Can A Tiny Needle Take Away My
Pain?
By Jocelyne Dates
Can little needles placed in various points
on the body effectively manage pain in such a
substantial way, that it could be used instead of
general and local anesthesia in surgery?
Acupuncture has been practiced in China for over
2500 years and continues to be an effective form
of treatment of common ailments and disease.
The concepts behind Acupuncture focus on the
idea that specific points are located on pathways,
called meridians, throughout the body. These
meridians are responsible for regulating the flow
of energy throughout the body. In Traditional
Chinese Medicine, it is believed that a disturbance
in energy, called qi (pronounced “chee”), accounts
for a person’s ill health. The question must be
asked however, how a needle inserted into an
invisible energy pathway can have an effect on the
condition of one’s body. In an attempt to review
this question, I will focus on how acupuncture has
been successfully used in surgical operations, as
well as its’ use in postoperative pain management.
Many hypotheses have been made in
regards to the mechanisms of Acupuncture. It is
believed that when an acupuncture needle is
inserted into an acupuncture point, the resulting
effect is a stimulation of the body’s pain receptors
and causes the secretion of endogenous opioids,
which play a role in pain control (Ecevit et al 308).
According to news-medical.net, the function of
opioids is to produce sedation and pain relief.
Even with this hypothesis, the true nature of
exactly how acupuncture works is still unknown
and speculative.
Many studies have been
attempted, however, many are inconclusive
because of the unsystematic way in which
acupuncture is performed (Lee 511). Unlike
Western medicine, where one medication is
chosen for a given ailment, deciding which
acupuncture points to use differs depending on
the patient and the individual’s symptoms.
Traditional Chinese Medical practitioners use
more than the recognized acupuncture points for
diagnosis.
Their diagnostic process includes
taking into account the patient’s gender, tongue
observations, pulse measurements, complexion,
sleep patterns, and health habits. It is due to these
multiple factors, that it is difficult to create largescale studies because each individual is given a
different form of treatment or combination of
acupuncture points (Lee and Chan 304).
In 1972, President Nixon made a
historical visit to China, in which he witnessed
surgical operations being performed using
acupuncture anesthesia. Acupuncture has been
used for its anesthetic properties for numerous
types of surgeries like knee surgery,
abdominal/pelvic surgery, thyroidectomy, heart
surgery and dental surgery. Patients are often
needled approximately 15-30 minutes prior to the
operation with the use of electroacupuncture
(using a HANS 200 electrostimulation device)
after disinfecting the area (Streitberger et al 37).
A child fully awake and comfortable, undergoing open heart
surgery for repair of a congenital ventricular septal defect
under acupuncture anesthesia in a hospital in Shanghai
photographed by Cheng in 1972.
The frequency of electrostimulation is
increased until the patient begins to feel a
tightness or a strong feeling at the point where the
needle is inserted, but without pain (Lee 307).
Electrostimulation is maintained throughout the
procedure. The patient remains fully conscious
during the procedure while their heart rate, blood
pressure and oxygen saturation are measured
throughout the procedure (Streitberger et al 38).
Not only is acupuncture effective during
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