What is acupuncture?

Really, when I get this question it’s not about what acupuncture is—placing needles in points on the body—but how does it work. In Chinese Medicine, acupuncture—and the strategic placing of needles on particular points on the body—is looked at as affecting the flow of Qi through channels in the body. While there is no real western equivalent for Qi, you can think of the channels as the subway system of communication through the body with various levels of depth and complexity. It’s how the organs connect and communicate with each other, how the physiology of the body flows, and how that integrates the body into one giant and complex working whole. And what travels on this subway system is Qi.

In more western terms, acupuncture works on various different levels and on various different systems in the body such as hormones, the nervous system, the circulatory system and the fascia and connective tissue of the body. The placement of acupuncture needles can help:

• reduce swelling, by moving fluids

• interact with pain signaling systems, for analgesic effects

• affect blood vessels to increase circulation

• regulate the nervous system

• release endorphins and endogenous opioids, to kick on those calm vibe

• release muscular tension and restore proprioception

There is more and more research coming out helping us to identify what really is going on at those needles down to the cellular level. If you’d like to learn more, check out my Links page for some shortcuts to fun research and further reading, and check out the conditions treated by acupuncture on my Conditions Treated page.