Acupuncture adjusts the way your body functions by affecting the nervous system. For example, acupuncture treats pain by stimulating the release of chemicals created naturally in the body that reduce pain. Similarly, it adjusts hormone and immune functions.
Acupuncturists, however, discuss how acupuncture works with the traditional Oriental concepts of Yin, Yang, and Qi (“chee”). These and other factors interact to create health. Acupuncture works by adjusting and strengthening these elements according to individual need.
Traditional Oriental Medicine is a medical system more than 2,500 years old, and acupuncture is just one of its techniques. Acupuncture’s effectiveness has been confirmed with research and is supported by medical organizations such as the National Institutes of Health and the World Health Organization.
Acupuncture Restores Balance
Traditional Oriental Medicine looks at your health from a holistic, or “whole person,” view. Lifestyle, work, emotions, diet, genetics, and internal and external environments all affect your health. When one of these aspects is out of balance, it causes your body to become unbalanced as well, and this leads to health problems such as pain, stress, fatigue and illness.
By selecting points that correspond to certain functions or illnesses, acupuncture restores balance to your body, strengthens what is weak, and calms what is overactive. Your body naturally strives to be healthy and in balance; acupuncture can set it back on course.
Treating the Cause of Illness
An advantage of acupuncture is that it can treat both the symptoms and the underlying causes of illness. When the cause of an imbalance is addressed, your entire system benefits and other symptoms you might have thought to be unrelated can be resolved or prevented.