'Acupuncture: An Alternative Essay\r'

'To support the brio of an ailing individual and to relieve pain, the application of dinner gown and conventional medical exam perpetrate is not only that can help. The application of complementary and resource euphony whitethorn also relieve the patient of much(prenominal) sufferings. The content Center for complemental and alternative treat (NCCAM), National Institutes of Health has defined complementary and alternative medical specialty as â€Å"a group of versatile mendth care and medical systems, make outs and products that are not presently considered to be part of the conventional medication” (Ho map Select, 2006 p.10).\r\nThere is a distinction between the complementary medicine alone and alternative medicine alone. Complementary medicine is engagement jointly with the conventional medicine much(prenominal)(prenominal) as the role of aromatherapy in reducing the patient’s pain later on undergoing a surgery while alternative medicine is ap plied as a substitute for conventional medicine such as the use of special diet to treat cancer instead of adjacent the physician’s recommendation to undergo surgery or chemotherapy.\r\nThe NCCAM classifies complementary and alternative medicine into five major(ip) categories. They areç\r\n1.Alternative Medical Systems that are built upon implicit systems of theory and dress that start out often substantial before and apart from the conventional medicine of the U.S.A. approximately of these are homeopathy, hydropathy and naturopathy as tumesce as the Chinese tralatitious medicine and Ayurveda.\r\n2. Mind-Body Interventions that use a variety of procedures mean to enhance the mind’s capacity to affect bodily function and symptoms such as meditating, praying, mental healing, and therapies that use creative outlets interchangeable art, music, or dance.\r\n3.Biologically Based Therapies that use substances found in nature like herbs, foods, and vitamins. The se kinds of therapies complicate dietary supplements, herbal products, and the use of other so-called natural besides non-scientifically proven methods like the use of shark gristle to treat cancer.\r\n4.Manipulative and Body-Based Methods which is based upon manipulation and/or exertion of one or more parts of the dust like massage and chiropractic or osteopathic manipulation.\r\n5.Energy Therapies that include the use of energy palm. It is divided into two subcategories, the biofield therapies and the bioelectromagnetic-based therapies. Biofield therapies are intended to affect energy fields that purportedly march and penetrate the human clay such as the application of pressure and/or manipulation of the eubstance by placing the hands in, or through these fields, i.e., qi gong, reiki, and therapeutic touch. On the other hand the bioelectromagnetic-based therapies imply the unconventional use of electromagnetic fields, such as pulsed fields, magnetic fields, or alternat ing-current or direct-current fields.\r\nAccording to NCCAM, stylostixis is an â€Å"energy medicine involving putative energy fields”, or the biofields. (Energy Medicine, 2004)\r\nII. What is acupuncture, Its Philosophies, Purpose, and Treatment Principles?\r\nâ€Å"stylostixis can still prolonged pain, discomfort, and anxiety, and end severe dependence on a medical system so grand and impersonal that for each one patient feels like a forgotten cog in a machine.” (Cargill, 1994, p. 3) That is what stylostixis can do according to Cargill. But what is it? NCCAM defines acupuncture as â€Å"a family of procedures involving the stimulation of anatomicalal points on the body using a variety of techniques, the well-nigh common of which is the penetration in the skin with thin, solid, bronze needles that are either manipulated by the hands or by some electrical stimulation”. (An door)\r\nThe philosophical basis behind Acupuncture for traditional practitioners is the â€Å"qi” (Birch & Felt, 1999, p. 88) or the so called vital energy. Qi flows through the twelve major energy pathways called meridians, each of these is connected to specific internal organs of the body or organ systems and â€Å"three hundred sixty-five to two thousand acupoints” (Freeman & Lawlis, 2001, p. 311). This qi is blocked when there is imbalance of yin and yang, â€Å"two opposing and inherent forces”(An Introduction), in the body thereby causing illnesses.\r\nAcupuncture can relieve the ailment by unblocking the qi through the insertion of needles at specific anatomic points in the body. Simply stated, the purpose of Acupuncture is to heal or therapeutic. Some healing results of acupuncture, according to research, include easement of low back pain, headache, pain from osteoarthritis, pick out pain, musculoskeletal and myofascial pain, organic pain, and pain before and after surgery. It has also been used for the treatment of postop erative and chemotherapy-induced nausea, neurological dysfunction, gynecologic and obstetric conditions, asthma, and substance abuse. With Acupuncture, illness or sickness is prevented while better health is restored.\r\nIII. draft Summary and Evolution of Acupuncture\r\nAcupuncture evolved from the traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Earliest evidence regarding this practice can be found in the text, â€Å"The yellow-bellied Emperor’s Inner Classic (Huang Di Nei Jing), a collection of 81 treatises compiled between 206 BC and 220 AD” (Freeman ; Lawlis, 2001, p. 316) However, Freeman and Lawlis further noted that â€Å"the oldest surviving important text dedicated entirely to acupuncture was written sometime in 282 AD by Huang-Fu Mi” entitled, The Comprehensive Manual of Acupuncture and Moxibustion (Zhen Jiu Jia Yi Jing).\r\nThis book contains the â€Å"unite classical concepts concerning the theories and teachings of acupuncture points, channels, and the ca use of illness, diagnosis, and therapeutic needling” (Freeman ; Lawlis, 2001, p. 316) It was in 618 AD when the practice reached its peak in china with the foundation of the Imperial Medical College. During this period, the practice was spread head its influence over other Asian nations such as Japan, Korea and Southeast Asia. Acupuncture attained maximal refinements at the end of the sixteenth century.\r\nAlthough it was in 1971 when Acupuncture became popularly recognized in the United States of the States (USA), awareness almost this therapeutic practice has been introduced in the country long before this period. The first records and studies of the practice became known to the Americans in 1825 in the nationalation of Morand’s Memoir on Acupuncturation, a document translated from french by Franklin Bache. However, it was in 1971 when the bleak York Times pressman James Reston note down his experience about Acupuncture describing how medical professionals in China employ needles to alleviate his pain after he have undergone surgery.\r\nCurrently, the NCCAM reported that in the USA Acupuncture is universe â€Å"widely” practiced by thousands of related medical practitioners such as physicians, dentists, acupuncturists, and other practitioners mainly for alleviation and avoidance of pain and for other health purposes. In fact it was reported that in 2002, the survey showed that 8.2 million of the American adults have made use of Acupuncture.\r\nIV. Hazards of the institutionalize and Its Licensing and Regulatory Requirements\r\nThe NCCAM provides in its website that the use of Acupuncture has a relatively lower account in foothold of health problems and complication despite the huge deem of treated individuals in America. commandly the negative complications resulted from the use of inadequately sterilized needles causing serious undesirable effects, including infections and punctured organs. Moreover improper needle place ment, patient movements, or a defective needle may cause to tenderness, discomfort, soreness and pain during treatment.\r\nThe Food and medicate Administration (FDA) regulates acupuncture needles. These needles should be used by licensed practitioners only and need to be manufacture and labeled according to the required standards on sterilization, nontoxic quality, and must be labeled for single use by qualified practitioners only.\r\nPublic hearings held on April 25, 2006 in Asheville, and on September 27, 2006 in New capital of Switzerland in North Carolina have acknowledged issues regarding the following safety measures in alternative medical practice:\r\na. Practitioners Training, Qualifications and Credentials of Acupuncturists\r\nb. Consumer Protection of patients\r\nc. Insurance Coverage of patients for attainable health problems and side effects\r\nd. An Oversight- Regulatory control board to regulate and control the practice ensuring public safety .\r\nFinally, for public awareness the NCCAM Clearinghouse provides information on CAM and NCCAM, as well as publications and searches of Federal databases of medical and scientific texts in service to the American nation regarding alternative medicines.\r\nReferences\r\nAn Introduction to Acupuncture. (2007). NCCAM Publication No. D404, NCCAM, National Institutes of Health. Retrieved 15 may 2008 from http://nccam.nih.gov/health/acupuncture/\r\nBirch, S. J., & Felt, R. L. (1999). Understanding Acupuncture. New York: Churchill Livingstone. Retrieved May 15, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=100223449\r\nCargill, M. (1994). Acupuncture: A Viable Medical Alternative. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers. Retrieved May 15, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o&d=81902256\r\nEnergy Medicine: An Overview. (2004). NCCAM Publication No. D235, NCCAM, National Institutes of Health. Retrieved 15 May 2008 from http://nccam.nih.gov /health/backgrounds/energymed.htm\r\nFreeman, L. W., & Lawlis, G. F. (2001). Mosby’s Complementary Alternative Medicine: A Research-Based Approach. St. Louis, MO: Mosby. Retrieved May 15, 2008, from Questia database: http://www.questia.com/PM.qst?a=o;d=100735773\r\n hearth Select Study on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, Final Report to the House of Representatives 2007 North Carolina General Assembly. (2006). Retrieved 15 May 2008, from http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/documentsites/legislativepublications/Study%20Reports%20to%20the%202007%20NCGA/Complementary%20and%20Alternative%20Medicine.pdf\r\n'