Table of contentsThe benefits of acupunctureAcupuncture and its placebo effectThe risks of acupunctureConclusionOver the centuries, the miraculous results and he captivating ideology surrounding the practice of acupuncture has fascinated the world. Classified as part of complementary and alternative medicine (treatments or practices that are not part of a country's traditional healthcare system), this therapy is generally recognized to have originated in China around 3,000 years ago and was used to treat conditions and relieve pain. Since. Over the past century, as interest in acupuncture has grown outside of China, its level of integration into the broader health systems of other countries has also increased. During this wave of integration, we should ask ourselves: How valid is the use of acupuncture for improving physical and mental well-being? Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay Acupuncture was developed alongside Qi; a concept considered one of the “roots” of traditional Chinese medicine. Qi (pronounced chee) can be directly translated as "vital energy" and is believed to flow through the human body through pathways called meridians. In accordance with these principles, the imbalance of Yin and Yang (the two opposing aspects of Qi) can lead to a shift in a person's Qi, resulting in illness. Acupuncture was a therapy developed to correct the imbalance of Ying and Yang, restore a person's Qi and return them to good health. During an acupuncture therapy session, thin needles are inserted through the skin to specific acupuncture points in the connective tissue or muscles of the body. The majority of the effects of acupuncture treatment are explainable. It has been explained that pain relief is due to the acupuncture needles stimulating the A-delta fibers which then enter the gray matter of the dorsal horn and cause inhibition of the slower unmyelinated C fibers (the fibers crossed by the painful impulses). Another cause of pain relief through therapy is the activation of enkephalin in interneurons, which results in the inhibition of pain impulses traveling to the brain. Acupuncture can also cause the brain to produce endogenous endorphins and opioids, which also results in pain relief for the patient. Although all of these points can be used to explain some effects of therapy, there is no clear explanation for some other effects. This includes the effects that acupuncture can have on the internal organs of the body and the effects of ear acupuncture; acupuncture of the outer ear which results in relief of symptoms caused by allergies and relief of symptoms caused by disorders of the endocrine system. The Benefits of Acupuncture Different acupuncture practitioners practicing different forms of acupuncture around the world claim that the therapy is capable of helping with a wide range of conditions. Although the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends therapy only for chronic tension symptoms such as migraines, in the West the therapy is also commonly used for conditions such as: osteoarthritis, epicondylitis and fibromyalgia, as well as for common conditions. experienced symptoms such as nausea/vomiting. Besides the physical conditions mentioned above, a large number of patients usingAlternative medicines, including acupuncture, do so following symptoms related to mental disorders such as insomnia. In 1998, it was recorded that in the UK and USA, 25.3% of patients using CAM therapies suffered from at least one anxiety disorder. Acupuncture has specifically been associated with generating a calming effect, leading patients with anxiety disorders and minor depression to experience a reduction in their symptoms. Because of the interest in the therapy across such a wide range of conditions, there has been an increase in interest in research into whether acupuncture can actually relieve pain or decrease a patient's symptoms across the board. range of conditions for which it is used. Interestingly, in the West, only a quarter of doctors recommend the therapy and refer patients to acupuncture practitioners because of it. Skepticism is still widespread within the medical community. Therefore, patients who use acupuncture are most often self-referral (39%). Skepticism within the Western medical community is likely due to the difficulty of proving the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy. Most of the common uses of acupuncture in the US and UK, mentioned above, have been proven by several hundred randomized trials (RCTs) as well as controlled clinical trials (CCTs) to have benefits. effects that are not caused by a placebo effect. However, the same cannot be said for all conditions. According to a national survey conducted in the United Kingdom in 2006, the most common reason patients sought symptom relief through acupuncture was musculoskeletal problems. While some musculoskeletal symptoms may be relieved with therapy, for example: back pain, which has 25 RCTs indicating that acupuncture is effective, some studies on musculoskeletal conditions indicate that acupuncture is not effective in this area. Osteoarthritis has been the subject of 10 RCTs and 2 CCTs to determine therapeutic effectiveness and reviews of the results of these studies indicate that acupuncture is not effective in relieving associated pain. Reviews of neck (14 RCTs) and shoulder (9 RCTs) pain trials also show that acupuncture is ineffective in relieving pain. However, for certain conditions, study results bode well; fibromyalgia (3 RCTs and 4 cohort studies), dental pain (16 CCTs) and nausea/vomiting (26 RCTs) all demonstrate the effectiveness of the therapy. Psychological disorders were the second most likely reason for using acupuncture in the UK (11%), and clinical trials investigating the therapy's effectiveness in this area are generally promising. Studies on psychological symptoms such as insomnia have been reviewed and concluded that acupuncture can effectively increase sleep quality and latency. In 2003, an interesting RCT comparing the effect of acupuncture and the effect of medications on decreasing clinical symptoms in patients with anxiety neurosis found that a similar percentage of patients had attenuated symptoms with acupuncture. acupuncture than with medications (94.3% acupuncture, 96.4% medications). Although this study shows favorable results, it is worth mentioning that although it involved randomization of patients into the two comparable groups, it did not involve blinding of patients or blinding of evaluators. Clinical trials that show acupuncture is not effective.