acupuncture

acupuncture has been used in China and other Asian countries for over 3,000 years, with chronic pain being the most common reasons for its use. Traditional Chinese acupuncture follows specific channels, where points work together to create sensation. These particular points that are needled in a given channel work to help with different health disparities, such as pain management. While some practitioners focus on Traditional Chinese acupuncture, others combine this principle with modern concepts. In Western countries, acupuncture that is incorporated into medical or other healthcare practices is referred to as Contemporary Medical Acupuncture (CMA). CMA revolves around traditional clinical information that is integrated with biomedical sciences. In detail, acupuncture needles are positioned and inserted into a neuro-reactive anatomical location and then stimulated manually or with electric current to help modulate atypical activity of the nervous system, endocrine, exocrine, and immune systems. When integrated with western medicine, it has the ability to help with pain management and functional disturbances. Evidence suggests that opioid peptides are released during acupuncture therapy, which has analgesic effects. It is hypothesized that the hypothalamus and pituitary gland become activated, generating systemic effects on the entire body and its function; altered secretion of neurotransmitter and neurohormones, changes in blood flow regulation, and immune functions has been recorded. The therapeutic response involves neurophysiological mechanisms which triggered by needle stimulation, having a response on neuroactive sites belonging to these three categories: local, segmental (somato-autonomic and/or somatosomatic) and suprasegmental (signals to the central nervous system; autonomic and neurohumoral) reflexes. Research also shows that there are two systems involved in its analgesic effect with electrical stimulation of the needles: the endorphin dependent (low frequency, high intensity electrical stimulation) which is of slow onset and generalized, and the monoamine dependent (high frequency, low intensity electrical stimulation) which Is of quick onset and segmentally located.