Oriental Medicine – Traditional Chinese Medicine – Introduction to acupuncture. Principles and Effects of acupuncture – Needles and how to use them.
Various types are available, but the main distinction is between those with metal handles (wound with wire) and those with plastic handles. For most purposes Japanese Seirin needles, with plastic handles, are the best of those currently available, but metal handles are required if you wish to use electrical stimulation. The ‘business part’ of the …
‘Memory’ in this context does not refer to the conscious recollection of painful events, but to the persistence of functional and possibly structural changes in the central nervous system as a result of injury to distant parts of the body. To most patients, and many doctors, to suggest that pain can persist without a ’cause’ …
The classical texts list hundreds of acupuncture points, but in practice far fewer were used. The modern acupuncturist can conveniently cut the list down still further, to include only those which are used frequently and whose locations should therefore be known by heart. One possible list is as follows: CV 17: In the middle of …
Needling sites: – Tips of spinous processes – Interspinous ligament – Paraspinal muscles – Pain in chest wall (also local needling) Pain in the thoracic spine is sometimes harder to help than pain in other parts of the back. Some patients have Type B pain localized to the spines of the thoracic vertebrae and in …
The knee is one of the best joints to treat with acupuncture; results are generally very good. Needling Sites: Sp 9 (Area over tibia, where bone is nearest to surface. Needling is periosteal.) Indication: – pain in knee of almost any type, not obviously referred from elsewhere. Lateral knee area – over tendon of insertion …
A fair amount of research in acupuncture has appeared, much of it of rather dubious quality. There are certain intrinsic difficulties confronting anyone who wants to do clinical research of this kind, much of it centred on the choice of a suitable control procedure. To the mildly interested onlooker with no particular interest in acupuncture …
Some acupuncturists have become enthusiastic about using low-power lasers to stimulate acupuncture points. The origins of this idea are unclear but the appeal is evident, since the treatment is pain-free therefore suitable for children or people who are afraid of acupuncture and also because there is no risk of infection. However the relevance of this …
The application of electricity to needles was a Chinese innovation. It is usually done by attaching crocodile clips to the needles; obviously at least two needles must be inserted, unless a neutral electrode is used. Often several pairs of needles are inserted. Direct current is unsuitable because it causes an electrochemical effect which weakens the …
Cancer Acupuncture has been used to treat pain in cancer sufferers with a good deal of success; Dr J Filshie, an anaesthetist at the Royal Marsden Hospital, has published several papers on this. Experience at RLHH has also been good. Patients may require quite frequent treatment and the intervals tend to get shorter as the …