National Institutes of Health Research
Source: The Herald News
http://www.theherald-news.com/2015/12/09/whats-the-point-of-acupuncture/at1kk15/
Addiction, headaches, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, infertility, asthma, dental pain, and more ailments are being treated with acupuncture, reports WebMD:
“Recent advances in technology have helped unlock the biological mysteries of this 2,000-year-old medical practice. Researchers are closer to understanding how an acupuncture needle can subtly adjust the body’s tissues, nerves, and hormones. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the World Health Organization have both given formal approval of certain uses of acupuncture.”
Doctors at Ostir Physical Medicine, based in Joliet, offer acupuncture to help patients suffering from lower back pain and carpal tunnel syndrome.
They explain, “Traditional Chinese acupuncture is based on the idea that energy flows through the body in 12 pathways, reaching every tissue in the body. Very thin, solid, sterile needles are inserted in the skin, and used to cause an effect on certain points along the pathways that correlate to certain ailments, or parts of the body. The acupuncture needles can stimulate, re-route, or release any built-up energy.
“Inserting needles into the acupuncture points stimulate the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord, and brain, to increase blood flow to the affected areas. These chemicals can either change the experience of pain, or trigger the release of other chemicals and hormones which influence the body’s own internal regulating systems.”
WebMD cites research that’s hailed as “the largest, longest, and most rigorous study of acupuncture” which confirmed that acupuncture “reduces pain and improves function and movement among patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.”
An NIH study focusing on carpal tunnel syndrome concludes that “short-term acupuncture treatment is as effective as short-term low-dose prednisone for mild to moderate cases.”
The NIH adds that acupuncture has advantages over other treatment options relying solely on pain-relieving drugs, which may have greater side effects.
