By Wohaula staff
Can you share with us some of the things that can be treated by the acupuncture?
There are many schools of acupuncture. Depending on the make and thickness of the needle, you have plum flower acupuncture (梅花针*）which uses many smaller needles. You also have traditional acupuncture which uses needles about 2 inches long. Then you have silver needle （银质针*）, which uses needles far thicker and longer. Silver needle is a new category which is highly effective in loosening up the muscles.
Depending on where the needle are applied, you have the head needles （头针*）, the neck needles（项针*）, the eye socket needles（眼针*）, the ear needles （耳针*）etc. No matter where the needles are applied, they all aim at stimulating the nerve system and internal circulation to restore balance.
Acupuncture can be very helpful in treating cardiovascular disorders, hormonal imbalance and restoring neurological impairments like stroke. It is not for everything. It may not be the right treatment for tumor and infection.
Acupuncture can help reduce the muscle spasm and pain which can go very long way to compliment physical therapy, making it far more effective. Therefore, it could accelerate the stroke recovery.
Another area acupuncture could help a lot is vocal cord recovery. Vocal cord paralysis is one of the most common and painful symptoms stroke survivors have to deal with. It keeps them from swallowing normally. Therefore, the person has a difficult time eating and drinking. When the person talks, the voice is so low that it is barely audible.
When I got sick, my voice was so weak that if you placed a voice recorder just three feet away from me it would pick up nothing. My speech therapist were probably the best. They worked very hard and laid a solid foundation. However almost a year passed and I still could not talk normally.
However, I have been lucky to receive very good acupuncture along my recovery. It first solved my phlegm problem. When the Hospital sent me home, each night, I would use up one full box of Kleenex to wipe off the phlegm. After 2 sessions of acupuncture the phlegm overflow was stopped. Later, acupuncture restored my voice. Today, my voice is almost back to normal and without acupuncture it is not possible.
What are the benefits of acupuncture?
First, in states like California, acupuncture is covered by insurance. It is one of the most available, affordable and effective treatments for stroke and neurological impairments.
Second, acupuncture does not inject any chemicals into one's body, therefore it does not have long term side effects.
Inside our body, there is a blood brain barrier. This is how Wikipedia describes it:
The blood–brain barrier (BBB) is a highly selective permeability barrier that separates the circulating blood from the brain extracellular fluid (BECF) in the central nervous system (CNS). The blood–brain barrier is formed by capillary endothelial cells, which are connected by tight junctions with an extremely high electrical resistivity of at least 0.1 Ω⋅m.[1] The blood–brain barrier allows the passage of water, some gases, and lipid soluble molecules by passive diffusion, as well as the selective transport of molecules such as glucose and amino acids that are crucial to neural function. On the other hand, the blood–brain barrier may prevent the entry of lipophilic, potential neurotoxins by way of an active transport mechanism mediated by P-glycoprotein. Astrocytes are necessary to create the blood–brain barrier. A small number of regions in the brain, including the circumventricular organs (CVOs), do not have a blood–brain barrier.
However it could cause a problem for brain treatment because the drug molecules also have to penetrate the blood brain barrier in order to be effective. The compromise is inevitable.
Acupuncture is a direct stimulation in that it could totally bypass the blood brain barrier.
Acupuncture has been crucial in my recovery. It restores my balance, my voice and muscle strength, allowing me to walk a lot better. Acupuncture allows me to walk a lot better.
How can one tell a good doctor?
The difference between a top rate acupuncture doctor and a mediocre one is like day and night. Picking the right acupuncture doctor is crucial to recovery.
You should follow the same process to choose any trusted professional. The focus is primarily on two things:
1. First, a solid theoretical foundation. This can be achieved through 4 years of rigorous college level training, ideally in mainland China or Taiwan with a degree in herbal medicine or acupuncture.
2. Second, long time practice under an accomplished master. Knowing where the meridian points are does not make a qualified acupuncture doctor. One has to know how deep the needle should go, what meridian points work together, how to handle different symptoms etc. Such knowledge is only passed on through apprenticeship. Apprenticeship to acupuncture is like residency to Western Medicine.
Most practicing acupuncturists did not come with the college training mentioned above. Some went through a trade school like training program just to get a license. If you look for someone to give you a relief for back pain for 2 weeks, this might be okay. However, if you look for someone to help with stroke recovery, then the screening process has to be far more selective.
Many research programs trying to find out the effectiveness of acupuncture do not have a rigorous screening process over the acupuncturists. This is like doing an analysis on restaurant industry assuming Morton Steak and McDonalds are equals. The sample data became very biased to start with. Of course, no one should be surprised to learn that they always conclude acupuncture ineffective in healing stroke.
Note: * original Chinese character
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