FAQ's

What is acupuncture?
"Auco" a Latin word meaning puncture. This is a way of treatment in which hairs like thin needles are prick to cure certain diseases. This is an ancient Chinese art of healing, now it recommended by WHO and this science is used world wide.

What is acupuncture points?

Points on the body surface discovered by the ancient physicians which, on puncturing, heating or applying pressure cure or relieve the symptoms of disease. Modern research has shown that there is a lowered electrical resistance at the majority of traditional points and perhaps even biological differences, such as increased oxygen consumption.


What can I expect when visiting an acupuncturist?

There are many different styles of acupuncture. Regardless of the style practiced, the first visit should help your practitioner understand your reasons for seeking acupuncture treatment and assess the underlying imbalances leading to your symptoms.
 He begins with an interview which includes both your medical and personal history and continues with a physical examination and consultation. Depending on your practitioner, you may or may not receive a treatment at the time of your first visit. The length and frequency of subsequent visits will vary depending on your practitioner and your response to treatment. The treatments will generally not involve more than 20 needles, and may also include a other related techniques e.g. moxibustion. Often you will be required to take 10-20 sessions so that both you and your practitioner can closely follow your response to treatment.

 
What about the needles? Do they hurt?
First of all, the needles used to stimulate acupuncture points have no resemblance to conventional syringe needles used for giving injections. Acupuncture needles are very slender, about the thickness of two human hairs. Many practitioners now use only stainless steel, pre-sterilized, disposable needles which are used once and then discarded.
Most insertions are just beneath the skin's surface. The sensations vary from person to person. Usually a dull, momentary ache or tingling is felt.

What is the relationship between acupuncture and conventional medical care?
While acupuncture is concerned with the whole person and addresses itself to many levels of functioning, it is also a particular form of treatment with its own limitations. It needs to be used in conjunction with health-promoting attitudes and behaviors. Responsible acupuncturists evaluate each patient in holistic way keeping in view patient’s western medical diagnosis and do not recommend altering medications or other therapies just because of own interests.

What is Acupuncture Analgesia?
Abolition or dulling of pain sensation by the use of acupuncture, also called "acupuncture anesthesia" when used for surgical operations. The Chinese name for this is "Chen-Ma" which means "Needle-Anesthesia"


What is the difference between Acupuncture & Acupressure?
Acupuncture is interventional method of treatment, in which mostly needles are inserted inside the body, but Acupressure is non interventional way of treatment in which only pressure is applied on acu points. In China, Acupressure is home remedy system of treatment. It is mostly used for preventive aspect. 

What is Acupunctoscope?
(Also called Acupuncture Point Detector and Stimulator). A multi-purpose electronic instrument which (a) detects acupuncture points using the phenomenon of lowered electrical resistance at these points, and (b) generates a pulsed electric current to stimulate the acupuncture point (with or without needles).

What is Channels or Meridian?

Meridians are the pathways through which vital energy (Qi) flows in the body. There are 14 main Channels of which 12 are paired (bilateral) and 2 are unpaired (midline). Vital energy (Qi) flows in these Channels in an orderly cyclic sequence.
 
Branches of Channels which connect one Channel to another in order to balance the flow of vital energy are called collaterals (Luo).


What is Cupping?
A technique of traditional Chinese medicine where suction is applied to diseased parts of the body using ceramic / plastic cup in order to increase the regional circulation and thereby promote healing. This is quite effective in certain ailments and reveals quick effects.

What is Deqi?

The subjective sensation felt by a person who is needled, also referred to as the "acupuncture sensation. It si described as being a combination of numbness, heaviness, soreness, distension and the radiation of one or more of these sensations. It is believed that better therapeutic success is obtained when "deqi" is elicited, particularly in acupuncture anaesthesia. The sensation felt by the acupuncture due to local musclespasms around the needle is also called deqi.

What are causing factors of diseases?
Chinese medical practitioners have always recognised that emotional factors play a part in health and illness. The emotional life cannot be separated from the physical. Concern for the psychological texture of a patient’s being must be part of a physician’s examination, as the Fundamental Substances and the Organs are all intimately connected to the emotions.
The Nei Jing cites seven emotions that particularly affect the body and that are still considered most important: joy, anger, sadness, grief, pensiveness, fear and fright. The differences between sadness and grief, fear and fright, appear to be of degree; sometimes these pairs are combined as one emotion. Of course, emotional qualities are not in themselves pathological, and all of them appear in healthy individuals. It is only when an emotion is either excessive or insufficient over a long period of time, or when it arises very suddenly with great force, that it can generate imbalance and illness. And the reverse is also true: Internal disharmony can generate unbalanced emotional states.
Emotional excess or insufficiency acts on the Qi and on the other Substances. The Nei Jing states that "excess joy is associated with slow and scattered Qi; excess anger induces the Qi to ascend; excess sadness and grief weakens the Qi; excess pensiveness generates ‘knottedness’ or ‘stuckness’; fear results in descending Qi; and fright induces chaotic Qi."

What is Embedding therapy?
A recently developed technique in which sterile catgut is surgically implanted at on e or more acupuncture points in order to give prolonged stimulation. Dermal needles are press needles are also embedded in the skin to provide continuous stimulation between treatment sessions. These therapies are very useful in chronic or resistant conditions like bronchial asthma, trigeminal neuralgia, migraine and the pain of secondary cancer.

What are Extraordinary Channels?
Channels other than the 12 Organ Channels are called Extraordinary Channels. There are 8 such Channels including the Ren and Du Channels (the midline Channels).


What are Extraordinary Points?
Acupuncture points which were discovered after the know (classical) points were placed in the Channels and numbered about two thousand years ago. While the majority of the Extraordinary points fall outside the Channels, some lie in the path of a Channel and some even coincide with regular points.

What is Laser Therapy?

A new method of acupuncture therapy using a laser-beam instead of a needle to stimulate that acupuncture points.


What is the Manipulation of the needle?

The art of moving the needle after insertion in order to cause further stimulation at the acupuncture points. Three chief methods used (I) rotation (ii) lifting and thrusting ; (iii) a combination of rotation and lifting and thrusting. The art of manipulation is best learnt under the guidance of a trained acupuncturist. The same effects may be obtained electrically. This is known as electro-stimulation of a point.


What are Midline Channels?

These are two unpaired Channels, the Ren and Du Channels.


What is Moxibustion?
A method of Chinese medicine where disease is treated by directly or indirectly heating the acupuncture points by burning "moxa" made from the dried leaves of the plant artemesia vulgaris. "Mogusa" (pronounced "moxa") is the Japanese name of this plant which means "burning herb".
What is Noon-Midnight Law?
(Also known as the Midday-Midnight Law) Vital energy (Oi) flows through the Twelve Channels to make a complete cycle every 24 hours. The tide of energy passes through each Channel therefore in a two hour period. Diseases due to a deficiency of a particular Channel are said to be most responsive to treatment by acupuncture at the commencement of this two hour period, as advantage may be taken of the force of the entering tide of energy. It is also believed that by treating a Channel an effect is registered in the Channel which lies diametrically opposite to it on the so-called "Organ Clock".


What are the Physiological effects of acupuncture?

(1) Analgesia (2) Sedation (3) Homeostasis (4) Enhancement of the immune mechanisms (5) Anti-inflammatory, anti-allergic, (6) Motor recovery (7) Psychological effects.


What is Press needle?
(Embedding needle) A small needle which is plastered onto the skin at an acupuncture point in order to give continuous stimulation between treatment sessions. The ear is a commonly used site for press needles.

What is Qi?
The Chinese term for the primal energy which pervades the entire Universe. As applied to the human organism, it refers mainly to the energy circulating in the Channels (Jing Qi). As in the Universe, so in the human body, Qi influences the interaction of Yin and Yang and the relationship between the Five Elements. Disease therefore is due to the inadequate circulation or lack of Qi, or its imbalance within the organism. The body carries a certain amount of Qi at birth; it is depleted by the daily activities of living; it is augmented by the intake of food and air. The absence of Qi is death.  

What is Swift insertion of needle?
The art of inserting needles with the swiftest possible speed. By using this method the pain felt on inserting is considerable reduced or even eliminated. (In contradistinction to this, the Chinese barefoot doctors employ a slow insertion method).

What is Three-edged needle?
(Prismatic needle). A needle which is used to cause bleeding as a form of therapy in certain diseases. It is used with a quick pricking method at the Jing-Well points in treating conditions like shock, coma and cardio-respiratory depression, and with the slow pricking method at points like Chize (Lu 5) and Weizhong (UB 40) in treating certain chronic conditions.


What is Yin Yang ?

These are the negative and positive factors in the Universe which activate Qi or vital energy. The term is also used to denote the relativity of all phenomena and of all concepts of the human mind. The Chinese ideography of Yang depicts the sunny side of the hill while the symbol for Yin shows the darker side of the hill. The Qi in the human organism is also categorized into Yin and Yang according to the nature of the energy flow through each Channel. By inserting needles at specific acupuncture points it is possible to restore any imbalance in the Yin-Yang nature of the energy flow, or in other words, to restore homeostasis. This is the basic of all acupuncture therapy.  

What is Auriculotherapy?
 An ancient method of using the external ear to diagnose and treat illness. Every part of the body has functional representation on the ear, and the locations of these points have been charted with a great deal of accuracy. It is acupuncture needle stimulation to the auricle of the external ear using a diagnostic and therapeutic means of alleviating pain dysfunction and disease as manifest in other parts of the body. The ear points selected for treatment can also be detected and treated by using the acupunctoscope.


Who can perform auriculotherapy?
It can be performed by any skilled medical practitioner or acupuncturist.
What problems is auriculotherapy good for?
Auriculotherapy is good for acute painful problems alleviating pain almost immediately or within 24 to 48 hours. Auricle therapy is good for chronic degenerative conditions such as osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis and other chronic painful conditions like spinal stenosis and other chronic central nervous system conditions such as multiple sclerosis. Other conditions include diseases and dysfunctions of the gastrointestinal, genital urinary and cardiovascular systems. Auricular therapy should not take the place of acute orthodox medical care in life threatening situations.


Does Auriculotherapy hurt?
Using acupuncture needles on the ear, pain may last one to three seconds with the placing of the needle. Otherwise, acupuncture needles should not hurt on the ear. If electrical stimulation is used or lasers are used on the ears, there should be little to no pain at all perceived by the patient.

How frequently should I be treated?
In most cases, treatment for most chronic conditions may be treated once or twice per weeks. However, in some acute conditions and very serious conditions auriculotherapy may be applied daily for approximately one week to 10 days.

How does auriculotherapy work?
Auriculotherapy works by stimulating the central nervous system through the cranial nerves/spinal nerves on the auricle of the ear. This stimulation results in a neurotransmitters being stimulation within the periactal ductal gray and pituitary and spinal cord of the central nervous system. This stimulation of neurotransmitters modulates the pain and modulates nerve function beginning the healing process within the body to that organ or body part.
Dr. Madhusudan Aggarwal
M.B.B.S, D.N.B. (M.D), Dip. Acup. (Beijing)
CONSULTANT ACUPUNCTURIST
On Panel : Embassy of U.S.A, France & Germany
Mobile: 9810052953
Clinic : +91 8383050643
E-mail : 1947.madhu@gmail.com

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