Introduction to Acupuncture
Acupuncture is a healing modality used to treat people, animals, and even the planet. Acupuncture practitioners use thin, sterile needles inserted superficially into specific areas of the body in order to initiate healing and promote health. There are many theories on how acupuncture works, but to be perfectly honest, I have no definitive answers. After nearly a quarter century in practice offering tens of thousands of treatments, I just know it works!
Acupuncture is part of a 3 to 5,000 year old medical healing arts system developed initially in China. Today, it is widely used around the globe. In Washington State, acupuncture has been a recognized profession by the Department of Health since 1987.
Over the past 50 years or so in which acupuncture has developed in the U.S., it has been proven to be not only exceptionally safe when performed by licensed professionals, but statistically effective in an increasing body of scientific studies.
Statement by the National Institute of Health
“Promising results have emerged, for example, [demonstrating the] efficacy of acupuncture in adult post-operative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in post-operative dental pain. There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma where acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful.” (NIH Consensus Statement, November 3-5, 1997). What else can acupuncture treat?
Statement by the World Health Organization
“The effectiveness of acupuncture analgesia (pain control) has already been established in controlled clinical studies. Acupuncture analgesia works better than a placebo for most kinds of pain, and its effective rate in the treatment of chronic pain is comparable with that of morphine.
Because of the side-effects of long-term drug therapy for pain and the risks of dependence, acupuncture analgesia can be regarded as the method of choice for treating many chronically painful conditions.” Source: Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials, 2002.
Acupuncture also is extremely useful in relieving stress. According to many health experts, stress causes or complicates most modern diseases. In order for acupuncture to be effective for chronic conditions, an individual usually needs to commit to regular treatments – two to three times per week ideally. By lowering the cost of treatment, CommuniChi aspires to help people make that commitment to their health.