Pain and Acupuncture in Eastern and Western Medicine Essay -- Acupunct

Pain and stylostixis in Eastern and horse opera Medicine Acupuncture is an ancient medicinal art that has been practiced for thousands of years. Acupuncture today is mainly seen by Western medical exam specialty as a new alternative medicine (2). This basically means that while Western medicine acknowledges the value and positive medical research supporting acupuncture in many realms of medicine, for the most part it is not a practice that has been incorporated into modern medical practices. One of the most consistently supported uses of acupuncture therapy is in pain preaching (14). Western medicine has often come up short when it comes to treatment of chronic pain. The dichotomy that is often suggested is that Western medicine is better at emergency situations and stabilizing patients in crisis, while Eastern medicine has more achievement with more long-term chronic issues such as pain (2). This difference mainly stems from the philosophy of both methods of practicing medicine . Eastern medicine, for the most part, is more interested in treating the whole person and finding the organic root of the problem instead of just treating the symptoms. While chronic pain is reaching epidemic proportions in Western society, few people are employing the benefits this type of medicine can bring. How does pain effect the nervous system? How does acupuncture help to alleviate this symptom? Is it accomplishable to explain the effects of acupuncture through the language of Western medicine? Acupuncture Theory Acupuncture, very basically, is the insertion of very fine needles, sometimes in conjunction with electrical stimulus, on the bodys surface, in order to influence physiological functioning of the body (1). At the basis of acupuncture, is the theory th... ...nism of Acupuncture http//www.acupuncture.com/Acup/Mech.htm7)Neuronal Possibilities , Neuronal plat http//dubinserver.colorado.edu/prj/kcr/p07.html8)Beyond Endorphins , Endorphins in Pain Mediationhttp//www.chi ro.org/places/ABSTRACTS/Beyond_endorphins.shtml9)Mechanism of Acupuncture Beyond Neurohumoral Theory http//users.med.auth.gr/karanik/english/articles/mechan.html10)Dr. L. Soh , Beyond Endorphins in Acupuncture Analgesiahttp//www.ozacupuncture.com/drlsohs.htm11)Pain Perception http//www.mhhe.com/biosci/ap/saladin/nervous/reading10.mhtml12)Chronic Pain Solutions The scientific Basis Of Acupuncture http//www.chronicpainsolutions.com/acupuncture.htm13)Molecular Insights into the Problem of Pain http//www.painstudy.ru/pe3/molecular.htm14)What We Know About Pain http//www.nidr.nih.gov/slavkin/pain.htm