How do we evaluate the health of a person who’s going to receive an Acupuncture treatment?

What are Yin and Yang?

What are the five elements?

What are vital Substances?

How do we lose our health?

How can Acupuncture help us?

Does Acupuncture hurt?

Can the needles transmit infections such as VIH or hepatitis?

Are Acupuncture treatments very long?

Are the treatments expensive?

Can it affect other medical cares?

How do we evaluate the health of a person who’s going to receive an Acupuncture treatment?

During the exam, we get some information about the person’s symptoms; we examine the tongue, the face’s colour in its different areas as well as the form it has, the eyes, the nose, the cheekbones, the forehead, the mouth, the ears (…). The smell is also important, but due to our hygiene and the use of perfumes it isn’t usually determinant in our society.

The way you walk, the way you express yourself, the tone of your voice and a long list complete a deep analysis of the kind of energy a person has and the imbalance point this person suffers.

Pulses taking on the radial artery is completed by the taking on the carotid (very ancient Korean pulses), and is used to know the Yin and Yang situation. In addition to the five elements condition, the pulses will allow us to analyse the energetic condition of internal organs and, finally, to determine the global health condition.

Through this methodology, we will be able to know whether the cause is an internal, external or mixed one, if it’s an acute one or a chronic one, if its origin is in genetics, in the Anterior Sky (T.C.M.) or if it’s born in the Posterior Sky.

What are Yin and Yang?

It isn’t anything about mysticism, against what some Occidental sectors think.
           
This description may not be important from an occidental, Cartesian point of view. However, if we penetrate into the Yin-Yang study and we rely on the ancient experts’ erudition, it would be difficult to estimate a person’s energy levels without using this worthy instrument.

This methodology starts from two poles: Yin and Yang, which oppose each other and at the same time have an interdependent relationship (female-male; night-day; matter-energy, and so on). This ancient method provides depth, meticulousness and precision allowing us to know the excess or lack of “Qi” energy in our body, and its lack or excess in the different meridians. That way, we will have the possibility to determine the danger of the symptoms whatever the imbalance is.

What are the five elements?

The Chinese way of defining the whole, (the ten thousand), is told to be born from the Yin-Yang tandem, that means, from energy or Full Fire interacting with the Universe Primitive Matter. The T.C.M. resumes these 10000 in just five Movements or Elements: Fire, Earth, Metal, Water and Wood.

These 5 dynamic qualities work together and build the whole Universe. Regarding human being, every one of those 5 Elements has two correspondents, internal organs: one of them belong to Yin and the other one to Yang.

In their working tandem, they establish two laws: “Generation and Dominion”. They both keep in balance, but if they lose a part of this harmony, another law will appear. This new law is named “Against Dominion Law” and it will be crucial to determine how much health we lose.

The five elements are represented as follows:

What are vital Substances?

Vital substances in T.C.M. are: “Qi”, Essence or “Jing”, Blood, Body Fluids and “Shen” or Spiritual Mind.

Qi-Energy is the origin of all human beings. It’s derived from two main sources: the food we eat and the air we breathe. It’s responsible of every one of our movements: not only the volunteer ones, but also the ones which are unaware.

Jing Essence is derived from the energy we inherent from our parents; it’s stored in our kidneys and its capacity is limited. If that heredity is strong enough, it would allow us to have a healthy lifetime, but only if we don’t waste it.

Blood is the fluid that nourishes and moistens the body. It also contains the Shen (spirit).
           
Shen is the least dense of all Qi forms. It’s the spirit and it’s stored in the heart, next to blood.

There are two kinds of Body fluids: “Jin” fluids: lighter and pourer liquids (sweat, saliva, mucus) and they appear on the external part of our body. On the other hand, “Ye” fluids are denser and nourish the internal organs: brain, joints, spine and medulla.

Jing, Shen and Qi have been named “The Three Treasures” and they all integrate our health’s cornerstone.

How do we lose our health?

The T.C.M. divides the illness’ causes into categories. To sum up:

Internal causes which distinguish among emotions, such as resentment, anger, fear, sadness (…). These emotions, when held in excess, are considered harmful and come into illness if we ignore or repress them for a long time.

External causes, related to atmospheric stressors. The most important are: Wind, Cold, Heat, Humidity and Dryness.
The climate extremes, the estrange conditions for a season and the union of two or more of those agents make us more vulnerable against the arrival of those agents at our body. That can cause energetic imbalances which directly drive to illness.

Mixed causes are, for instance, nourishment, exercise, rest, sexual behaviour and traumas. It’s important to wonder if we follow a correct way of eating according to our necessities, if we rest long enough, if we appropriately exercise and if we should work shorter. These questions will help us to discover the origin of our problems. From that point, we will be able to change our habits and improve our health.

How can Acupuncture help us?

Through Acupuncture we can treat several, general diseases as, for instance:Respiratory and lungs diseases.

• Digestive and intestinal diseases.
• Eye-ear-nose-mouth-throat diseases.
• Gynaecological diseases.
• Muscle pain and arthritis.
• Neurological diseases.
• Acute, sudden diseases.
• Skin diseases.
• Reproductive (infertility) and urinary diseases.

Does Acupuncture hurt?

Needles insertion is hardly felt at all as they’re made from stainless steel and they are about the thinness of a hair. Furthermore, they are inserted with a special applicator’s help. In Handpunctures’s case, the needles are even thinner and they can also reduce the painful points.

Can the needles transmit infections such as VIH or hepatitis?

We use disposable one-time-use sterilized needles made from stainless steel and they are sterilized in the same way as any surgical instrument. We haven’t found one documented case where a needle has transmitted infectious disease. There aren’t any risks, so that it’s completely safe.

Are Acupuncture treatments very long?

It depends on the kind of problem and the condition of the person. In T.C.M., we don’t treat illnesses, but people because the individual causes are always determinant in what the long of the treatment refers.
Generally, chronic diseases take some more time than acute ones.

Are the treatments expensive?

Generally, they aren’t very expensive; also, the fact of stopping medical cares and drugs equalized the economical aspects.

Can it affect other medical cares?

Absolutely not. Not only aren’t there any negative effects, but they can also be used in tandem, helping that way the results improvement.