulate a person's blood pressure, blood flow, and body temperature.