Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine

By Tom Hurrle

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Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Day is October 24

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Ancient Chinese shamans carefully observed the sky and nature around them. Centuries passed and their observations developed into a system of understanding health based on harmony between heaven, earth and man. Chinese civilization supported healers and scholars who examined the results of efforts to promote health and heal the sick. The first extant collection of their work was published 100–200 years BC (The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Medicine). It offers descriptions of disease, diagnostic methods and treatment strategies that are still studied today. Its opening chapters emphasize the importance to health of a way of life that seeks balance by understanding the transformation of the energies of the universe. Later chapters say the practitioner must observe the changes in nature and in the patient to help decide the treatment.

     Aspectarian readers are aware of the healing power of the mind. In acupuncture and oriental medicine it is said that “Yi leads Qi,” that is, intention leads vital energy. In particular, the practice of qigong meditation strengthens this process. But when you are sick, the vital energy is under attack and depleted; you just want to rest. The healer’s job is to supplement your internal self-healing ability and to disperse blocks to the free movement of qi. It is said that when an acupuncture point is treated, the practitioner must be alert to the “arrival of qi.” This is like the moment when the “wind blows away the clouds, exposing a clear blue sky.” The result during a treatment is profound relaxation. This relaxation facilitates the maintenance of homeostasis, the equilibrium of all processes in the body including the chemical composition of the fluids and tissues. Quality of respiration, circulation, peristalsis, and other involuntary functions that support health improve. Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (AOM) therapies work well in so many complaints because they supplement deficiency and clear excess blockage with no side effects.

Health Care

     The “health care” system that is dominant today surely does wonderful things, and our gratitude for it is appropriate. Like all bureaucracies, it is very protective of its turf, demanding that other approaches are proved true in the frame of science. Unfortunately, medical science is too often stuck in materialistic (Newtonian) perspectives that minimize the complexity of the real world. This complexity has been the topic of the physical sciences since the development of quantum physics. No self-respecting physical scientist would accept the ideas that underlie much medical research, for example: subject and object are separate, and the data obtained by measuring material things gives a complete and true result. Relativity exposed the limits of this approach decades ago. Medical research design aims to reduce variables to find a true statement based on simple cause and effect. Because of the failure to describe real-world complexity, its “truths” are often short-lived. Yesterday’s miraculous treatment is found ineffective or harmful today. Too often bio-medical treatments aim to relieve symptoms without addressing the causes of disease.

     AOM does not seek one “Truth.” It uses a variety of diagnostic tools to describe complex patterns of signs and symptoms. Pattern diagnosis is clearly defined in AOM and serves to develop treatment strategies and predict outcomes based on millennia of clinical observations. AOM therapies may be difficult to validate experimentally, but the outcomes have been clinically tested for a very long time. The goal of AOM is to reduce or eliminate the causes of disease. Treatment seeks to attack both the “branch and the root,” symptoms and cause.

Research

     Of course, we must continue our efforts to understand and improve health, and to design useful research. Good work is being done, but methodology for research of acupuncture and herbal medicine has a long way to go. Herbal prescriptions in oriental medicine contain hundreds of chemical constituents, and one disease diagnosis (e.g., Parkinson’s) will be treated with ten to twenty different formulas in different individuals. Medical experiment seeks the “active ingredient,” but with hundreds of plant compounds in one formula and ten to twenty appropriate formulas for one disease, the challenge is beyond the scope of today’s science. Many “outcome” studies are being performed. These compare a group treated with AOM to a control group. This type of study tends to have a lower status in the medical science community.

     Acupuncture research is being done with a “sham” needling placebo compared to actual treatment. A sham treatment may involve touching, but not breaking the skin at a “non-acupuncture point,” and this placebo is considered to have no effect. But some Japanese acupuncture techniques involve holding the needle on the skin without breaking the skin to treat an acupuncture point, and the point location for an individual may vary from a standard location. This is not a sham treatment, but it looks like the sham treatments used as a placebo in much acupuncture research, so the value of this research is open to question.

     What is the future of health care? First, apply the golden rule to our treatment of the environment and stop fouling our nest in the service of short-term gain. Then, deal with the internal environment through non-toxic food and application of the golden rule in human relations. Heroic intervention using highly technical and costly means to cure chronic illness does not address health. It only addresses illness, and it costs a bundle. AOM is one component of a health care system that can treat disharmony before it becomes degenerative disease. AOM includes dietary therapy, the physical and meditative therapies of qigong, acupuncture, moxibustion, and herbal medicine. Practitioners can recommend useful lifestyle changes and inexpensive home therapies. AOM encourages us to become active agents of our well-being and provides tools to help create a healthy future.

AOM Day

     Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine Day, observed on October 24, is part of an effort to increase public awareness of the progress, promise, and benefits of acupuncture and Oriental medicine. AOM Day is supported through a unique international partnership of organizations in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Pakistan. The partnership includes professional associations, research organizations and educational institutions.

     Millions of Americans use AOM every year. It is recognized as beneficial for a variety of conditions by our National Institutes of Health and by the World Health Organization. In the past thirty years, a structure has been established in the US that accredits schools of AOM, administers rigorous National Board Exams, and advocates for AOM. Most states license the practice of acupuncture, and passing this National Board Exam is a generally a prerequisite. The average student who sits for the National Board Exams has 2,000 hours of education, and many have twice that.

Finding a Practitioner

     Illinois began to license acupuncture in 1997. The designation “Licensed Acupuncturist” or “L.Ac.” shows that the state’s requirements have been met, so to find a qualified practitioner you should look for this first. Other medical professionals may offer acupuncture, but their training is often minimal, so you should ask about training, remembering that 2,000 hours is average for a Licensed Acupuncturist. Online resources for finding a practitioner include:

     The National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, nccaom.org

     Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine, ilaaom.org

     Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, www.idfpr.com/dpr/licenselookup/default.asp

     For general information, the National Institutes of Health Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine has an informative site: http://nccam.nih.gov.

     There are three colleges of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine in the Chicago area. They operate free or low cost student clinics.

     Pacific College of Oriental Medicine, Chicago, pacificcollege.edu.

     Midwest College of Oriental Medicine, Chicago, acupuncture.edu.

     National University of Health Sciences, Lombard, nuhs.edu.

     Many practitioners will offer some promotion or discount for AOM day on October 24, so it is a great time to try AOM.

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Tom Hurrle practices traditional Japanese acupuncture and teaches qigong on the north side of Chicago. He is the Secretary of the Illinois Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (ILAAOM). His web address is www.vitaldirections.com. Feel free to communicate with him about this article.

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