A Glance at Acupuncture
The word acupuncture is a rough translation combining the Latin words for prick and needle, which is precisely what acupuncture is: a needle prick. The practice began in Asia, most notably China, and consists of the strategic placement of special needles to reinstate health and wellness to the body. Acupuncture remains especially popular for treating aches and pains.
Acupuncture works to allow chi, or energy, to flow freely along pathways called meridians, which had previously been impeded by forces that caused a person to become ill. When chi circulates the systems as it should, a person is in good health. Chinese medicine alone has recognized over five hundred insertion sites where needles can be placed to promote health.
Modern physicians tend to cultivate existing medical treatments for maximum effectiveness, including acupuncture. It is popular to treat the needles with light, ultrasound, electrical current, or heat, and insertion methods differ as well. Today, some acupuncturists twirl the needles as a method of delicately driving them into the skin. Due to the demand for acupuncture, many physicians are now becoming registered to perform this type of treatment in addition to their other practices.
The positive benefits of acupuncture prompt an annual ten to fifteen million Americans to seek out an acupuncturist to perform this ancient technique on them. As mentioned above, pain seems to be the main reason people wish to undergo acupuncture. The acupuncture points are said to be rich in nerves and low in electrical resistance which may be why people feel such relief after a session.