Why Acupuncture?
by Mike Wedge

 

In some cases, acupuncture may be preferred over surgery and be more effective.

What can acupuncture treat? That’s a question every acupuncturist has heard many times. Seems like a fairly straight forward question. Problem is, like so many questions, the answer is a bit more complex. One consideration is just what is meant by acupuncture. In the research arena, acupuncture is very strictly defined and is exclusive of any therapy other than the insertion of acupuncture needles. The use of electro-acupuncture is a variation, which may be specified. In clinical application, the term acupuncture can be more loosely defined and may be inclusive of acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, herbal, nutritional, dietary therapy, and other approaches. Additionally, the way acupuncture is tested in the research setting may impact the results.

With these considerations in mind, I would like to introduce you to some of the uses of acupuncture which have been proven under various trials in the research setting, both outcome-based and blinded trials, and follow this with empirically-based evidence gathered over thousands of years in clinical settings.

Before we jump in, let’s take a look at just how popular traditional medicine has become. Although these figures are not specific to acupuncture, acupuncture is a major component of traditional medicine.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), “In the past decade there has been renewed attention and interest in the use of traditional medicine globally. In China, traditional medicine accounts for around 40% of all health care delivered. In Chile, 71% of the population, and in Colombia 40% of the population, have used such medicine. In India, 65% of the population in rural areas uses traditional medicine to help meet their primary health care needs. In developed countries, traditional, complementary, and alternative medicines are becoming more popular. For example, the percentage of the population that has used such medicines at least once is 48% in Australia, 31% in Belgium, 70% in Canada, 49% in France and 42% in the United States of America.”

It is worth pointing out that these figures are increasing exponentially.

In the late 1970s, the WHO listed approximately forty medical conditions it considered treatable with acupuncture and oriental medicine. These include neuromusculoskeletal problems, emotional and psychological disorders, cardiovascular disorders, addictions to alcohol, nicotine and other drugs, respiratory disorders, and gastrointestinal problems.

One area not mentioned is gynecology. Premenstrual syndrome, menopausal problems, fibrocystic breast problems, uterine fibroids and a host of other gynecological and obstetrical problems are routinely managed with oriental medicine. Research and empirical evidence strongly supports the use of acupuncture and oriental medicine in the area of gynecology.

In 1997, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) published the NIH Consensus Statement on acupuncture. The full paper can be found on the NIH web site. It’s not the most fascinating reading, but it is generally informative.

Some areas which the NIH feels can be treated beneficially from acupuncture include post-operative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting, post-operative dental pain, addictions, stroke rehabilitation, headaches, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofacial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome and asthma. The NIH also notes that “further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture intervention will be useful.”

Let’s wrap this up with a list of commonly seen and effectively treated or managed conditions seen in the clinic almost daily. Keep in mind that in China where acupuncture and oriental medicine are an intimate part of the health care system, the complexity and variety of medical problems seen and treated is generally greater than in our country.

The most commonly seen problems fall into the musculoskeletal category, including sports injuries, cervical strain (whiplash), back pain, tendonitis, arthritis, sciatica, knee pain, carpal tunnel syndrome and many more. Acupuncture is highly effective in the treatment of these problems. In my opinion, unless surgery is indicated, acupuncture is the most effective treatment for musculoskeletal problems. Even in the event where surgery is indicated, acupuncture can be very helpful. In some cases, acupuncture may be preferred over surgery and be more effective. This is true in many cases of carpal tunnel syndrome.

As previously mentioned, women’s health issues are frequently helped with acupuncture. (This is especially the case for me, though my practice emphasizes musculoskeletal and women’s health problems.) Commonly seen problems include PMS, menopause, breast pain, fibroids, polycystic ovaries, menstrual cramps (more effective for cramping not associated with endometriosis, but useful nevertheless), irregular menstrual cycle, infertility, amenorrhea (not menstruating) and others.

Other areas for which acupuncture/oriental medicine may be useful include: hypertension, poor circulation, constipation, diarrhea, bronchitis, weakened immune system, middle ear infections, fatigue, neuropathic pain such as trigeminal neuralgia, stopping smoking and other addictions, inflammatory conditions, depression, anxiety, indigestion, IBS, TMJ, hemorrhoids and stress reduction.

Another area I feel acupuncture and oriental medicine can be of significant benefit is in the field of oncology. Supportive treatment while a person under goes chemotherapy, radiation, etc., can greatly assist the recovery process; reduce nausea from chemotherapy, support immune system function and increase energy and a feeling of well being.

While this is by no means a complete list, it does represent the most commonly treated health problems. I should point out that this discussion has addressed the treatment of disease, but the prevention of disease is also in the realm of acupuncture and oriental medicine.

Of course, just because a medical problem may be treated with acupuncture does not guarantee successful treatment. There are many variables which affect the success of treatment. These include the expertise of the doctor treating the problem, the specifics of the situation (for example, the successful treatment of fatigue will depend on the underlying cause of the fatigue), the general health of the patient, etc.

Michael Wedge, L.Ac., M.Ac.O.M., DCH, is the owner of Premier Acupuncture & Complementary Medicine. For more information, call 745-7928; visit www.premier-acupuncture.com or www.physioscan.net; or email info@premier-acupuncture.com

Pediatric Acupuncture
by Rosemary Cody

 

There is no antibiotic, no anti-acid, no anticonvulsant, no anti-inflammatory, no anti-anything prescribed. The goal in every treatment is to work with the body, to rebalance...

To quote philosopher and scientist Buckminster Fuller, “every child is born a genius.” Chinese Medicine agrees. It, too, views children as brilliant, the closest thing to the ideal human being, the link “between Heaven and Earth.” Their energy is fresh—less dense, less materialized than that of adults. Thus, the energetic medicine of Chinese Medicine serves children quickly and well.

It is a good medical choice for several reasons. It can treat a wide range of conditions and illnesses in your child. It is safe and non-invasive compared to surgery and drugs. It is holistic—always considering the connections between mind, body and spirit. Often it can reach the root of the problem and correct it at a deeper level, rather than just treating the symptoms. And the long-term effects are to strengthen and support the child.

Some of the pediatric conditions commonly treated with acupuncture are respiratory disorders, such as asthma, tonsillitis or pneumonia, and digestive disorders, such as vomiting or diarrhea. I have also seen successes with treating earaches, headaches, bedwetting and rashes. Chinese Medicine may also help with regulating blood sugar. I remember one young diabetic patient, whom I treated in a local hospital for his symptoms of nausea and loss of appetite. After the treatment, he sat up and requested a salmon dinner!

Often, children are treated preventively in accordance with the four seasons. For example, in the fall, prior to the advent of cold and flu season, your child’s acupuncturist would boost the energy of his or her lungs and immune system with herbs and acupuncture. In the spring, when liver energy is most active, treatment would be aimed at detoxifying and supporting the liver. Warm and kinetic heart energy, which our children exemplify in excess, is addressed in the summer. In this season of heat and light and growth, we seek harmony of the heart energy. Having balanced heart energy during an Alaskan summer is especially beneficial as it enables your child to sleep while the sun shines! With Chinese Medicine, we align with the cycles and rhythms of life, tapping into ancient wisdom.

There are within the cycles of life pockets of pain and suffering in children. Seemingly out of season, these events are difficult to understand, difficult to accept, yet very real to those who are touched by them. In the face of life-threatening or chronic diseases such as cancer, the gift of Chinese Medicine is twofold. It minimizes the destructive side effects of the disease and associated drugs. At the same time, it maximizes the body’s ability to recover.

To be fair, Chinese Medicine does have a huge advantage over other systems in maximizing the body’s healing ability. It works with this miraculous body with its brilliant self-healing design, not against it. There is no antibiotic, no anti-acid, no anticonvulsant, no anti-inflammatory, no anti-anything prescribed. The goal in every treatment is to work with the body, to rebalance, to restore homeostasis, to punch the reset button, to plug in what has been unplugged, to remind the body of its innate intelligence. When in balance, the body has its best chance to heal.

A recent edition of Acupuncture Today reports a clinical study (by researchers from Children’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts) of acupuncture’s ability to treat pain in children. Seventy percent of the children treated with acupuncture felt it helped their symptoms and two-thirds found the treatment “pleasant.” The children also experienced “overall improvement of well-being” while being treated. Other “side effects” were increased attendance at school, improved sleep patterns and increased participation in extra-curricular activities.

One of the first questions of children and their parents in considering acupuncture as a treatment is: “Will it hurt?” Most children are willing to try one of the tiny needles—or “acupuncture wands”-- as an experiment to see how it feels. Nearly always they find it tolerable and will continue with treatment. If their fear still persists, however, we use other methods: small “rollers” to stimulate a meridian, finger pressure, oils massaged into acupuncture points, or moxa, the heating of an herb called mugwort on acupuncture points. On a recent Saturday, while treating an 11-year old girl at the Healing Toby Network Kid’s Clinic, I asked her to identify the level of pain she experienced with acupuncture on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being the strongest pain. Her answer? “Minus three.”

At your child’s first acupuncture appointment, expect a thorough interview about your child’s health history, diet, sleeping patterns, emotional tendencies, urination, bowel movements and mental development. Your acupuncturist will feel your child’s pulses, look at his/her tongue and possibly palpate the abdomen before the treatment. Recommendations for herbal supplements, dietary and lifestyle changes may be given. We attempt to make treatments playful and fun.

As Voltaire once said: “The art of medicine consists in amusing the patient while nature cures the disease.” I believe that this is especially evident as we work with these little “geniuses.” As parents and practitioners, we focus on making the best selections from Heaven and Earth, then step aside and let nature lead the way.

Rosemary Cody is a local acupuncturist and practitioner of Chinese Medicine. She can be reached at Alaska Alternative Medical Center (563-6200) or at 227-8647.

The Eight Extraordinary Vessels
by Jean Bodeau

 

Holding fast to the old Way, we can live in the present. Mindful of the ancient beginnings, we hold the thread of the Tao. - Tao de Ching, Chapter 14 Translated by Ursula LeGuin

In winter, we are engulfed in Yin energy – dark, cold, quiet, slow. When Yin is at its peak – Winter Solstice – many of us become Yin. It may be almost more than we can bear. We drag to our beds, crave carbs and chocolate, dream of sunny beaches. While challenging, there is a beauty to this time of year, a certain truthfulness. It brings us into our core, shows us where our unfinished business lies. Winter, and the all-absorbing nature of Yin, offer an invitation to clear reflection, authenticity, and letting go.

This time of year, our energy slows to a deep elemental pulsing, like the pulsing of the universe and the aurora borealis on an icy night. To me, it feels like a time when an energy system known as the extraordinary vessels is preeminent.

The Chinese medical classics describe the eight extraordinary vessels as fields of energy more than as discrete meridians, hence the translation of “vessel.” They are deeper and more foundational than the regular 12 meridians, “beneath and behind” them, according to the classics. Therefore, they have a more profound influence on our well-being at all levels.

Two of the extraordinary vessels – the Conception Vessel (Ren, Sea of Yin) and the Governing Vessel (Du, Sea of Yang) - have their own points, running up the front and back midlines respectively. The other six of the eight extraordinary vessels “borrow” points of the other meridians. Physically, the meridians divide the body into eight quadrants, upper and lower right and left, front and back. Energetically, they balance the polarities.

We are naturally predisposed to having a particular extraordinary vessel that both channels our highest self, and becomes unbalanced most easily. Because of the core nature of the extraordinary vessels, seemingly unrelated symptoms are often linked in an extraordinary vessel pattern. For example, gynecological and lung difficulties are frequently associated together with Ren Channel imbalance. When someone comes in with an unusual condition – say pain on one side of the body only – I often find that it resolves only with extraordinary vessel treatment. In practical terms, I find that balancing the extraordinary vessels is beneficial for everybody, and necessary for many.

Certain acupuncturists through history have taken the treatment of the extraordinary vessels to a profound level. Dr. Yoshio Manaka was a Japanese master through whom I have studied the extraordinary vessels in depth. Dr. Manaka’s diagnosis of extraordinary vessel imbalance is based primarily on hara (abdominal) diagnosis, as well as symptoms and pulse. Treatment will often use ion-pumping cords – cords that facilitate the flow of energy between channels (via needles), yet have no outside energy sources. The cords look like miniature jumper cables, with one red end and one black end. Deliberately placed magnets might also be used to treat the extraordinary vessels.

Research on the extraordinary vessels indicates that they correspond with embryological fascial planes, and the body’s electromagnetic field. Fascia is the very thin connective tissue that surrounds every muscle, every muscle fiber, every organ, every bone – every thing in our bodies. Fascia has electromagnetic properties, for it transmits electricity. As fascia forms in humans, it leaves traces of its early developmental planes. It is these planes that some Japanese acupuncture researchers have linked with the extraordinary vessels.

The extraordinary vessels are complex, and to me, sacred. Balancing them can have a profound effect on our health and our state of mind. In these dark days of winter, you can feel them pulsing, as all energy slows and we return to our quiet center. As seeds deep in the earth, we await the quickening of new growth.

Jean Bodeau is a licensed acupuncturist and owner of Moonstone Acupuncture and Healing Center. Please contact her for more information.

The Streams of Winter:
Pathways to the Next Season
by Rosemary Cody

 

Here, way below the surface, you are closer to the floor of your soul… Every wall is a door; every stream leads to the source.

When you step into the richly textured world of Chinese Medicine, you are handed new lenses, a new prescription for seeing the world and its meaning with more depth and clarity.

Even the dark, cold season of winter takes on a fresh beauty as visual acuity sharpens and you look further beneath the surface. In Chinese Medicine, winter is associated with the kidney and urinary bladder, the element of water, the color black. Its purpose is storage: to allow the earth’s energy, as well as your own, time to reach toward its core, to let growth move into its dormancy, in order to rest and restore.

The emotions that can be provoked, and also healed, by the season of water are anxiety, fear and depression – the kind of depression where your very will is exhausted. This is when you feel isolated, tired to the bones and hopeless. You lack the drive to make the next step or to change. Everything is too much effort. Everything appears in shades of gray or black.

In the darkness, it is hard to see the markers, the road signs that guide our turns. The highways are not well lit. Life is frozen. Movement appears to cease. Growth is suspended.

This is the deepest of the elements, the most protected. Its associated tissue is that of the bones. When you dive deeply here, you may brush up against your own shadows; you touch the fringes of death, see the skeletons that have been hiding. You may peer into the dark abyss and feel the shivers of jumping into unknown waters. To quote Walt Whitman: “What is known I strip away, I launch all men and women forward with me into the Unknown.” You may feel alone, but deeper wisdom will reveal that you are not.

Here, way below the surface, you are closer to the floor of your soul, down past the veneer, the wax and polish of looking good, below the layers of protective carpets where worldly goods are valued. Here, at the core, in the stillness, it doesn’t matter what kind of job you have, what brand of clothes or make of car you drive. Your financial portfolio and other excessive baggage are not allowed entrance.

In patches at first, and then completely, you catch glimpses that we are of all one blood, that everything is connected. At this conjecture, deep in this well within, our DNA links us with our ancestors and creates visions of future generations. Our personal unconsciousness merges with the collective. But, still, the darkness is scary sometimes, the silence unsettling. And you yearn for the distraction of television and superficial chatter.

Keep breathing. One breath at a time. And listen. “Cease listening with the mind and listen with the vital spirit...” says Chuang Tzu. Look closely. With your new lenses you see that on this same pathway, this same continuum, fear transforms into courage, hope appears as the first light on the horizon. Road signs stand out sharply. Shadows turned inside out start to emit light.

As you readjust your lenses, you notice that at this deep level that we are connected to the web of a larger universe with streams flowing in all directions. At this instinctive level, which in Chinese Medicine is associated with the brain and memory, you remember who you really are beneath the layers. Way beneath where maybe love and simply being are all that matters.

WATER ELEMENT
Organ Sense Organ/Sense Tissue Emotion Season Environmental Influence Purpose Color	Kidney/Bladder Ears/Hearing Bones Fear/Anxiety Winter Cold Storage Black

Here life organizes itself around knowledge, truth, ideas and introspection. As you become more comfortable with this silence, this time of quietness and meditation, your ability to hear is heightened. Author Theodore Roethke prayed thus: “May my silences become more accurate.”

Your vision also sharpens. Like entering a movie theatre, your eyes adjust to the darkness and you take the next step with assurance.

You are free again to play in the shallow water of daily life or move toward deeper explorations as your confidence increases. At any time, you can locate a new stream and return to lighter elements – to the warmth of the heart energy, to the comfort of the earth, to the movement and creative force of wood, to the freedom of the air in the metal element. Every wall is a door; every stream leads to the source. You can find a tributary that leads to any or all of these elements, any season. Within yourself, you can take short cuts, step from winter to summer. You can dance with all of them and find that dynamic balance which leads to wholeness. And while you are playing, notice your reflection in others and in nature.

Still, there is no hurry. Take your time. Go at your own pace. Use flotation devices, if you wish, to cross the river. Be your own captain, but seek the counsel of wise friends and teachers. If the darkness is too much, find a good mental health professional. Participate in a spiritual community. Pray. Read time-honored books and listen for their messages. Go outdoors at high noon and see the reflections of light on the snow. Splurge on full-spectrum light bulbs. Keep your low back warm and protected as you exercise. Nurture yourself with foods that warm your body’s core: hearty soups, whole grains, beans, steamed winter greens.

The Chinese Medical paradigm allows us to embrace paradox. The darkness of the water element also contains the fire that rises to warm your essential biological processes. When night is at its darkest, it begins to transform into light. The fringes of death are actually brushes with angels’ wings. A descending slope is the beginning of an ascent, which takes you to the next level. When you dive into your deepest thoughts, you find the gate to your highest consciousness and are thus set free.

Focus. Listen. Breathe. Beneath even the most frozen surface run many vital streams, many sacred pathways, directing your way homeward.

Rosemary Cody is a Licensed Acupuncturist practicing in Anchorage. She can be reached at 227-8647 .