Star Banner
OCALA, FL. May 2, 2000

Pinpointing Pain

Acupuncture said to restore body’s balance

For almost 30 years, Helena Winget has endured severe pain associated with a disease called fibromyalgia. So, when Winget learned about acupuncture at a recent business seminar, she decided to give it a try.

"Every time I would go to the doctor they would give me some pills and when I'd go back to the doctor because the pills didn't work, they'd give me some more pills to try," Winget said. "The pills were zapping everything out of me."

After two months of acupuncture treatments, Winget feels better than she can ever remember.

"Acupuncture is something I would never, in my entire life, think that I would do, because I have an extreme needle phobia," Winget said. "But I feel so much better and have so much more energy. I'm not taking any medications except my blood pressure pills and I think this is one of the best things I have ever done."

The ancient medical art of acupuncture is considered a new alternative medicine, but in reality acupuncture and related treatments have been around for more than 5,000 years. Acupuncture involves the placement of very fine needles in the skin to stimulate physiological, emotional and psychological functions in the mind and body. Shen Nung, the father of Chinese Medicine, theorized that the body has energy running through it. This energy is called qi (pronounced chee) and is the force of all essential life activities including the spiritual, emotional, mental and physical aspects of one's being. Qi travels throughout the body along pathways called meridians. A person's health is influenced by the flow of qi in their body. If that flow is insufficient, unbalanced or interrupted, illness may occur. Acupuncture is said to restore the balance.

Xiao-Dong-Han, licensed acupuncture physician and nationally certified acupuncturist and oriental medicine practitioner, said that acupuncture is all about regulating the energy flow. "Chinese medicine believes that in our bodies we have a lot of channels that flow our energy," Han said. "We have neuropaths that go from head to toe, as well as circulatory, lymphatic, digestive and urotract networks that deliver nutrition and energy throughout the body." If energy flow is blocked it leads to problems of fatigue, pain, discomfort and agitation. This imbalance can lead to sleep problems, headaches, depression, skin problems, arthritis, cardiovascular problems and viral problems. "In the old days we said this was evil qi getting into our systems, making us susceptible to colds, viruses and infections," Han said. "Through acupuncture we boost up the immune system by balancing the energy and making our bodies work well. We can regulate our energy to make our bodies heal faster." Han explained that many times energy is flowing the wrong way and needles are inserted into accupoints, forcing the energy to change directions. Carefully selected techniques are used by the acupuncturist, depending on the ailment. One type of acupuncture that is common today is ear acupuncture. The ear has many acupuncture points which correspond to many parts and organs throughout the body and this type of acupuncture has been successful in treating problems ranging from obesity to alcoholism and drug addiction.

Scientists have no concrete answers about how acupuncture works, but there are a number of prevailing theories. One is that acupuncture somehow boosts the immune system by raising levels of specific hormones, prostaglandins, white blood counts, and overall anti-body levels. Another theory is that acupuncture stimulates secretions of endorphins in the body, as well as certain neurotransmitters such as seratonin and noradrenaline. The circulatory theory suggests that acupuncture has the effect of constricting or dilating blood vessels, causing the body to release vasodilators such as histamine. "A lot of times people think that acupuncture is magic, but it is not," Han said. "Miraculous things happen and acupuncture is a very gentle, natural process, but it can not heal everything." It can not, for example, heal a tumor in the stomach, but it can relieve the pain associated with it. "Some people have cancer and there is nothing I can do to cure it," Han said. "But the acupuncture can help the extreme pain they experience. I see people dying and I know I can't save their lives but I make them feel so much better so they can enjoy the time they have left with their families."

Acupuncture is especially good at helping with muscular problems such as pain in the shoulders, back, neck, ankles, and knees. It is also said to be effective at treating depression and skin disorders. "Acupuncture helps achieve a normal, healthy, physically, mentally and emotionally balanced life," Han said. Many insurance companies are beginning to cover the expense of acupuncture treatments, as they discover the cost effectiveness of acupuncture as a preventative strategy for maintaining health and well being and an effective treatment for many chronic ailments for which Western Medicine has no answers. Treatments range between $45- $65 a visit. "It's good for people to have options and to understand that they don't have to always have surgery to be comfortable," Han said. "They should try acupuncture before that."

Linda Novak, an acupuncturist at Acupuncture Associates in Ocala, said that one must go through a five year training program at an accredited school before becoming a licensed primary care physician of oriental medicine. Like Han, Novak and her partner, J.T. Robinson, are both nationally and state certified.

Novak said that patients seeking acupuncture for the first time should be aware that the first appointment generally takes between two and two and a half hours and includes a full diagnostic intake of a person from birth on. "We look at the whole person -- body, mind and spirit -- what they were like as a child, what were their likes and dislikes, then we go into what they were like emotionally and any physical ailments they may have had," Novak explained. "We do a genetic history and a complete physical. We figure out what is going on and develop a course of treatment for that person."

According to Novak, people used to see an acupuncturist regularly. "Thousands of years ago, if you got sick, your acupuncturist wasn't doing his job," Novak said. "People went to acupuncturists for a normal check up, four times a year, as the seasons changed because when the seasons change the body needs to readjust. The acupuncturist would realign the meridians to make sure that it moved a long with the change of season." Today, however, people in the U.S. usually seek treatment from an acupuncturist after they have exhausted all other avenues of treatment. "By then the process of their disease has gone so far it requires a long process to reverse it," Novak said. "In the western mind, we take a pill and it removes the symptom but does it really deal with the cause that produces the symptom?"

According to Novak, acupuncture has become a more acceptable form of treatment since the World Health Organization recognized its many benefits. "Western medicine is a wonderful tool, but because of the diagnostic tools they depend on, they sometimes miss something," Novak said "We are dealing more with body, mind and spirit by touching people, by letting the body read to us without any mediator in between."

Novak said that different people have different reactions to being stuck by needles. "Some people find it relaxing, some people find it soothing and some people find it painful when you hit the qi," Novak said. "But the pain is very minimal and it's quick because the needles are in and out." But for patients like Winget, getting stuck with a few needles is nothing compared to the constant pain they lived with before the treatment. "Acupuncture is like the difference between night and day and everybody notices how much more relaxed I am," Winget said. "I assume that since I no longer have the stiffness and the pain, I can be more relaxed."

By Angela Jewell Staff Writer

Reprinted with permission

© Copyright 2000 Starbanner.com

Next