The ancient Chinese, who were as wise as any that lived in the Old Orient, always believed that life energy flows in particular channels — or, meridians —that govern the human body. This energy is a balance of opposite characteristics: yin and yang.
Illness is understood to be an expression of a certain inequality between yin and yang. One way of re-establishing proper balance is insertion of needles in select acupuncture points located along the meridians. Apart from needles the therapist may also use pressure (acupressure), laser light (laser acupuncture), electrical currents (electro acupuncture), or heat (moxibustion).
Whatever the practice, the best part is — neither the meridians nor acupuncture points have a morphological basis. What’s more, the philosophy of yin and yang is regarded as ‘intuitive,’ not scientific by critics, notwithstanding the fact that acupuncture is rapidly growing in its popularity and expanding worldwide.
Picture this — modern Chinese physicians created a perestroika of sorts, using acupuncture to cure stroke victims. Hence, the big question. What makes needle therapy so unique, effective and, sometimes, a wonder to modern scientific thought?
Acupuncture is, in its essence, a go-between conventional and alternative medicine — a system which, till recently, had developed in isolation from Western ideas. Not anymore. Besides, the system is much more than just needles — a complicated blend of diets and other measures of which the customary definition of acupuncture forms but only a part.
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