ACUPUNCTURE

What is Acupuncture?

Does Acupuncture Hurt?

Who needs Acupuncture?

How Does Acupuncture Work?

Eastern Theory

Western Theory

Brain Chemistry/Nervous System

Immune Function

Circulation

The Bottom Line

How Many Treatments Will I Need?

What Are the Needles Like?

Dr. Kong's patient's comments:

Dr. Qingchun Kong - Chinese Acupuncturist

What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is one of the most ancient treatments for health maintenance and the treatment of illness.  It has been in continuous use for over 3000 years.  The earliest text that mentions acupuncture dates from 1000 BCE.  Acupuncture involves the placement of needles into specific points on the body in an attempt to maintain health or treat symptoms.  It includes its own system of diagnosis and theories of health/illness.  The needles themselves are solid, come to a central point, and are hair thin (most acupuncture needles can fit inside a regular hypodermic needle.)  Once the needles are placed, the acupuncturist can manipulate them by spinning them, heating them, applying electrical stimulation, or place small glass cups over them.

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Does Acupuncture Hurt?

Acupuncture needles are small, and therefore, they are far less painful than the typical hypodermic needles used for injections.  In addition, hypodermic needles are beveled and cut through tissue whereas acupuncture needles push tissue aside.  This results in less trauma and therefore, less pain.  There are points that are inherently more painful, such as the tips of the fingers and toes.  Most acupuncture points do not hurt.  Finally, most of us have anxiety when it comes to needles because we associate needles with pain.  After receiving acupuncture, we develop a different association.  Now we associate needles with relaxation and a sense of well being, and this tends to eliminate the needle anxiety connection.

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Who needs Acupuncture?

Acupuncture can be used in a number of ways.  Traditionally, acupuncture was used as a means to maintain health.  It definitely has uses in the treatment of many pain syndromes.  This is particularly true for nerve based pain (which is very difficult to treat medically).  It can also be of use in the treatment of depression or anxiety, hypertension, asthma/allergies, immune system disorders, healing of acute injuries (including fractures), neuropathy, infertility (both male and female), menstrual disorders, and many other conditions.

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How Does Acupuncture Work?

One of the most common questions we receive is “how does acupuncture work?”  The answers to this question are not straight forward and require an understanding of both the Eastern and Western approaches to cause and effect in human health.  In this article, we will examine both the Eastern and Western explanations for the mechanism of acupuncture and, hopefully, answer this question. 

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Eastern Theory

The Eastern explanation to acupuncture involves the concept of chi (also written xi, qi, or ch’i—Chinese words are written in ideograms that have to be converted and translated into English so there are frequently variations on spelling).  Chi is body energy.  It is that thing that makes us alive; it animates our bodies.  Chi runs in circuits called meridians in the same way that electricity runs in circuits through a house.  These meridian channels, for the most part, follow spaces between muscles.  They can parallel nerves and arteries or they can be in completely different spaces.  Along the meridians are individual acupuncture points.  In our house metaphor, the acupuncture point would be the equivalent of an outlet on a house’s electrical circuit.  The acupuncturist alters the energy flow in a meridian by inserting a needle into an acupuncture point and manipulating that needle.  In the Chinese system, symptoms/disease arise from imbalance in the normal flow of chi through the meridians.  This imbalance may be a lack of chi, an excess of chi, or a foreign chi that has invaded from outside the body.  Acupuncture points are selected based on their individual characteristics and on how they influence the flow of chi in the meridian.  For example, a person might be suffering from deficient kidney chi (symptoms would include fatigue, depression, perhaps anxiety).  The acupuncturist would treat this by using points in the kidney meridian that would strengthen the kidney chi.  There are many relationships between the meridians and the points that the acupuncturist has at their disposal.  The acupuncturist might weaken one meridian to strengthen another.  The meridians are also grouped into various categories (including the five elements—earth, fire, metal, water, wood).  Altering one category can have a beneficial effect on another category.  There are also many techniques of point manipulation depending on the desired outcome.  The acupuncturist can twirl the needles, apply electrical stimulation to the needles, heat the needles, or even apply suction cups over the acupuncture point.  By balancing these points, the body should have the ability to heal the physical ailment.  In traditional acupuncture, the emphasis was on prevention.  You paid the acupuncturist to keep you well (and stopped paying when you became ill).  Because of this, there are situations in which the flow of chi has been so disrupted that it is permanent.   

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Western Theory

Pain

The western explanation of acupuncture involves an attempt to discover the biochemical changes that occur when acupuncture is performed.  The first involves acupuncture’s effect on pain.  To understand this effect, we must first examine how our pain pathways work.  Pain is experienced through a number of different nerves and connections.  It starts with stimulation of the peripheral pain fiber.  This signal travels along the nerve to the spinal cord.  Here, it makes a connection to a second nerve in the spinal cord itself.  This signal is then transferred to the brain stem and then to the surface of the brain (called the cortex).  It is the cortex that tells us something hurts.  Each nerve connection can be amplified (making the pain sensation more intense) or inhibited (making the pain sensation less intense).  Acupuncture works at all of these levels.  Acupuncture has a local anesthetic effect (with the use of electrical stimulation).  This appears to be the result of stimulating certain nerves that block the transmission of pain signals to the spinal cord.  Acupuncture is also known to cause release of the body’s own morphines (called endorphins).  These endorphins affect how the connections in the spinal cord transmit pain signals and also effect how we experience pain.  Because of this, many people will first notice that acupuncture did not change the pain, but they are not as concerned about the pain experience.  This will frequently occur before the pain itself improves.  There have been studies that have shown that the administration of morphine blockers significantly blocks acupuncture’s ability to lessen pain.  Obviously, there has to be more to acupuncture than simply an endorphin effect.  If this was all it took, we would be curing chronic pain with morphine injections which does nothing but temporarily relieve pain.  Because acupuncture frequently cures pain, there must be other mechanisms. 

Acupuncture also is noted for other effects.  Placing and manipulating the needles results in a few other local effects.  Acupuncture causes an increase in local blood flow; and along with it, an increase in nutrients and immune cells.  These are the ingredients for healing.  There is also evidence that acupuncture tends to have a balancing effect on brain chemistry, hormone levels, and immune cell counts/function.  Because the brain controls everything in the body, a balanced brain should allow for more effective healing.  The same holds true for hormone levels.  Healing is affected by a number of hormones, and deficiencies of the building (anabolic) hormones or excesses of the destroying (catabolic) hormones will interfere with the healing process.  Finally, the immune system is critical in the healing process.  We know the immune system is important in fighting off infection, but it plays an equally important role in healing.  The immune system creates inflammation which helps us heal.  Frequently, this inflammation gets “stuck” and does not provide healing; only more pain.  By balancing immune system function, acupuncture may help the healing process and speed the time to heal injuries.

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Brain Chemistry/Nervous System

Acupuncture appears to have a balancing effect on brain chemistry.  It can help with anxiety, depression, or fatigue.  Part of this effect may be from endorphins, but it appears to involve other brain chemicals as well.  Nerves “talk” to each other through the use of chemical agents called neurotransmitters.  Many of these agents exist, and some of the more well known are serotonin, dopamine, norepinephrine, and GABA.  Improving the function of serotonin and GABA has a relaxing/calming effect as well as a mood stabilizing effect.

Improving dopamine and norepinephrine has the effect of elevating mood and wakefulness.  Acupuncture may affect all of these in a positive way.  Notice that we are not talking about increasing or decreasing levels.  Rather, we speak of balancing these neurotransmitters.  Acupuncture has also been shown to have a beneficial effect on the healing of the brain and/or nerves after injuries such as strokes or lacerations.  It can also help with the symptoms of neuropathy in which a person experiences a burning/numbing type of pain because of biochemical injury to a nerve from medication or diseases such as diabetes.  The mechanism of this benefit is unknown, but may involve a bit of all the benefits of acupuncture. 

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Immune Function

Acupuncture’s effects on the immune system are less well known.  Acupuncture appears to have the same balancing effect on the immune system as it does on brain chemistry.  It tends to increase counts in people that are deficient and decrease counts in people that are in a state of excess.  Because of this, this writer has seen immune counts increase in patients with immunodeficiency from AIDS as well as immune counts decrease in patients with high counts from leukemia (acupuncture is not considered a primary treatment of cancers, but serves as an adjunct to other treatments).  Because the immune system is involved in healing, acupuncture tends to decrease healing times. 

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Circulation

Acupuncture can also have a beneficial effect on the circulation.  We do know that placement of an acupuncture needle usually has a warming effect on that particular area.  This occurs because of a local release of histamine that, in turn, causes dilation of blood vessels and an increase of blood flow.  Acupuncture can also have a relaxing effect on the muscles that surround arteries.  This can help to control elevated blood pressure and improve circulation. 

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The Bottom Line

Ultimately, the exact details of how acupuncture works remain a mystery.  There is ongoing study into trying to determine the mechanisms of acupuncture.  The bottom line is that acupuncture is helpful for about 70% of people that try it.  This makes it a valuable tool for a number of acute or chronic conditions.

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How Many Treatments Will I Need?

The number of treatments needed differs from person to person.  For complex or long standing conditions, one or two treatments a week for several months may be recommended.  For acute problems, usually more frequent visits are required.  For health maintenance, one or two sessions per month is all that is necessary.

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What Are the Needles Like? Do They Hurt?

Most patients feel no pain at all.  A few patients feel only minimal pain as the needles are inserted.  Once the needles are in place, no pain is felt.

Acupuncture needles are very thin and solid and are made from stainless steel.  The point is smooth (not hollow with cutting edges like a hypodermic needle) and insertion through the skin is not painful, unlike injections or blood draws.  The doctors at the Bio Energy Medical Center use disposable needles, so there is no risk of infection.

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Dr. Kong's patient's comments:

"You have been a lifesaver for me. After 35 years of fighting off pain for 24 hours a day, 365 days a year it's fantastic to be almost completely pain-free and I have extra energy as well! Thanks once again, Dr. Kong." - J. Moorhead, Clinton, MI

"Dr. Kong has been instrumental in bringing about major health changes in my life. Through his techniques I quit smoking in two sessions, without any uncomfortable withdrawal symptoms. I went from high to normal blood pressure in a very short period and the arthritis in my left hand has disappeared." - R. Allen, Professor in Ann Arbor, MI

"I suffered from facial paralysis with involuntary drooling and sagging mouth, and my eyes wouldn't close so they watered all the time. It was the 2nd time for this paralysis and was very difficult to treat. Other acupuncturists would spend at least 6 months working on this problem. Dr. Kong cured me in 4 treatments.!" - Fan Yang, Published in Michigan Chinese American News

"When doctors told us we would never have children, we were confronted with a choice to make. Our fertility doctor offered the "traditional medical route" or we could try acupuncture with Dr. Qingchun Kong, with follow-up with homeopathic prescriptions of Dr. Uma as Dr. Neuenschwander suggested. A few weeks later, I became pregnant! We were so glad things were able to happen in a natural, healthy way!" - C. Maynard, Ann Arbor, MI

"I want to thank you so much for helping me with my chronic lower back pain. your treatment has made a big difference in my life. I have now been able to resume swimming, my favorite form of exercise, and am able to sleep pain-free at night. I had tried many other modalities to try to get relief from this pain, including many rounds of physical therapy, pain medications and had even considered surgery as the pain continued into its 2nd year and the quality of my life declined. I am glad that I was referred to you because it was the acupuncture, under the guidance of your skilled hands, which, ultimately, set me on the road to recovery." - C. Underwood, R.N., BSN, Ann Arbor, MI

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