The ancient Chinese art of acupuncture

The ancient Chinese art of acupuncture

The first book on acupuncture was written in China about 4,500 years ago. Since then, there have been very few changes in the way it is used. And today acupunctureis being used more and more, all over the world, as a

operations.

treatment for illness and as a local anaesthetic in needles, which may be from 3 to 24 cm long, are placed

in the patient's body. The needles are usually made of steel, and they may be hot or cold. Sometimes a very small

clectric current is passed through the needle. Each needle is placed in one of 800 different points around the body.

For different purposes, different points are used.But the points used are not in the places where the treatment is needed! In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture is based on the principles of yin (the passive female principle) and yang (the active male principle). Allaround the body there are yin-yang lines along which energy can move like electricity. If the yin-yang lines are blocked in one part of the body, then yin and yang will be unequal in another part, and illness is the result. The acupuncturist's needles, they believe, can unblock the yin-yang lines so that energy can move freely again. Perhaps you don't think this is very scientific. But important operations are often performed in China and in other countries too, now with acupuncture as the only

form of anaesthetic. For example, a patient has a cancer in his stomach and it must be taken out. Needles are placed in the patient's hands and he is fully conscious all through the operation. The stomach is opened and the cancer taken out by the Chinese

 doctors. The patient doesn't seem to have any pain. Operations like this have been observed many times by foreign doctors and in 1986 were already being performed in Morocco

Acupuncture is not yet understood by modern medicine, but a scientific explanation may be possible. When a local anaesthetic is given in the normal way, the nerves are blocked in that part of the body. Chemicals which can act as local anaesthetics(e.g.cocaine)

 are able to block the nerves in this way. Some scientist think that when needles are put in at certain places, the body produces some of these anaesthetic chemicals, which then block the  nerves near them.