How Does Acupuncture Work? What Are Benefits And Right Points?

How Acupuncture Can Relieve Pain and Improve Sleep, Digestion and Emotional Well-being
Acupuncture is a 3,000-year-old healing technique of Traditional Chinese Medicine. In 1997, the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH) documented and publicized acupuncture’s safety and efficacy for treating a wide range of conditions. Acupuncture is now covered by many insurance policies and is used most broadly to relieve pain.

How does acupuncture work?

Acupuncture improves the body’s functions and promotes the natural self-healing process by stimulating specific anatomic sites--commonly referred to as acupuncture points, or acupoints. The most common method used to stimulate acupoints is the insertion of fine, sterile needles into the skin. Pressure, heat, or electrical stimulation may further enhance the effects. Other acupoint stimulation techniques include: manual massage, moxibustion or heat therapy, cupping, and the application of topical herbal medicines and linaments.

Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on an ancient philosophy that describes the universe, and the body, in terms of two opposing forces: yin and yang. When these forces are in balance, the body is healthy. Energy, called "qi" (pronounced "chee") flows along specific pathways, called meridians, throughout the body. This constant flow of energy keeps the yin and yang forces balanced. However, if the flow of energy gets blocked, like water getting stuck behind a dam, the disruption can lead to pain, lack of function, or illness. Acupuncture therapy can release blocked qi in the body and stimulate function, evoking the body’s natural healing response through various physiological systems. Modern research has demonstrated acupuncture’s effects on the nervous system, endocrine and immune systems, cardiovascular system, and digestive system. By stimulating the body’s various systems, acupuncture can help to resolve pain, and improve sleep, digestive function, and sense of well-being.

What happens during an acupuncture treatment?

First, your acupuncturist will ask about your health history. Then, he or she will examine your tongue’s shape, color, and coating, feel your pulse, and possibly perform some additional physical examinations depending on your individual health needs. Using these unique assessment tools, the acupuncturist will be able to recommend a proper treatment plan to address your particular condition. To begin the acupuncture treatment, you lay comfortably on a treatment table while precise acupoints are stimulated on various areas of your body. Most people feel no or minimal discomfort as the fine needles are gently placed. The needles are usually retained between five and 30 minutes. During and after treatments, people report that they feel very relaxed.

How many treatments will I need?
The frequency and number of treatments differ from person to person. Some people experience dramatic relief in the first treatment. For complex or long-standing chronic conditions, one to two treatments per week for several months may be recommended. For acute problems, usually fewer visits are required, usually eight to ten visits in total. An individualized treatment plan that includes the expected number of treatments will be discussed during your initial visit.

What conditions are commonly treated by acupuncture?
Hundreds of clinical studies on the benefits of acupuncture show that it successfully treats conditions ranging from musculoskeletal problems (back pain, neck pain, and others) to nausea, migraine headache, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and infertility.

Case-controlled clinical studies have shown that acupuncture has been an effective treatment for the following diseases, symptoms or conditions:
Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
Biliary colic
Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke)
Dysentery, acute bacillary
Dysmenorrhoea, primary
Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm)
Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
Headache
Hypertension, essential
Hypotension, primary
Induction of labor
Knee pain
Leukopenia
Low back pain
Malposition of fetus, correction
Morning sickness
Nausea and vomiting
Neck pain
Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction)
Periarthritis of shoulder
Postoperative pain
Renal colic
Rheumatoid arthritis
Sciatica
Sprain
Stroke
Tennis elbow

The following diseases, symptoms or conditions have limited but probable evidence to support the therapeutic use of acupuncture:

Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm)
Acne vulgaris
Alcohol dependence and detoxification
Bell’s palsy
Bronchial asthma
Cancer pain
Cardiac neurosis
Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation
Cholelithiasis
Competition stress syndrome
Craniocerebral injury, closed
Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent
Earache
Epidemic haemorrhagic fever
Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
Female infertility
Facial spasm
Female urethral syndrome
Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
Gastrokinetic disturbance
Gouty arthritis
Hepatitis B virus carrier status
Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3)
Hyperlipaemia
Hypo-ovarianism
Insomnia
Labour pain
Lactation, deficiency
Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic
Ménière disease
Neuralgia, post-herpetic
Neurodermatitis
Obesity
Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
Osteoarthritis
Pain due to endoscopic examination
Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans
Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein-Leventhal syndrome)
Post-extubation in children
Postoperative convalescence
Premenstrual syndrome
Prostatitis, chronic
Pruritus
Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome
Raynaud syndrome, primary
Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Retention of urine, traumatic
Schizophrenia
Sialism, drug-induced (excessive salivation)
Sjögren syndrome
Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
Spine pain, acute
Stiff neck
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
Tietze syndrome
Tobacco dependence
Tourette syndrome
Ulcerative colitis, chronic
Urolithiasis
Vascular dementia
Whooping cough (pertussis)

What Are The Points Of Acupuncture?

To understand the basics of acupuncture, it helps to familiarize yourself with the acupuncture points chart. The number of acupuncture points was originally established to correspond to the number of days in the year: 365. These points were mapped to 14 major channel lines, one channel for each of the 12 inner organs, one channel along the spine (called the governing vessel), and another along the midline of the abdomen (called the conception vessel).

Over time, the number of points identified by acupuncturists has expanded, expanding the acupuncture points chart. There are additional channels with their own sets of points, special points located off channels and complete maps of body structures by points along the ears, nose, scalp, hands, feet, wrists and ankles.

Despite the growing number of acupuncture treatment zones, most acupuncture physicians use the traditionally identified points on the 14 main channels. Each channel has a small number of points used repeatedly for their versatility in treating a wide variety of diseases.
Each point is associated with a list of disorders and diseases they can help treat, but sometimes a practitioner will select points based on the Chinese theory of balancing the qi flow — or energy flow — in the channels. So a point might be used during treatments for other kinds of disorders aside from those listed on the acupuncture points chart, due to its usefulness in this balancing process.
Some commonly used acupuncture points include:

Large Intestine Channel: LI4, Hegu
This point is located on the back side of the hand between the thumb and first finger. The primary use of this point is to relieve pain and treat inflammatory and feverish diseases.


Lung Channel: LU7, Lieque
This point is located above the wrist on the inside of the arm. It is used to treat several disorders of the upper body, including headache, neck stiffness, cough, asthma, sore throat, facial paralysis and wrist conditions.

Stomach Channel: ST36, Zusanli
This point is located on the front of the leg, just below the knee. It is helpful for digestive disorders. Research shows that using this point results in positive effects in treating anemia, immune deficiency, fatigue, and numerous diseases.

Spleen Channel: SP6, Sanyinjiao
This point is located on the inner side of the leg just above the ankle. Although it is on the spleen channel, which generally influences the digestive system, this point is also valuable for treating hormonal disorders (such as irregular menstruation) and immune disorders.

Gallbladder Channel: GB20, Fengchi
This point is located at the base of the skull where it joins the neck in back. It is used in the treatment of acute disorders, such as the common cold, influenza, headache, neck pain and fever. In addition, it lowers blood pressure.

Liver Channel: LV3, Taichong
The point is located on the top of the foot, between the first and second toes. It is used to balance emotional energy, to regulate menstruation, to reduce pain in the chest, treat eye disorders, alleviate headaches, and reduce high blood pressure.

Pericardium Channel: PC6, Neiguan
This point is located on the inner arm, just above the wrist. Like other points on this meridian, it is useful for cardiac disorders, such as heart palpitation and angina pectoris. It is also useful for nausea, vomiting, spasms and convulsions.

Heart Channel: HT7, Shenmen
This point is located on the outer side of the wrist. It is used in the treatment of a variety of mental disorders, such as absent mindedness, insomnia, disturbing dreams, hysteria, depression, agitation and mental illness. It is also used in the treatment of heart disease and fatigue.

Urinary Bladder Channel: BL40, Weizhong
This point is located at the back of the knee. It is utilized in the treatment of back pain, hip impairment, muscular atrophy, leg pain, abdominal pain, nausea and many other ailments.

 Kidney Channel: KI3, Taixi
This point is located just behind the inner ankle. It is used for disorders in several areas of the body, including sore throat, toothache, deafness, tinnitus, dizziness, asthma, thirst, insomnia, lower back pain and menstrual irregularities.

Triple Burner Channel: TB5, Waiguan
This point on the channel is located on the outer side of the arm, above the wrist. It is mainly used in treatment of disorders along the pathway of this meridian, that is, of the fingers, hand, arms, neck, ears, cheek, and top of the head.

Small Intestine Channel: SI3, Houxi
This point is located on the side of the hand, below the little finger. It is used for treating mental disorders, stiffness and pain in the neck, seizures, night sweats and fevers.

Governing Vessel: GV20, Baihui
This point is located at the top of the head. It is traditionally applied in the treatment of various mental disorders, and for headache, vertigo, ringing in the ears and nasal obstruction.