What is Acupuncture?
Acupuncture, one of the oldest far eastern treatment methods in the history of medicine, dates back 5000 years in China. Its first systematization and being a written source coincides with the time of Huangdi Neijing, that is, the Yellow Empire, written in the 2nd century BC, which transformed from a folk medicine into a traditional medicine system. Later, this method began to spread to the surrounding countries and distant lands. Today, it has become more systemic and attracts the attention of doctors in many countries of the world, and training continues at full speed. After the World Health Organization accepted acupuncture as a scientific treatment in 1978, it is taught as a course in many foreign countries’ medical faculties and postgraduate education. In recent years, the Ministry of Health in the field of Traditional and Complementary Medicine is among the certification trainings and training is given in many universities and hospitals in Turkey.
Basic Concepts of Acupuncture:
Qi or Chi, Yin-Yang and the 5 element theory form the basis of traditional Chinese medicine. The Yin-Yang theory, which was formed in the 2nd century BC, is a concept of contrast between day and night, hot-cold, upper-lower, light-dark, male-female, sun-moon, activity-passivity etc. Although the 5 element theory was formed 500 years after the Yin-Yang theory, it has an indispensable place in Traditional Chinese medicine. Fire-Earth-Metal-Water-Wood supports each other (wood feeds fire, fire ash-soil, soil feeds mineral and metal, water feeds on metal, water feeds wood, that is wood), on the contrary, destroys each other, or suppressing (water extinguishes fire, fire melts metal, metal breaks wood, wood spoils the soil…) effect.
The concept of health and disease is also shaped according to the theory of Qi, Yin-Yang and the 5 elements. If these are in balance, health occurs, if the balance is disturbed, disease occurs. Acupuncture treatment, on the other hand, is a method performed to restore energy balance by opening the blocked energy flow by inserting a needle into the energy channels called meridian on the body surface and acupuncture points on it.
Diagnostic methods are also different. Tongue and pulse examination methods are important in Traditional Chinese Medicine and all physicians dealing with this treatment try to diagnose the disease by looking at the pulse and tongue. Whether the tongue is small, large, swollen or dry-cracked, the thickness and color of rust and rust give information about which organ the disease originates from and at what stage it is. Pulse, on the other hand, is a diagnostic method that is based on the fingertip feeling and helps to collect information about the patient in a short time, as a result of many years of effort of the physician. Information is obtained about a total of 12 organs located on 6 superficial (yang) and 6 deep (yin) points on the right and left wrists of the patient, and the treatments are shaped accordingly.
The meridian system can be thought of as the channels of the internal organs opening to the body surface. The distribution of energy channels coming from organs with cavities (stomach, gallbladder, small and large intestine, bladder) and non-cavity (heart, lung, liver, spleen-pancreas, kidney) all around the body, such as head, arm and leg, front and back of the body, While the flow of Qi continues in a balanced way with the creation of a connection at the same time, if it is interrupted somewhere as a result of the blockage caused by some external and internal factors, discomfort occurs, the blockage is resolved with the acupuncture needle, the balance is restored.
Acupuncture Symptoms Accepted by the World Health Organization
Tooth and Gum Diseases
- Toothache,
- Post-extraction pain
- Gingivitis
Eye Diseases
- Acute conjunctivitis,
- Central retinitis
Bronchopulmonary Diseases
- Acute bronchitis,
- Bronchial asthma
Neurological Diseases
- Headache,
- Migraine,
- Trigeminal neuralgia,
- Facial paralysis (early stage, within 3-6 months),
- Post-stroke paresis,
- Peripheral neuropathy,
- Polio sequelae (early stage, within 6 months),
- Meniere’s disease,
- Neurogenic bladder disorder,
- Enuresis nocturna,
- Intercostal neuralgia
Gastrointestinal Diseases
- Esophageal and cardia spasm,
- Hiccup,
- Gastroptosis,
- Acute and chronic gastritis,
- Gastric hyperacidity,
- Chronic duodenal ulcers (pain treatment),
- Acute and chronic colitis,
- Bacillary dysentery,
- Constipation,
- Diarrhea,
- Paralytic ileus
Musculoskeletal Diseases
- Cervicobrachial syndrome,
- Frozen shoulder,
- Tennis elbow,
- Sciatica,
- Backache,
- Osteoarthritis
Respiratory Diseases
- Acute sinusitis,
- Acute rhinitis,
- Common cold,
- Acute tonsillitis