Acupuncture has been a major part of primary healthcare in China for over 5,000 years. It was, and is currently used extensively for a variety of medicinal purposes such as the prevention of treatment of disease, relieving pain and anesthetizing patients for surgery. As in many oriental medicine practices, the emphasis of acupuncture is highly trained on prevention. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, the highest form of acupuncture was given to enable you to live a long, healthy life.
The earliest written account of acupuncture is found in the Nei Jing (The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine). This document is believed to be written around 200 BC, and is one of the oldest comprehensive medical text books. Pien Chueh, a famous Chinese Physician of the fourth century BC used stone acupuncture needles, moxibustion and Chinese Herbs to bring a prince out of a coma.Â
In the United States and China, acupuncture is used frequently for the treatment of chronic pain conditions such as:
- arthritis
- headaches
- athletic injuries
- post surgical pain
It is also used for the treatment of chronic pain associated with immune dysfunction such as psoriasis (skin disorders), allergies, and asthma.
Acupuncture is also found to be effective for the treatment of mind-body disorders such as anxiety, chronic fatigue, irritable bowel syndrome, hypertension, insomnia, PMS, menopausal symptoms and depression. Some modern applications of acupuncture are used in the treatment of disorders such as: alcoholism, addiction, smoking, and eating disorders.