China Acupuncture History Article
Combining Acupuncture and Electricity
There are so many diseases today where relief if not cure is sought through acupuncture. This form of healing has been proved to be very effective in treating stress and pain. There are many ways that acupuncture can be done and one of them is to use the needles with a very low electric charge running through them. It’s a technique that’s creating ripples in the field of acupuncture and was tried in the U.S in the 30s and 40s and then waned for a while. The idea of using electricity in the medical field is a fascinating one.
How were the acupuncture points discovered? Probably through years and years of observing which were the tender spots in a patient’s skin. Today, one can identify these spots with the help of electrical contraptions. Using infrared photography can help medical professionals to identify these points because of the difference in temperature between them and the rest of the skin. When a person suffers from any disease, these points tend to behave differently from the rest of the cells.
The reason for advocating electricity with acupuncture has a basis in research that has already been done. There was tissue regrowth observed in animals when a low-charge electric current was administered by a scientist called Becker. There have been instances where heart tissue has shown signs of being restored without scarring. There have also been instances when fractures to the bone have healed much faster with electricity than if they would have healed on their own.
This seems to be a good fit especially as acupuncture works on the electrical impulses in the body. It strives to ensure a good and even flow of energy through the body and if this is disrupted due to any cause, acupuncture tries and restores it so the body can go back to its state of wellness. Without this flow of energy, the body loses its vitality and there is no stimulation or regrowth. What acupuncture does is to get the energy in a particular area going again.
Where this combination has seen very great benefits is in the area of broken bones. Whether it’s wrist bones, ankles, arms, feet, with acupuncture sessions there is significant improvement. It has also proved effective in palpitations of the heart and this has been categorically proved from a scientific point of view by means of EKG results. In fact, when patients are hooked up to an EKG machine and given acupuncture treatment, one can see how it changes the heartbeat, which after all is controlled by the nerves and the electrical impulses that are sent out by them.
What happens when you insert an acupuncture needle into the skin? The cells there are disturbed and you have electrical activity at the point where the needle goes in. This happens because cells by themselves have an electrical charge and any disturbance causes electrical activity. This shows up very well in Kirlian photography where photographs are taken before a needle is inserted and after and they are very different as far as the energy fields are concerned.
What has happened as a result of all this research into electricity and acupuncture is that it has expanded the field of this ancient technique. In acupuncture, various factors govern the insertion of the needle into a specific point. Some of the important ones are the location, the depth to which the needle has to go, the way it is put in, whether heat or moxa needs to be applied, or whether herbs need to be administered as well. A low charge electrical current instead of the traditional needle is one more. It’s this new research and new methods that make an exciting field out of an age-old healing technique.
