THE PRACTICE OF TRADITIONAL CHINESE
ACUPUNCTURE
The well trained Acupuncturist treats the whole patient - body, mind, and spirit.
They seek the cause of the disease not only with the symptoms, but also with
the reason for the disease. After identifying the cause, they will provide the
proper treatment to renew, vitalize, and bring the patient body to their optimal
balance. A person may become ill in body and/or mind through internal or
external factors. Internally, a person may be affected by constitutional or
hereditary factors, as well as excesses in emotions such as grief, fear, anxiety,
worry, anger, or joy. Externally, one may be subjected to environmental changes
such as cold, heat, dryness, humidity, dampness, wind, and fire. However, if the
body subjected to excessive and prolonged periods of any of the above factors,
the energy may become affected, causing symptoms to appear. Our
susceptibility to becoming ill varies greatly. A healthy person may be unaffected
by a factor that would cause severe sickness in one who is less resistant. The
greater the individual's imbalance, the less the life force is able to prevent disease.
Using four basic methods - to see, to hear, to ask, and to feel - the
acupuncturist gathers information about the patient The acupuncturist relies on
information such as color of the face, sound of the voice, odor, predominant
emotions, and quality of the pulses, and tounge diagnosis. Of particular interest
is the diagnostic use of the pulses. The traditional acupuncturist observed that
any disease, whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual, produces
physiological effects which are revealed in the pulses, often before the symptoms
manifest outwardly.
You have just read ways in which acupuncture can make a positive contribution
to the prevention of illness.
1. By traditional diagnosis -assessing the imbalance early. Before it is
manifest pathologically,
2. By treatment - correcting the imbalance at the cause and preventing
the disease from going deeper; and
3. By teaching - presenting guidelines for proper living to aid the
patients in taking responsibility for their own health and well-being.
For preventive medicine of this type to be effective, the patient must see the
doctor at regular intervals. We suggest a check at each change of season to
maintain a high level of general health.
Acupuncture sees health as more than the absence of disease - it sees health
as a feeling of well being and abundant physical and mental energy.
To the acupuncture physician disease is a manifestation of a disturbance in the
body's balance of lift energy called Qi ( "Chi") The goal of acupuncture is to bring
this energy back into balance by acting upon the flow of energy within the body
by using specific acupuncture points to restore equilibrium (homeostasis) to the
bodies system.
The concept of preventive medicine is also well known in Argentina and is slowly
become more popular in the United States. However, the prevention of disease
in China has always been of the greatest importance. In fact, the Chinese people
considered their doctors poor ones if they failed to keep the people well. The
doctor of acupuncture can play a significant role in the prevention of disease.
When our bodies become out of balance, there are signs always present. The
well trained acupuncturist can detect the imbalance in its early stages and correct
it before it can manifest as physical illness.
We have been speaking of acupuncture as preventive medicine. Unless the
patient, however, takes responsibility for his or her own health, all healing
systems will fail. The patient must understand how their illness came about and
take necessary steps to prevent its return. Each of us must realize that we
actively participate in creating health or illness. In recent years, people readily go
to their doctors expecting the doctors to make them well. A better direction is to
work in cooperation with the doctors and seek their guidance on how to keep
yourself well!