Chinese
Acupuncture

About Acupuncture

What is acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a highly logical system of healing based on astute scientific observations accumulated throughout centuries.

More than two thousand years ago, the ancient orientals said that the health of man depends on the harmonious interplay of the two vital forces know as Yin and Yang, the flow if Qi in the blood vessels and meridians, and the creation and suppression cycles of the five elements.

The ancient Oriental physician not only recognized a close relationship between the Psyche and Soma, but went further to point out specifically what type of emotional excess causes what kind of illness. For instance, fear is associated with the kidney system, anger with the liver, joy with the heart, worry with the spleen and pancreas, and grief with the lungs. Since old times, Oriental medicine has taken a serious view of the observation of the these relationships.

Nowadays, many physicians are convinced that if the sympathetic nervous systems are not in harmony with each other, illness will surely follow. Stress diseases which are so rampant today–high blood pressure, heart trouble, stomach ulcers, headaches, insomnia, arthritis, diabetes and so forth–are believed to be partly due to an impaired nervous system caused by the stress and tension of modern living.

Because acupuncture stimulations modulate the central nervous system functions directly, it is not surprising that acupuncture can treat such a wide spectrum of diseases. Recent modern medical research has implicated the central nervous system as the site of pathogenesis in a variety of disorders.

What is cupping?

Cupping has been a part of Chinese medicine for thousands of years and is practiced today by many acupuncturists and herbalists. It is often used as an alternative to acupuncture and can be applied to most of the same acupuncture points and meridians although some points may be too small for cupping.

It is used in China today primarily to treat respiratory ailments such as asthma and bronchitis but is also used for arthritis, low back pain, depression, gastrointestinal problems and many types of pain in large soft tissue areas. Sometimes cupping is used after acupuncture to further stimulate the flow of blood and qi to the area.

The general idea is to create a partial vacuum inside a cup, which is then placed on the skin. The suction on the surface of the skin from the cup stimulates blood flow in the area, relieves congestion and inflammation in the muscles and opens up pathways to eliminate toxins.

About Justin H. Kim
Licensed Acupuncturist, M.S.O.M., N.C.C.A.O.M.

Justin Kim in an experienced acupuncturist and President of the Korean-American Acupuncture Association of Illinois. A native Korean, Kim received his bachelors degree from Seoul National University. Transplanted to the United States, he earned a Master of Science in Oriental Medicine degree from the Midwest College of Oriental Medicine, with internships in patient observation, acupuncture and herbal pharmacology.

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