Traditional Chinese Medicine 101: What is Acupuncture?

The acupoints can have the power to govern or connect with a body part it’s not even close too.

If you’ve had acupuncture before, you may have wondered “Why is my acupuncturist putting a needle in my foot when my back hurts? Needling a specific acupoint can invigorate the entire meridian, which can access areas of the body that aren’t in the region of the needle.

 Acupuncture points along a meridian can manipulate the flow of Qi; they are anatomically specific, have a physiological function along with an energetic or spiritual application. This can be done via acupressure where gentle force is applied to the point with the hand, fingers or a tool. Or more commonly with acupuncture, whereby a slender needle is inserted into a point puncturing the skin.

 Having a comprehensive and thorough knowledge of the meridian network, the nature of each point and how these relate to human physiology is crucial to practice acupuncture with clinical success. Practitioners also have to understand the underlying principles of this medicine along with training ourselves to become experts with the needles; it’s never a guessing game, but an approach steeped with intention and safety in mind.

 Acupuncture needles are not like those you would have experienced when being immunized or having a blood test administered

There is a key difference in the actual structure. Needles that inject things in or suck fluids out are called bore needles. These needles can be more painful because they go deeper into your body to ensure the vaccine goes into your blood stream or can take a sample of blood out as they puncture the skin. Acupuncture needles are also inserted into the body, but not as deeply and they are known as filiform needles as they are completely solid and not hollow like the bores. They’re also much thinner in terms of gage.

 I often get asked, ‘does acupuncture hurt’? It really depends on where you’re getting needled as some areas are more sensitive than others like the soles of the feet or what you’re getting needled for like a muscular spasm in the neck.

Clinically, I have had patients remark that they found it painless, while others felt a very strong sense of stimulation at certain points. I myself have been needled by various practitioners and I’ve also experienced a mixture of both. I think it’s important to find an acupuncturist that has a style of needling that is right for you. Just how some people dislike deep tissue massage, while others crave it, I feel the same goes for acupuncture.

Here are some common experiences people have felt during acupuncture:

 o   Warmth at the site

o   A radiating sensation

o   Feeling of heaviness

o   Itchiness

 I’ve also had patients exclaim that they’ve notice that when one point is needled, a previously needled point is suddenly activated, becoming more aware of them. All of these sensations are known as Da Qi, or ‘Big Qi’. Acupuncturists are purposefully inserting a needle to change the polarity of Qi at a particular acupoint to bring about physiological healing.

 The life force is moving, the body is rebalancing in the hope of achieving homeostasis.

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