Acupuncture and electropuncture

This art of diagnosing, prevention and treatment of diseases dates back more than 10,000 years ago. Its origins were believed to be India and China. However, the latest archaeological discoveries prove the practice of acupuncture within the Carpathian-Danubian area. Starting with the 9th century, clay figures of an artistic and anatomical character were made in this area. They were representations of men and women and orifices similar to needle pricks can be noticed on their bodies, corresponding to the acupuncture points in the Chinese traditional medicine.

Acupuncture re-establishes both structure and function of matter by rebalancing the energy streams of the body.

The human body is crossed by 12 paired energy meridians and 2 individual energy meridians. Each meridian controls one function and/or one organ. The meridians were named according to these:

• conception vessel
• governing vessel
• liver meridian
• lung meridian
• spleen and pancreas meridian
• heart meridian
• kidney meridian
• urinary bladder meridian
• stomach meridian
• small intestine meridian
• large intestine meridian
• gall bladder meridian
• triple burner meridian: upper, middle and lower
• pericardium meridian

The two odd meridians are the governor and the conception ones and they are responsible with maintaining and carrying the information at DNA and RNA level.

Along the meridians, at skin level, are the acupuncture points or the acupoints.One point may act upon several organs or functions in the body. By stimulating them, the energy circulation is conducted in the body. The most part of them are situated along the meridians but there are a few points situated outside them. They are called extra-meridian points and they are of much greater importance, as they are connected with the inner meridians and they act directly upon the body’s energy matrix.

There is a specific pattern of blocking the acupoints for each particular affection and there are a few points that become active only on the moment when the body gets sick.  The traditional Chinese acupuncture identified as many as 365 acupoints. However, some Tibetan handbooks mention a number of about 4,000 acupoints.  They are 2 square millimeters in size at skin level and conoidal in shape, with the large base in the depth of skin. They may be stimulated by mechanical pressure, electricity, light wave, heat or sound waves. It is not recommended for certain points to be stimulated by needles, as the effects may be harmful for the patient.

Insertion of the needles into skin is not painful because the needle top is spherical and because there are no nerve endings in the acupuncture point. As a needle is inserted, the point starts conveying a bidirectional information stream of energy: to the affected organ and – through the nervous system’s paths – to the brain that “orders” the affected organ to begin the healing process. The average duration of an acupuncture session is about 20 minutes.

The information stream is being conveyed all through the acupuncture session and it continues to the next session.Therefore it is important that the treatment should not be stopped, as the brain coordinates the healing processes according to the latest information received.

As the needles are taken out there is no bleeding except if there is stagnant blood in the organ corresponding to the point or on the meridian to which the respective point belongs, blood that should be eliminated. In this case, a few blood drops appear on the skin surface as a needle is taken out.

The acupuncture needles are made of copper, silver, gold, platinum. In Romania, the most used needles are the silver and stainless steel ones. The nobler the metal is, the clearer the conveyed information. The needles may be used one time or for the entire duration of the treatment upon previous sterilization.

Electropuncture and laserpuncture are based on the same principles of action; the only difference consists in the method of stimulating the acupoints.