My Daily Journal: Day 1 Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine
Hello, and welcome to my stream of conscious.
First, let me introduce myself. My name is Jessica, most people call me Jess, and I’m a graduate student in my 3rd (and final) year of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine School. Acupuncture is an ancient traditional medicine that started in China approximately 3000 years ago. The practice of acupuncture has been used to treat a variety of ailments and has become the most utilized form of alternative medicine in the U.S.
“The first documentation of acupuncture that described it as an organized system of diagnosis and treatment is in The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, which dates back to 100 BCE.” Jason Jishun Hao, DOM, MTCM, MBA
Chinese medicine is powerful and research in the U.S. is slowly starting to catch up to what the ancients were discovering thousands of years ago. You see, in ancient China, they didn’t have the technology to conduct research experiments with fMRI’s or have microscopes to examine different cells. However, by studying the stars and our planet, they realized that we as humans are all connected to the Earth and we are microcosms of the Universe.
After thousands of years, the original concepts are still being applied today in acupuncture and Chinese medicine, but now with our vast understanding of the human body network, we are able to integrate what we know in Western science with Eastern medicine to better understand the practice of Chinese medicine.
This study from 2017, Rewiring the Primary Somatosensory Cortex in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (2) on carpal tunnel syndrome (a common entrapment neuropathy affecting the median nerve at the wrist) shows the neurophysiological outcomes that occurred after just 8 weeks of acupuncture- this is huge because acupuncture is often accused of being no more than a placebo effect yet there is physical adaptations taking place in the brain that prove otherwise.
“ Nerve conduction studies assessing median nerve sensory latency and brain imaging data were acquired at baseline and following therapy. Functional magnetic resonance imaging assessed somatotopy in the primary somatosensory cortex using vibrotactile stimulation over three digits (2, 3 and 5). While all three acupuncture interventions reduced symptom severity, verum (local and distal) acupuncture was superior to sham in producing improvements in neurophysiological outcomes, both local to the wrist (i.e. median sensory nerve conduction latency) and in the brain (i.e. digit 2/3 cortical separation distance). Moreover, greater improvement in second/third interdigit cortical separation distance following verum acupuncture predicted sustained improvements in symptom severity at 3-month follow-up.” (2)
Check out this study for a deeper understanding on the effects of acupuncture on carpal tunnel syndrome. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5837382/
There is more research being conducted on acupuncture now than ever before. With the advances in technology, researchers and scientists are able to look deeper at the human body.
It is only a matter of time before the “placebo” idea is replaced with a better understanding of how and why acupuncture is able to heal.
There have been many “fads” in the health/fitness/nutrition world, however they have been just that — fads. They don’t last very long for many reasons whether it’s because it doesn’t work, its been debunked or proven to be less effective than initially thought etc.
Acupuncture and Chinese medicine is not a fad. It is an ancient medicine that has been studied and practiced for thousands of years and despite all the advances in the “medical industry”, more and more M.D.’s are referring patients to acupuncturists and the respect for this field of traditional medicine is growing.
Just because we don’t understand something (acupuncture) doesn’t make it less valid. We live in a world where everyone wants things to be black and white, yet we all know we live in a world that isn’t just black and white.
Studying Chinese medicine has been extremely challenging to wrap my mind around because it is a completely different language when it comes to understanding the human body. Having a degree in Exercise and Health Science, I thought starting graduate school to learn acupuncture would be an easier transition for me, it was not. You see, when people hear things like “LV Yang Rising” or “SP Qi Deficiency” they look at you like you’re crazy. What they don’t understand is that it is just a different language with a different set of “rules” explaining the different patterns of what is going on in the body that may be causing dysfunction. There are many concepts that are quite similar to our understanding of disease and illness through a Western mind, it is just communicated differently in Chinese medicine.
My goal of posting information like this is to educate others about what acupuncture and Oriental medicine is and how you or a loved one might benefit.
It can be an alternative medicine for many who do not wish to take pharmaceuticals, for those who may want to hold off on a surgery, or for someone who is in pain but is aware of our country’s opioid crisis and would prefer a more natural, yet effective, approach.
It is for those who want to get to the root of their problem rather than continuously putting bandaids over to cover it. For those who don’t want to risk adverse effects that may even be worse than their initial condition.
For the people who have read this through its entirety, I hope I have expanded your thinking and ask that you keep an open mind when it comes to things that you may not understand.
- Hao, J. J., & Mittelman, M. (2014). Acupuncture: past, present, and future. Global advances in health and medicine, 3(4), 6–8. https://doi.org/10.7453/gahmj.2014.042
- Maeda, Y., Kim, H., Kettner, N., Kim, J., Cina, S., Malatesta, C., Gerber, J., McManus, C., Ong-Sutherland, R., Mezzacappa, P., Libby, A., Mawla, I., Morse, L. R., Kaptchuk, T. J., Audette, J., & Napadow, V. (2017). Rewiring the primary somatosensory cortex in carpal tunnel syndrome with acupuncture. Brain : a journal of neurology, 140(4), 914–927. https://doi.org/10.1093/brain/awx015
