Acupuncture is one of the oldest and most commonly used forms of medical therapy in the world. The medical theories associated with acupuncture originated in China about 3,000 B.C.. It is now used widely in Europe as well as the Orient although it is still relatively uncommon in the United States. The World Health Organization has approved acupuncture as an effective form of therapy, and now the National Institute of Health, prestigious universities, and many professional organizations are encouraging research on Acupuncture. Dr. Rotchford was active on the Medical Acupuncture Research Foundation's board and is editor of www.Acubrief.com, a site dedicated to the timely distribution of acupuncture research information.
Acupuncture is based on the Chinese definition of health that associates health with a state in which adequate amounts of energy (Chi) flow in a balanced fashion through and around the body. Illness, then, indicates a breakdown in this balanced flow of energy, brought on either by outside factors (e.g., a virus or an injury) or as the result of longstanding internal imbalances that translate themselves into observable structural or functional abnormalities (e.g., back pain, or heart palpitations). For example, a practitioner of Western medicine would approach a case of a stiff, painful back by looking at physical structures--bones out of place, unequal leg lengths, pinched nerves, arthritis, etc. The medical acupuncturist would also examine the structural problems but would consider that these abnormalities may primarily be the result of an imbalance in the electrical fields in and around the body. Western theories abound about how acupuncture might work. Clearly acupuncture effects levels of endorphins in the brain and spinal cord. Some other physiological effects of acupuncture have been measured scientifically. For me the bottom line is that I don't understand the mechanism. If I could understand why any portion of a hologram interference pattern includes the total image of the hologram, I think I would be closer to understanding how acupuncture works.