Relieve Pain With This Needle: Acupuncture 101

With Guest Rula Giosmas

While acupuncture still has its fair share of skeptics who call sticking needles in someone to cure ailments a sham, there’s no denying the technique also has grown in popularity in the United States, especially after the World Health Organization gave it the thumbs up in its effectiveness against 28 ailments in 2003. Dr. Giosmas boasts that she cures migraine sufferers.

“They have migraines for 20 years,” she said. “They come. We put them on a certain diet. They get the treatments. They get the herbs and they go away. People are so shocked when I tell them ‘cured.’ … Eight times out of 10, we cure patients (with asthma).”

And Dr. Giosmas may save her patients from serious health issues down the road as she helps them balance their yin and yang.

“Many times, if I check your tongue and your pulse, I can pick up problems and diseases years before they even show up on blood work or you have any symptoms,” she said. “That’s why (acupuncture) is a form of preventive medicine.”

Some insurance plans even cover acupuncture these days. One of the oldest healing practices in the world, acupuncture dates back over 2,500 years and involves the insertion of tips of needles at specific points on the skin to influence the flow of qi, the energy that fuels the body, mind and spirit, along the body’s energy pathways, called meridians. According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey, an estimated 3.1 million adults and 150,000 children in the U.S. had used acupuncture in the previous year. An increasing amount of conventional practitioners now steer their patients toward it.

Randy Johnson, who recently retired after 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, was a fan during his playing days. Military doctors are embracing the practice as a way to treat injured soldiers. And last year, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, consistently named one of the top pediatric facilities in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, teamed with Yo San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to create the Pediatric Acupuncture Program to help children manage chronic pain. Though it’s not just pain that bothers youths.

“In children, we see asthma (and) allergies,” Dr. Giosmas says. “Believe it or not, children do get stressed out. A lot of times, they have stiff necks and shoulders. I couldn’t believe it, three- and four-year-olds with so much stress. A lot of time they don’t know that they’re supposed to go to the bathroom every day. They don’t tell their mom that they’re constipated.”

Dr. Giosmas says acupuncture can also help those with fertility problems – and in a less expensive way than Western medicine. Those with a poor sex drive and skin disorders may also benefit from acupuncture, she says.

She’s found that some of her patients who don’t like to take any medicine turn to acupuncture. If the sight of a needle freaks you out, don’t fret. There are alternatives for the alternative: Chinese herbs and exercise. Dr. Giosmas says certain herbs can work better than acupuncture.

Although the costs of acupuncture and prescribed herbal medicine are deductible medical expenses, the costs of regular visits to an acupuncturist can add up quickly. And in today’s economy, everyone is looking to save a buck whenever possible. One alternative to acupuncture is qigong, a form of exercise that stimulates the entire body and is thought to heal. Call it moving meditation. Hundreds of thousands of Americans and more than 60 million Chinese practice qigong daily. Dr. Giosmas, who also teaches the activity, recommends taking classes or following a DVD. The gentle, flowing movements in sync with deep breathing rhythms and visualization techniques enhance the flow of qi.

“It’s so powerful,” she says, “that some in China believe in qigong more than acupuncture and herbs.”

While acupuncture still has its fair share of skeptics who call sticking needles in someone to cure ailments a sham, there’s no denying the technique also has grown in popularity in the United States, especially after the World Health Organization gave it the thumbs up in its effectiveness against 28 ailments in 2003. Dr. Giosmas boasts that she cures migraine sufferers.

“They have migraines for 20 years,” she said. “They come. We put them on a certain diet. They get the treatments. They get the herbs and they go away. People are so shocked when I tell them ‘cured.’ … Eight times out of 10, we cure patients (with asthma).”

And Dr. Giosmas may save her patients from serious health issues down the road as she helps them balance their yin and yang.

“Many times, if I check your tongue and your pulse, I can pick up problems and diseases years before they even show up on blood work or you have any symptoms,” she said. “That’s why (acupuncture) is a form of preventive medicine.”

Some insurance plans even cover acupuncture these days. One of the oldest healing practices in the world, acupuncture dates back over 2,500 years and involves the insertion of tips of needles at specific points on the skin to influence the flow of qi, the energy that fuels the body, mind and spirit, along the body’s energy pathways, called meridians. According to the 2007 National Health Interview Survey, an estimated 3.1 million adults and 150,000 children in the U.S. had used acupuncture in the previous year. An increasing amount of conventional practitioners now steer their patients toward it.

Randy Johnson, who recently retired after 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, was a fan during his playing days. Military doctors are embracing the practice as a way to treat injured soldiers. And last year, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, consistently named one of the top pediatric facilities in the nation by U.S. News and World Report, teamed with Yo San University of Traditional Chinese Medicine to create the Pediatric Acupuncture Program to help children manage chronic pain. Though it’s not just pain that bothers youths.

“In children, we see asthma (and) allergies,” Dr. Giosmas says. “Believe it or not, children do get stressed out. A lot of times, they have stiff necks and shoulders. I couldn’t believe it, three- and four-year-olds with so much stress. A lot of time they don’t know that they’re supposed to go to the bathroom every day. They don’t tell their mom that they’re constipated.”

Dr. Giosmas says acupuncture can also help those with fertility problems – and in a less expensive way than Western medicine. Those with a poor sex drive and skin disorders may also benefit from acupuncture, she says.

She’s found that some of her patients who don’t like to take any medicine turn to acupuncture. If the sight of a needle freaks you out, don’t fret. There are alternatives for the alternative: Chinese herbs and exercise. Dr. Giosmas says certain herbs can work better than acupuncture.

Although the costs of acupuncture and prescribed herbal medicine are deductible medical expenses, the costs of regular visits to an acupuncturist can add up quickly. And in today’s economy, everyone is looking to save a buck whenever possible. One alternative to acupuncture is qigong, a form of exercise that stimulates the entire body and is thought to heal. Call it moving meditation. Hundreds of thousands of Americans and more than 60 million Chinese practice qigong daily. Dr. Giosmas, who also teaches the activity, recommends taking classes or following a DVD. The gentle, flowing movements in sync with deep breathing rhythms and visualization techniques enhance the flow of qi.

“It’s so powerful,” she says, “that some in China believe in qigong more than acupuncture and herbs.”