While
acupuncture is often associated with pain control, in the hands
of a well-trained practitioner it has much broader applications.
Acupuncture can be effective as the sole treatment used, or
as the support or adjunct to other medical treatments in many
disorders (see links in right panel).
WORLD
HEALTH ORGANIZATION (WHO) ON ACUPUNCTURE
The
World Health Organization (WHO) recognized the use of acupuncture
in the treatment of over 40 different medical problems. Click
here to see the complete WHO list.
BETWEEN
HEALTH AND ILLNESS
In the
right panel is an index of named medical conditions for which
controlled clinical trials have shown acupuncture to be effective.
You may follow the links to read a summary of current research
for each condition. References are included.
However,
in considering the health benefits of acupuncture, one should
be keep in mind that most of acupuncture's effects are holistic,
and not narrowly focused on one particular diseased part of
the body. Patients undergoing acupuncture often experience general
changes in appetite, sleep, bowel or urination patterns, or
emotional state. Most feel relaxed after treatment and report
subjective feelings of "wholeness" or "connectedness."
Furthermore, acupuncture is very successful in treating mild
functional disorders for which conventional medicine does not
even have fixed names:
"It is somehow assumed by most doctors,
without having thought about it too deeply, that one is either
healthy or ill. I think though that there are many patients
who are somewhat between these extremes. These in-between patients
may have virtually any symptoms but, as the disease process
is not advanced enough to be shown on today's laboratory tests,
they unfortunately are often labeled as neurotic... Acupuncture
is a gentle form of treatment and hence suitable for [this kind
of] disease."
-- Felix Mann, M.D.
A
NEW TECHNIQUE THAT IS 4500 YEARS OLD
In the
West, many people who tend to think of acupuncture as a "new"
or "unscientific" therapy are surprised to find out
how much actual research has already validated this ancient
art, both in China and the West. Indeed, to date acupuncture
is probably the single most researched form of "alternative
medicine." However, this only represents a fraction of
the research that still needs to be done. One should keep in
mind that randomized controlled trials (RCT's) are about 50
years old, while acupuncture has been used in China for at least
4500 years (see History
section), and there has only been adequate funding sources
for alternative medicine research since the 1990's.
This
section will be updated often, and the interested reader is
encouraged to frequently check the "What's
New" section on the home page for notification about
new entries.