How does it work?
SO HOW DOES IT WORK. WE CAN ANSWER THAT IN TWO WAYS.
One, from the point of view of modern western research into how acupuncture is changing what is happening in the body, and two, from a traditional Chinese model of how acupuncture is changing what is happening inside the body.
The same body and the same effects but two models of explaining those effect.
1. Western MEDICINE
Locally – The needle acts in the skin, muscle tissue and fascia. This affects microcirculation and muscle tone and tight bands of muscles fibres, called trigger points.
Here the needle actually releases tight muscle tissue that is in spasm or stuck together after an injury. During treatment you can actually feel the muscle twitch as the needle releases the tissue
Stimulating the nerve, which is influenced by the muscle being stimulated by the needle, which then has an affect at that segment of the spinal cord.
This has an effect on pain. Changing the pain message getting to the spine and back to the central nervous system.
At the level of the brain. This is the interesting part. The nervous system stimulation has different affects in different parts of the brain. From areas that process pain and our perception of pain.
By influencing the body regulating parts of the brain such as the hypothalamus and it’s influence on hormone regulation or metabolism. Acupuncture can play a role in regulating hormones in fertility for example. It also influences neurotransmitters in the brain, so influencing mood and anxiety.
It has also been shown to influence the two sides of our nervous system, the sympathetic and parasympathetic, so can influence tension, how smoothly our digestion works, and how awake we feel.
2. Traditional Chinese MEDICINE
The Traditional Chinese Medicine explanation has a concept of a web of interconnected channels that link the body and internal organs, just as the western concept of the nervous system does. The early Chinese system was just way ahead of its time. The needle works by stimulating these channels and thus influencing the functioning of the internal organs and body as a whole.
It was such a clever system and so perceptive and recognised that every tissue and part of the body was interconnected. From the skin to muscle to bone to the central nervous system and so to the mind. There wasn’t a separation in the functioning of each aspect of the person.
So by needling the foot you can be influencing pain or digestive function or mood. The web or interconnected system was incredibly detailed. But recognised that everything was connected and influenced each other.