What Is Acupuncture and Why Should I Get It?

When I tell people that I am an acupuncturist, it is about 50/50 whether I am going to get the “That is awesome! I love acupuncture!” response or the “Does that stuff actually work?” response. I initially took offense to the second question because why would I spend 5 years and take on over $100k in student loan debt to do something that didn’t work? As time went on, I realized that people didn’t mean to offend, they simply didn’t know anything about acupuncture and without any knowledge of it, it would seem a little bizarre that sticking needles in the body could be helpful. 

While acupuncture has been around for several thousand years, the general public in the United States only learned about it in the 70’s. Acupuncture has certainly become a more popular health care option in the last 50 years, however, I would argue that it is still far from mainstream. One of the key reasons for this is that even though the general public has heard of acupuncture, many people don’t actually know anything about it. 

So what is acupuncture? Acupuncture is one branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine. It involves the placement of very fine, sterile needles at strategic locations on the body known as acupuncture points, or acupoints, with the intention of balancing the body. There are many different styles of acupuncture that are practiced today with thousands of points located from the head to the toes. This is one of my favorite aspects of acupuncture because sometimes a person comes in with back pain but they cannot lie face down. In these situations, we are still able to effectively treat the person by using what are known as distal points, usually in the arms and legs. 

This is usually where people get lost because how can you treat back pain by sticking needles in the legs? Acupuncture works by manipulating the Qi that circulates through the channels, also known as meridians, of the body. Acupuncture releases blockages along the channels to allow the free flow of Qi thereby reducing or eliminating associated symptoms, such as pain. There are many systems by which the channels are connected, so just because the pain is along one channel, does not mean that it is the only channel that can treat the pain. 

Okay so we get that Qi flows through channels of the body and when it is blocked bad things happen. Side note: Remember last summer when that cargo ship got stuck in the Suez Canal for 6 days and wreaked havoc on worldwide shipping? It was a perfect metaphor for Qi stagnation! Us acupuncturists had a great time making nerdy memes with that one.

Back to Qi and how it gets blocked. Blockages or disruptions of Qi can happen for a number of reasons. Trauma, both physical and mental, and lifestyle, such as diet, sleep, and exercise habits, are the main culprits in today’s society. This is why acupuncture is a whole health system. We need to understand the whole health of the individual so we know which channels are affected and how to properly treat the condition. 

This leads me to the next part of this post, which is why people should get acupuncture. In my opinion, it comes down to acupuncture being a fully customized treatment that gets to the root of the cause. Let’s stick with the back pain scenario. Person A comes in with back pain after lifting something incorrectly at work. Person B comes in with back pain that gradually came on after no known injury. Both have back pain in the same location and while we can give them the exact same treatment, it will not be as effective as if the treatment were tailored to their individual diagnosis.

We ask a million questions during the intake so that we can figure out what the root cause of the issue is. We can take painkillers to reduce the pain, but unless we figure out why we have pain and fix that, we will always need to take the painkillers. I don’t know about you, but I would much prefer to fix the situation than put a band-aid over it. 

If you are someone who leans more towards science, research has shown that acupuncture points are areas of electrical sensitivity. By inserting needles into points, we stimulate sensory receptors, which stimulate nerves, which send impulses to the hypothalamic-pituitary system. These glands are responsible for releasing neurotransmitters and endorphins which can regulate pain, inflammation, and hormones. Other effects of acupuncture include increased circulation, stimulation of T-cells, and stimulation of the parasympathetic nervous system (the rest and digest system).

In addition, acupuncture is an incredibly safe and effective medicine and can easily be combined with massage, chiropractic care, physical therapy, pharmaceuticals, and more. Give acupuncture a try to see for yourself how wonderful it can be!