For the past 4500 years, give or take, acupuncture has been used in the Orient for a considerable number of important medical, physical, and functional problems. The first written treatise, the Nei Jing, was compiled in China around 2000 years ago, but acupuncture was not brought to the Western World until the 16th and 17th centuries, when Jesuit missionaries sent to the East returned to Europe. A full understanding by Westerners of the subtleties of acupuncture was not appreciated, however, until after the French colonization of southeast Asia in the last century. In the first half of this century, a French diplomat and scholar, Soulie de Mourant, translated the full text of the Nei Jing for French physicians to study and practice, allowing the skill of acupuncture to be taught in that country now for 50 years.
Our American interest in acupuncture had its beginnings during the years before the Civil War, with early experiments performed in the early 19th century by a descendant of Benjamin Franklin. More than a century would pass, however, before the most important event would occur to spur interest in acupuncture in the United States. James Reston, a New York Times reporter sent to China in 1971 to cover the China-U.S. Ping-Pong tournament, returned and reported in The Times about his experience of receiving complete pain relief after an appendectomy by using only three acupuncture needles. Since then, many delegations of physicians and other researchers have traveled to the Orient to better understand the procedure of acupuncture. There are now several thousand physicians and other practitioners in this country with expertise in acupuncture; and they are using their skills to treat a variety of conditions, including
muscular, joint, and headache pain;
inflammatory ailments like skin burns and prostatitis;
smoking cessation and heroine addiction;
fatigue, depression, and other mood disorders; and
respiratory problems like asthma or sinusitis.
The Chinese have based their understanding of how acupuncture works by an appreciation of the life vitality that flows in every living thing. This energy, referred to as "qi" (pronounced "chee"), is ordinarily flowing freely in the healthy individual, but may be stagnant and/or maldistributed in those who are not healthy. The acupuncturist attempts to re-establish proper flow of qi to bring relief for many types of symptoms. When a proper understanding of the nature of the energy problem is identified, acupuncture can be expected to benefit the suffering person 80% of the time or more.
If you are interested in learning more about acupuncture and its potential uses, you may refer to a number of well-written texts on the subject, now available in many bookstores. In this practitioner's opinion, the best written and most thorough text for an academic understanding of acupuncture is the book "Acupuncture Energetics: A Clinical Approach for Physicians," by Joseph Helms. For an acupuncturist in your area, consult the Yellow Pages or contact the Los Angeles-based American Academy of Medical Acupuncture. You may also wish to contact Dr. Steven Scheer on his e-mail.
