Uses of Acupuncture
Currently in China the main use of acupuncture is as an anesthetic in surgery. It is also used to treat some heart conditions, ulcers, asthma, hypertension and appendicitis.
Some Western doctors have observed surgeries made based anesthesia and have confirmed that acupuncture works in some cases but not in the majority. One advantage of acupuncture, as Chinese surgeons who practice it, is that it interferes with the normal physiology of the human body and therefore the patient is less vulnerable to a shock.
Some research suggests that acupuncture helps relieve nausea and vomiting caused by anesthesia used in surgery. There is also evidence that acupuncture relieves nausea during pregnancy and the pain after dental surgery.
It is believed that acupuncture can also be beneficial in cases of fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, and epicondylitis, also known as tennis elbow, conditions are often treated by means such as aspirin, ibuprofen, or injections of steroids can have side effects.
According to a study conducted in Britain and whose results were reported in November 2006, acupuncture appears to be as or more effective than conventional medical treatments in relieving patients suffering from pain in the lower back.
In this study the advantage of acupuncture over conventional treatment became more evident as time passed. After two years a smaller number of patients treated with acupuncture reported that they continued with the pain than those treated with the usual medications.
In another study conducted in Germany and reported in late October 2006 found that a group of women with osteoarthritis who underwent acupuncture treatment in addition to conventional medical treatment had reduced pain and increased mobility than other who only received medical treatment
Most modern acupuncturists use disposable needles made of stainless steel sterilized by autoclave or ethylene oxide.
Sometimes acupuncture is combined with a procedure called moxibustion which is heated with an acupuncture point using a kind of power called moxa cylinder that is prepared from the leaves of a plant called mugwort.
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