bodily flow of qi and run along twelve major
channels known as meridians. " Twirling the
needle during an acupuncture treatment
creates a deep sensation, sometimes a tingling,
sometimes a flash of sensate bodily awareness
in a meridian-like line from one area of the
body to another" (Emad 1997:95). As I will be
discussing later in this article, I met with
licensed acupuncturist Ashley T. Lanahan,
who explained to me firsthand how the
direction of the twisting needle aids in
directing qi flow.
Acupuncture is regarded as a
complementary and alternative medicine
(CAM). This is in large part due to the lack of
empirical evidence supporting acupuncture's
efficacy. The experiences that I witnessed
Drasko’s stepfather go through have
prompted me to uncover some information
on the traditional practice of acupuncture, and
to answer a few questions that I have about it.
If not accepted by Western biomedical
standards, then why was my friend's
stepfather able to find comfort in the healing
treatment of acupuncture? If acupuncture is
seen as an alternative medicine, then why have
it's practices made their way thousands of
years and thousands of miles to modern
America? In what ways have the traditional
practices of acupuncture diverged during their
transmission into American culture?
Many skeptics of acupuncture believe
that the subjective efficacy people claim to
experience is solely due to the placebo effect.
However, within the film "The Mystery of
Chi", we see a case of acupuncture anesthesia
being used for a woman who is getting brain
surgery. She is able to speak and tell Dr.
Eisenberg and Dr. Moyers that she feels no
pain, only a "warm sensation". There is also a
section of a major hospital that is devoted to
treating a myriad of diseases with acupuncture
(Moyers 1993). This film shows how to this
day in parts of China, there remains strong
social beliefs toward the importance of a
balanced qi, and the efficacy of acupuncture.
The oldest written record of
acupuncture comes from within China in an
Acupuncture as an Alternative
By Toby Feuer
This article will focus on one field of
medical practices under the huge system of
Traditional Chinese Medicine. For more than
two thousand years, people have been
participating in a vast health system that was
first developed in ancient China. Today this
practice is know in the United States as
Traditional Chinese Medicine, or TCM.
Practitioners of TCM view every living being
as having a life force that flows through them,
which they refer to as Qi. Health is observed
as a balance between yourself and the outside
world, embodied in the yin-yang, while disease
is seen to be brought upon by a disharmony
between the two. Some traditional healing
practices within TCM are massage known as
Tui na, exercise called qigong, chiropractic,
osteopathy, homeopathy, the use of herbal
medicine, fang shui, and acupuncture.
Although it has a long history, Traditional
Chinese Medicine is not generally accepted in
the scientific world or in other forms of
evidence-based medicine. The anatomical
models and views on disease pathologies do
not directly align with the models of the body
and the concept of disease seen in Western
biomedicine.
I first heard of acupuncture when my
best friend Drasko Bogdanovich's stepfather
Dino, who was a yoga instructor, began
getting treatments after he was diagnosed with
prostate cancer. He would tell me of the
trancelike state you fall into once the
acupuncturist begins their treatment. Dino
would continue on about how he felt that this
was one of the most different approaches to
healing that he had tried and that he had
finally found something that really helped him
during his battle with cancer.
Acupuncture is the practice of using
needles to penetrate the skin and stimulate
specific points on the body. To practicers of
traditional
Chinese
medicine,
these
acupuncture points are correlated with the
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