What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a traditional medicine used in China for at least 5000 years .
Acupuncture treats the patient as a whole, incorporating their living and working environments, their history, their state of physical and emotional health, and their spirit; rather than focusing solely on symptoms or selective areas of the body.

In Acupuncture, disease (dis-ease) is understood as an energy imbalance in the body. Treatment of the imbalance is by using high-quality, super fine, disposable stainless steel needles in acupuncture points located along energy channels, called meridians, located throughout the body.

Twelve meridians run over the body and correspond internally with each of the twelve major organs. The twelve meridians include six ‘yin’ and six ‘yang’ meridians.

Acupuncture works by normalizing the flow of a vital energy called “chi” throughout the body. Pain or illnesses are treated by balancing accumulations or deficiencies of chi. Pain is considered to indicate blockage or stagnation of the flow of chi.

The acupuncturist decides which acupuncture points to treat by  looking, asking, touching and sensing of arterial pulses.
Looking - focuses on the face, and particularly on the tongue, including analysis of the tongue size, shape, tension, color and coating.

Asking - the patient is asked about: chills and fever; perspiration; appetite, thirst and taste; defecation and urination; pain; sleep; and menses. (if the patient is female)

Sensing - includes feeling the body for tender points, palpation of the left and right wrists radial artery pulses and listening for particular sounds (such as wheezing) etc.

Conditions that Acupuncture may be considered as an alternative therapy for:

• Acute and chronic pain control
• Muscle spasms, tremors, tics, contractures
• ‘Pins and needles, tingling from partial nerve damage
• Anxiety, fright, panic
• Drug detoxification
• Burning pain along nerve pathways (trigeminal, herpes zoster,)
• Consequences of stroke syndrome (can’t speak, partial paralysis on one side of body)
• Some gastrointestinal disorders (nausea and vomiting, throat spasm, increased acidity, irritable bowel)
• Headache, vertigo (Meniere disease), tinnitus
• Phantom pain
• Frozen shoulder
• Cervical and lumbar spine syndromes
• Tissue inflammation on sole of foot
• Arthritis/degeneration of  joint articular cartilage
• Bursitis, tendonitis, carpal tunnel syndrome
• Sprains and contusions
• In fractures, assisting in pain control, edema, and enhancing healing process
• Jaw displacement, teeth grinding
• Painful menstruation, pelvic pain
• Anorexia
• Inflammation of sinuses from allergies
• Persistent hiccups
• Some skin disorders (urticaria, pruritus, eczema, psoriasis)
• Constipation, diarrhea
• Urinary incontinence, and retention
• Abdominal distention/flatulence
• Extremely high body temperature
• Anesthesia for high-risk patients or patients with previous adverse responses to anesthetics
  

  Reference – World Health Organisation (1979)

  

What happens during an acupuncture session?
The initial session may be up to 1½ hours long, as a full medical history is taken, prior to the treatment. Subsequent sessions are usually 1 hour long.

The patient generally lies on their back on the treatment table.
The pulses are felt on each of the patient's wrists & tongue diagnosis is made by the practitioner observing the colour and shape of the clients tongue. With these observations and the medical history the acupuncture practitioner can now make a diagnosis and decide which acupuncture points to needle.

The areas to be needled are uncovered and first swabbed with sterilised alcohol swabs. Thin, single-use disposable needles are inserted to a depth of approximately 3-5 mm, the patient usually feeling a mild dull sensation when the needle touches the energy of the point.
Most patients report a pleasurable "tingling" sensation and feeling of relaxation while the needles are in place. The needles are as fine as a hair, and do not resemble a doctor's hypodermic needle.

The needles are generally kept for approx. 45 minutes to 1 hour while the patient rests, and then are removed, however on occasion the needles are inserted and then removed immediately. Wrist pulses are felt again to confirm the effectiveness of the treatment session.

History of Acupuncture
Acupuncture has been practiced in China for at least 5000 years. The Chinese medical text that first describes acupuncture is The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine (History of Acupuncture), which was compiled around 305-204 B.C.
Recent examinations a 5000-year-old mummy, dubbed Otzi, found in the European Alps, have identified over fifty tattoos on his body, some of which are located on acupuncture points that would today be used to treat ailments Otzi suffered from. Some believe that this is evidence that practices similar to acupuncture were practiced elsewhere in Eurasia during the early Bronze Age.