What is Acupuncture?

There is a huge growing awareness about Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture, but does the laymen no what it is really all about?

Acupuncture is medicine!! It treats a huge range of diseases. Anything from stroke, migraine headaches, nausea, vomiting, gastro-intestinal diseases, Common cold, Chronic fatigue, autoimmune conditions to pain management, such as sciatica, wry neck, frozen shoulder, back pain and not to mention, emotional and mental health to name a few. There are many others.

Probably the greatest gift Acupuncture can give us is health maintenance. This is something that is usually frowned upon, as we tend only get treated when we are sick. This attitude is slowly starting to change which is positive. The public are starting to realise taking responsibility for their own health is critical.

I also think the challenge for the public is to really know what Acupuncture can do. Questions that can arise can be; Is it safe? Will the needles hurt? We can answer this by saying that there is a registration board of Ethics that all Chinese Medical practitioners are members of. This is called AHPRA. It has information there for the general public to look out for in regards to the medical standards of acupuncturists.

Acupuncture is perfectly safe and been used for thousands of years. All the needles used are disposable. Pain can be caused by either poor acupuncture skill, or patients may confuse pain with the needle sensation experienced, which tends to be dull and heavy.

True Acupuncturists really live it! That is they usually engage in some health cultivation activities such as Tai Chi, Qi Gong, Ba Duan Jin or other forms of martial activities. Endless study of either Chinese as a language or all the numerous classical medical texts are constantly studied. Further depths of knowledge may be undertaken from practitioners such as Yi-Jing, Ba Tze (Chinese Astrology) and Feng Shui. This medicine is alive and vibrant. As the Taoist saying goes, " True intention arouses real knowledge."

I am proud to be a practitioner of such an immense healing modality, the true gifts of this ancient healing art are coming back to fruition!

Any further questions are welcome.

Regards

Sam Dudgeon (Acupuncturist)