In Chinese Medicine, chi is known to travel on pathways in the body called meridians or energy channels. Acupuncture can be used to stimulate various points along these meridians to keep the energy flowing or to unblock the flow when something occurs to reduce its flow. The unblocking of a meridian can go a long way to restore good health to a person suffering from some malady.

In conjunction with Acupuncture, or at times when Acupuncture is either not readily available or used, there are some excellent lifestyle considerations and actions that can help to promote the healthy flow of chi. A good, solid energy foundation can be enhanced and life energy boosted by following these good lifestyle practices.

m A healthy, balanced diet is very good for promoting the proper flow of chi. Vegetables, fruits and nuts will be an important component, but meats, fish and fowl are also encouraged. Some excellent chi-fortifying foods include brown rice, carrots, onions, chicken, fish, lamb, potatoes and eggs. Herbs are also important includ­ing ginseng, nutmeg and china root. Mainly, it’s important to choose natural foods with no chemical addi­tives. Consistency in food intake is also considered important with the warning to avoid both over- and under-eating.

• Breath is an vital part of life and breathing deeply brings in more oxygen and activates chi.
• Believe it or not, bright colors in a person’s life are also excellent for chi enhancement. This includes the wearing of bright colored clothing and having colorful flowers in the environment.
• Items and activities known to be “chi robbers” should be avoided. These would include spending too much time in crowed areas, watching an excessive amount of television, talking too much or having too many negative emotions. On the other hand, pleasant and spontaneous activities that a person enjoys are known to enhance the flow of chi.

Keep the energy flowing with Acupuncture together with a healthy lifestyle that enhances chi. And, just as an acupuncturist will tailor an Acupuncture program specific to a person’s needs, so can the acupuncturist be a source of lifestyle, diet and herb suggestions specific to good health and the proper flow of chi energy through the meridi­ans of your body.

Source: Acupuncture.com. “Boost Your Chi Naturally.”
September 2008 http://www.acupuncture.cominewsletters/m_sept08/boost%20chi.htm
and “Secrets of Longevity.” http://acupuncture.cominewsletters/m_aug03/mainl.htm

Researchers in the Department of Health Sciences at the University of York, England were curious as well. In addition to wanting to know, they also wanted to find out if people’s reasons had changed from a similar query back in 1988. The information assembled came from a survey of 9,408 British Acupuncture patients. Some of the demographics, reasons for treatment and who paid for the office visits are quite interesting.

The first finding of the study is that women are more likely to visit an Acupuncturist than men – 74 percent of the patients were women. Their average age was 51 years, and 87 percent of the patients had received Acupuncture at least once before. Of note is that 95 percent paid for treatment out of their own pocket.

The most common problem reported, with relief for symptoms being sought, was for muscu­loskeletal issues at 38 percent. This was followed by psychological concerns at 11 percent, general (unspecified) at 9 percent, neurological problems at 8 percent, and gynecological/obstetric prob­lems at 8 percent. An additional 5 percent of the patients said they were seeking treatment for their own “general well-being.”

As for what prompted them to become an Acupuncture patient, a self-referral was most com­mon with 39 percent of the visits falling into this category. However, 78 percent of the patients surveyed said they had discussed their problems or symptoms with a doctor.

The study results compared to 1988 were quite limited, but researchers did point out that the number of people seeking help for musculo skeletal problems had dropped significantly. To the researchers, this indicated a wider case mix (a greater variety of reasons for people seeking treat­ment) than among patients from 20 years ago.

Acupuncture brings over 5,000 years of help and treatment knowledge to bear on numerous conditions. Help can be only a single treatment away or achieved through a series of visits over a specified time period. Solutions are drug-free and generally quite painless. Whatever the symp­toms, there is a good chance there is a solution waiting with a visit to an acupuncturist.

Source: Chiro.org. “Patients Seeking Care from Acupuncture Practitioners in the UK: A National Survey.” March 2006.
http://www.chiro.org/acupuncture/ABSTRACTS/Patients_Seeking_Care.shtml

Here is a case report of one person who experienced relief from an RLS treatment. Her name is Sylvette Hickey, and she works in the medical profession as a Registered Nurse. This report is about her success with Acupuncture.

Her account begins by stating that she’d been having on-going problems with RLS for several years. Uncomfortable feelings in her legs at night were the first symptoms she noticed. She said that the condition became so painful that it was impeding her sleep.

“I remember trying to sleep with my legs propped up along the wall. Sleeping in a sit­ting position was another of my ‘poses.’ When neither worked, I would pound on my legs with my fists to try to alleviate the discomfort,” she reported. Over-the-counter medica­tions like Advil^® and Tylenol^® were also used frequently.

It was at this point, looking for solutions, that she turned to Acupuncture.

Actually, Ms. Hickey was already receiving some Acupuncture to help her with back pain. She was very satisfied with how these treatments had been significantly helping her back.

“I asked Steve (my acupuncturist) if treatments could help my condition (RLS), and he suggested I try a few sessions. Imagine my utter shock when after the first treatment I slept like a baby,” she said.

Her success with sleep continued following her treatments. For one year after she said that her RLS remained under control. Now, she gets an occasional treatment if it ever flares up again. In the meantime, she has also continued to educate herself about RLS and the effects of the disorder.

“Anyone who suffers from RLS should see an acupuncturist…give it a try,” she says.

Source: Acupuncture.com. Case History. www.acupuncture.com/testimonials/r1s.htm

Here are several cases in point of people who have been helped by Acupuncture after they endured a condition for years, even decades.

Linda had been suffering from severe headaches for the past 25 years. The cause of her condition was isolated to food and inhaled allergies. After trying numerous remedies, her life changed within just several weeks when she began Acupuncture treatments. “I’m happy to say that after only 3 treat­ments my headaches are almost gone, and I feel happier and I have a better outlook on life.”

Jim Curran didn’t wait 3 years, just 1 year before he visited an acupuncturist to seek help for recurring ear infections. Before Acupuncture, his typical trip to a doctor would include having his ear drained and paying $75 for medications. While this was occurring, his hearing in the ear was getting worse. That’s when a friend suggested Acupuncture. Jim admits that little happened during his first three visits. “On the fourth treatment, there was a burning sensation in the ear. It felt like it was on fire. I heard a little pop and from that day forward I have never gotten the ear infection back and my hearing has almost returned to normal.” He is definitely convinced that Acupuncture works.

Rebecca had been suffering from excruciating dry eyes and insomnia for 3 years. She said she never felt rested as she could never fall into a deep sleep. Her dry eyes were so painful that she said she literally had to peel her eyelids off of her eyes. Countless visits to doctors and even a dietician pro­duced no help. Finally, her last resort was Acupuncture.

Help for Rebecca was not instant, but after 3 visits she had such trust in her acupuncturist that
she was determined to continue. “I kept going for treatment mainly because she was the only person
who acknowledged I wasn’t well. But, to my amazement, after 14 treatments I got better overnight. I
was amazed that the insomnia, dry eyes and a host of other symptoms disappeared at the same time.”
Rebecca says that she has been well for a year, and that she has now become an Acupuncture student.

Acupuncture has been known to help people with all sorts of bodily conditions. Many of these people, like the ones here, had pretty much given up hope that any help could be found for what was plaguing them. And, frequently, in Western culture, many people try lots of other remedies first.

One day in the near future, as more and more folks find out that Acupuncture does indeed work, people may seek out an acupuncturist first and save a great deal of time and money on the way to bet­ter health.

Source: Acupuncture.com. Testimonials. http://www.acupuncture.com/testimonials/allergy3.htm and
http://www.acupuncture.com/testimonials/earinfection.htm and http://www.acupuncture.com/testimonials/dryeyes.htm

The study involved teaching students to self-administer Acupressure to a variety of body points on their legs, feet, hands and heads. Some of these points were known to cause more stimulation, others greater relaxation. A total of 39 students in a 3-day On Job/On Campus pro­gram took part in the study. The results were published in the Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine.

“Our findings suggested that Acupressure can change alertness in people who are in class­room settings for a full day which could be very good news for students who have trouble stay­ing alert at school.” This comment comes from the director of the study, Dr. Richard E. Harris, Ph.D., in the Dept. of Internal Medicine and a researcher with the U-M Health System’s Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center.

The 39 students were taught to self-apply Acupressure regimens on either 5 stimulation points or 5 relaxation points. Techniques consisted of light tapping with the fingers and massag­ing with thumbs or forefingers. On day one, the first group self-administered Acupressure to the stimulation points followed by the relaxation points on days 2 and 3. The second group used relaxation points the first day and stimulation points on days 2 and 3. The Acupressure was administered mid-day during the student lunch period. Students rated their level of sleepiness in the morning, afternoon and after class using the Stanford Sleepiness Scale (SSS) for evaluation. (The SSS is a self-measurement tool for assessing sleepiness on an 8-point rating from wide awake to fast asleep.)

In each case, the stimulation group had significantly less fatigue than the other group and this has interesting implications for future studies, said Dr. Harris, who himself is a trained acupuncturist. “The study showed that a stimulation Acupressure regimen leads to a statistically significant reduction in sleepiness compared to an Acupressure treatment that focuses on relax­ation,” he said.

“The idea that Acupressure can have effects on human alertness needs more study, includ­ing research that can examine the scope of influence Acupressure can have on alertness and fatigue,” said Dr. Harris. That research can have an impact on performance in the classroom and in other areas of life where a high state of alertness is mandatory or desirable.

Source: University of Michigan, September 2005. http://www.med.umich.edu/opm/newspage/2005/acupressure.htm

In one such case, Rebecca had been suffering the condition for 3 years. The dry eye pain was described as excruciating during the day and caused problems with her sleep as well. At times, her eyes were so dry she literally had to peel her eyelids off her eyes, she said. Numerous trips to doc­tors and one to a dietitian produced no results. She decided as a last resort to try Acupuncture.

Even though the initial treatments showed no marked results, she decided to continue with her program because of confidence in the acupuncturist. After 14 treatments that included Chinese herbs as well, her condition literally improved overnight. All of her symptoms disappeared and have been gone for over a year.

That Acupuncture improves dry eye syndrome was the focus of a recent study conducted at the China Medical University in Taiwan. A group of 43 dry eye syndrome patients were divided into a control group, a second group that received Acupuncture and a third group that received SSP elec­tro-therapy. (SSP is Silver Spike Point low frequency electro-therapy, also known as Needle Free Acupuncture.)

All of the participants first received an artificial tears treatment. The Acupuncture and the SSP groups then each received two 20-minute treatments of Acupuncture or SSP. Several different measurement tools were used to determine tear production including the Schirmer’s test where strips of paper are inserted into the eye for several minutes to measure the production of tears.

A variety of test results showed that both Acupuncture and the SSP electro-therapy treatments brought positive results. After just 4 weeks of treatment, both the Acupuncture and SSP groups showed improvements over the control group. Tearing in both eyes had improved during this time.

After 8 weeks of treatment, both of these groups continued to show improvement over the con­trol group. Overall, the Acupuncture group showed the greatest improvement in reducing the symptoms of dry eye syndrome. Interestingly, the SSP group showed the greatest overall improve­ment in the reduced need for artificial tear application.

Rebecca, in the case study first reported in this story was so pleased with the results of her treatment that she embarked upon a study of Acupuncture. How’s that for a true convert!

Source: Acupuncture.com, http://www.acupuncture.com/testimonials/Myeyes.htm and http://www.acupuncture.cominewsletters/m_apr06/res.htm#2 2006.

Persons who suffered from sciatica pain and who had been diagnosed with a bulging disc con­dition in their back were the subject of the study. The purpose of the investigation was to deter­mine if invasive surgery provided any better long-term results to the victim than simply giving the condition time to heal on its own.

A total of 472 sciatica sufferers with an average age of 42 were assigned to one of two test groups. The first group was to receive surgery for the bulging disc. The second group’s proce­dure was called “watchful waiting.” This second group received a variety of education, physical therapy and painkillers.

The progress of the patients in each group was followed for the next 2 years. At that point, comparisons were drawn between the surgical group and those who were involved in the actions of “watchful waiting.”

Interestingly, the study showed that patients who had been diagnosed with herniated disks cre­ating sciatica had “no clear-cut reason to choose an operation over other treatment,” according to the researchers. Patients who suffered from these problems showed significant improvement over the course of 2 years time regardless of whether they had back surgery or adopted the wait and see attitude.

Dr. James Weinstein of Dartmouth Medical School was the lead author of the study. He sug­gested that based on the findings of this study, patients should rely on their own desires in deci­sion-making. “If you don’t want the risk of surgery, you can do watchful waiting,” he said.

The article was published in the November 2006 issue of the Journal of the American Medical Association. It noted that approximately 250,000 Americans go under the knife for herniated disks annually. The average cost of the surgery, which is often done on an outpatient basis is about $6,000.

Patients with this condition would certainly be well advised to obtain a number of profession­al opinions, beginning with their chiropractor, or acupuncturist well in advance of considering the more radical surgical option. Why subject yourself to surgery when taking a long-term wait and see attitude, coupled with therapy and natural healthcare could provide equal or maybe even better results?

Source: Chiropractic Research 2006 http://www.chiropracticresearch.org

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is one such blockage problem that can be successfully treated with Acupuncture. Whether a person subscribes to a Western definition of Acupuncture helping due to a release of endorphins in the brain, or the Eastern thinking that has Qi now flowing freely through the body’s meridians – what’s most important is that Acupuncture helps the condition.

CFS is characterized by debilitating fatigue, plus flu-like symptoms such as sore throat, swollen lymph glands, fever, headaches and muscle pain. While a Western medicine approach would likely include medications for the problem, a Chinese medicine and Acupuncture approach would be quite different.

“A typical diagnosis for CFS would involve kidney-adrenal exhaustion, spleen-stomach diges-tion deficiency, liver stagnation and blockage,” says Dr. Maoshing Ni, a Doctor of Oriental Medicine who’s used Acupuncture in his treatments since 1985. Mainly, I think we’re looking at the over-taxation of one’s vital energy resources. Treatment with Chinese medicine would involve trying to resolve those issues.” Diet changes and Acupuncture would both be uses.

Now, for those who don’t have access to an acupuncturist, Dr. Ni has several self-help sugges-tions for persons suffering from fatigue. He suggests 3 separate Acupressure points where a person can do some “self-administered” treatment applying a little bit of pressure for several minutes a day.

Stomach point #36 improves immune function. It is located in the outside of the leg about 3 inches below the bottom of the knee cap. Feel for the outside head of the shin bone and apply steady pressure for about 1 minute, just hard enough to feel a bit of tenderness.

Kidney point #3 fortifies the kidney-adrenal system. This is very important says Dr. Ni as peo¬ple with CFS have kidney and adrenal systems that are virtually exhausted. The point is located in the inside back of the ankle between the Achilles tendon and the ankle bone. Again, apply pressure for 1 minute.

Large Intestine #4 relieves pain, plus fights bacterial, fungal and microbial problems, too. It’s located in the web of the hand between the thumb and the index finger. To find it, make an “OK” sign and feel for a back of the hand muscle bump. Press there for 1 minute.

“Not everyone has access to Acupuncture, but certainly they have a finger they can use,” Dr. Ni says. “It will stimulate in much the same way as an Acupuncture needle.”

Source: Hormones, Health, and Happiness, by Steven F. Hotze, M.D. with Kelly Griffin, Greenleaf Book Group LP, Austin, Texas, 2005.