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Acupuncture

5 strange and interesting facts about Acupuncture

There’s a lot of an abundance of information and ‘training’ out there about Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. Not all of it is of good quality, so I want to give you the facts and remove the bunkum. Acupuncture has achieved an accepted status as being now an accepted part of mainstream medicine – perhaps even more than chiropractic and osteopathy. Some people swear by acupuncture, citing it as a “miracle” to improving their quality of life because it’s said to be able to treat everything from depression and allergies to morning sickness and even in cosmetic beauty treatments.

So, here’s a few things you might not know:

  • Back in the day, Chinese Acupuncture practitioners were paid to keep people healthy. People paid their doctor a regular fee unless they got sick. Then the doctor would not be paid until they were better. Clearly, this shows that Chinese medicine is a preventative form of medicine.
  • The very first acupuncture needles were made of stone. Bian Shi (stone needle) was a sharpened, polished stone used to treat illness during the New Stone Age in China. Much later, needles were made of silver and gold. Some practitioners still use silver or gold needles on occasion, but most opt for stainless steel.
  • When President Richard Nixon visited China in 1971, New York Times journalist James Reston, one of the accompanying media journalists, developed appendicitis and needed surgery. His recovery was aided by acupuncture, which he decided to write about in The New York Times, which was likely the first exposure many Americans had to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM).
  • Most acupuncturists today use guide tubes for needle insertion. The reason we have them can be traced back to the 1600’s when Waichi Sugiyama, widely regarded as the Father of Japanese Acupuncture, invented them. He invented them because at a young age he actually lost his eye sight, and needed the tubes to guide the needles.
  • There’s a good chance that at some point your acupuncturist has asked to take a look at your tongue. Your tongue tells us about your overall health as well as how specific organ systems are functioning. Variations in the colour, shape, coating, and texture can clue us in on a disharmony that may be happening in your body.

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So, if that’s piqued your interest to find out more, or you want to experience to the benefits of acupuncture, get in touch. Or check out our acupuncture information for more.