QUESTIONS ABOUT ACUPUNCTURE
What is acupuncture?
Acupuncture is a form of Chinese medicine that involves puncturing the skin with fine needles. The objective is to change the flow of energy within a person’s body, thereby changing their health. Classical Chinese Medicine acknowledges the connection between one’s mind and spirit with the state of one’s body; as the physical energy of a person shifts through acupuncture, so, too, do the mental and spiritual states.
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Both the National Institutes for Health and The World Health Organization recognize Traditional Chinese Medicine’s ability to treat a host of commonly occurring conditions. These include:
Addictions (alcohol, nicotine, other drugs) |
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Allergies/Asthma | Infertility |
Anemia | Insomnia |
Anxiety/Depression | Knee pain |
Arthritis/Joint problems | Neck and Shoulder pain |
Back pain | Numbness/Poor circulation |
Bladder/Kidney problems | Sciatica |
Common colds/Flu | Sinusitis |
Constipation/diarrhea | Sexual dysfunction/ Impotence |
Cough/Bronchitis | Skin problems |
Fatigue | Stress/Tension |
Gastritis | Tendonitis |
Headache/Migraines | TMJ |
High blood pressure | Ulcers/indigestion |
Immune system deficiency |
Meridians are pathways of energy that run through different anatomical layers of the body. These layers include the muscles and sinews (the superficial level), blood and vessels (the moderate level), as well as bone and marrow (the deepest level). Some meridians travel distances as long as from the head to the feet, while others may be as short as a few inches. While each line may be described independently and drawn two-dimensionally, in fact, these are three-dimensional vessels of energy; moreover, many schools of Classical Chinese medicine accept that they are interconnected.
“Meridians are simply roadmaps. They deal with the highways of life, and included in that highway is the way in which we are conducting our lives, in a physiological, as well as pathological fashion.”
--Jeffrey Yuen
Acupuncture is based on the premise of meridian movement, as well as the idea that energy pools in particular locations, or points. When the energy within meridians is obstructed, a result may be pain, or disease; by needling these obstructed points, one may change a person’s condition.
Why Classical Chinese Medicine?
Classical Chinese Medicine is a school of thought that is rooted in medical classics such as a the Nei Jing, Nan Jing and Shang Han Lun, all of which date to roughly 2,000 years ago. Classical Chinese Medicine recognizes seventy-four meridians, more than other schools of thought, such as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). Moreover, because of this thorough access to the body, unlike TCM, it is a stand-alone modality that does not depend upon herbs to be effective.
How do I choose an acupuncturist?
Your acupuncturist should be a licensed practitioner in the state in which you seek treatment. The difference between licensed and certified practitioners is a considerable amount of education.
In the state of NY, licensed acupuncturists are required by law to complete three years of schooling at an approved acupuncture school, including a year of internship; they also must pass the national certification examination offered by the NCCAOM. In contrast, certified acupuncturists are merely medical doctors who have attended 300 hours’ worth of classes, without any testing or practical training. In order to truly get the intended benefits of acupuncture, it therefore is very important that your practitioner be licensed, not just certified.
Upon graduation, including the Continuing Education classes that Janine Ptaszek has taken, she will have had about 2,000 hours of training. She also passed the NCCAOM board examinations, and is licensed to practice acupuncture in the state of New York.
