| > | | | | acupuncture are related to the use of acupuncture in |
| All Chinese medicine is a way of keeping people | | | | diseases of pain.DiagnosisPulse diagnosis is one main |
| healthy as much as it is a treatment to cure disease. | | | | form of diagnosis used by the acupuncturist. Visual |
| It is often quoted that in Chinese medicine the | | | | examination and, especially in the West, "taking the |
| patient pays the doctor only so long as he or she is | | | | case" are also important. In Traditional Chinese |
| well. The doctor would regularly check the patient to | | | | Medicine pulse-taking is a highly refined art, but many |
| spot impending imbalances that, if untreated, could | | | | Western practitioners take the pulse more simply in |
| lead to disease. Often only dietary advice or | | | | much the same way as their orthodox |
| suggestions as to therapeutic forms of exercise | | | | colleagues.Acupuncture is not necessarily thought to |
| would be needed to resolve the problems. If | | | | be the most suitable form of treatment in any |
| necessary, acupuncture (or herbalism) would be the | | | | particular case, although in the West practitioners |
| form of treatment given to adjust energy balance. | | | | tend to specialize in either acupuncture or herbalism, |
| However, particularly in the West, people often do | | | | so that to some extent the patient chooses the |
| not seek treatment of any kind until there is | | | | therapy in advance by going to an acupuncturist |
| something acutely wrong, and often they do not see | | | | rather than a herbalist. Some people do not respond |
| an acupuncturist until they have been suffering for | | | | well to acupuncture, and in general anyone who is |
| some time with a chronic problem, which orthodox | | | | apprehensive about having needles inserted into them |
| medicine has been unable to cure. Yet acupuncture is | | | | is less likely to be suitable for this specific form of |
| frequently found to alleviate or cure, even in these | | | | treatment.Electrical Theory of PainThe body |
| circumstances. Treatment is thought to improve the | | | | continually generates tiny but detectable electrical |
| functioning of the internal organs and bring the body | | | | discharges. This electrical field influences the growth, |
| back into balance.How Does Acupuncture Work?In | | | | maturation, and functioning of some types of cells. It |
| spite of a great deal of excellent research designed | | | | is known that acupuncture points are concentrated in |
| to answer this question, as yet there are no good, | | | | regions of low electrical resistance. Studies have |
| clear, simple answers available. There are, however, a | | | | shown that there is a correlation between the |
| variety of theories that attempt to explain the | | | | electromagnetic fields in the body and the channels |
| mechanism of acupuncture. Pain is the area in which | | | | or meridians. So, this electrical theory of acupuncture |
| most research has been completed, and therefore | | | | suggests that acupuncture works by influencing the |
| most of the theories about the mechanism of | | | | body's electromagnetic fields. |