What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a technique of inserting and manipulating fine needles into specific points on the body with the purpose of balancing the body to treat and prevent diseases, along with relieving pain.   The acupuncture points lie along meridians which Qi flows.

Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is a comprehensive system of natural health care.  It includes acupuncture, herbal medicine, dietary therapy, meditation and physical exercise.

Although Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) is based on the treatment of "patterns of disharmony" rather than biomedical diagnoses, practitioners are familiar with both Chinese and western medicine systems.

A given TCM pattern of disharmony may be reflected in a certain range of biomedical diagnoses: thus, the pattern called Liver Qi stagnation could manifest as irregular menstrual periods, stomach pain, and mood swings. Likewise, a population of patients with a given biomedical diagnosis may have varying TCM patterns. For example, a headache could be TCM patterns of Spleen Qi deficiency or Liver Yang rising. These observations are encapsulated in the TCM belief: "One disease, many patterns; one pattern, many diseases".
 
Acupuncture regulates and restores the harmonious energetic balance of the body. The meridians can be influenced by needling the acupuncture points; the acupuncture needles unblock the obstructions at the dams, and reestablish the regular flow through the meridians.   This idea is expressed in the TCM statement: “there is no pain if there is free flow; if the is pain, there is no free flow.”

According to the theory, acupuncture allows Qi to flow in area where it is deficient and away where it is excess.  Acupuncture treatments can therefore help the body's internal organs to correct imbalances in their digestion, absorption, and energy production activities, and in the circulation of their energy through the meridians.
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