ACUPUNCTURE
Acupuncture builds on an over 5000 year old holistic school of thought, and is a form of treatments which seeks to rehabilitate the underlying cause of symptoms experienced. The name stems from the Latin acus, needle, and pungo, puncture. Traditional Chinese Medicine is an elaborate form of treatment which balances body and mind.
Acupuncture had many problems breaking through in established medicine, and up to 1970 very few western doctors had heard of its methodology. The vast interest in acupuncture in the west occurred in 1970-72 through Nixon’s visit to China. Since then acupuncture has received increased interest in western medicine. It started off with an interest in acupuncture as a form of anesthetic and continued with acupuncture’s possibilities the management of pain.
WHO has recently concluded a vast report on acupuncture. In addition to an international standard of terms for acupuncture, it encompasses guidelines for education, safe acupuncture practice, indications and counter indications for acupuncture and guidelines for clinical acupuncture research. These WHO “guidelines” are meant as recommendations for the national health services around the world, and places a great deal of importance on the thorough theoretical and practical education in acupuncture amongst health personnel. They also set strict standards for both hygiene and procedures for safe acupuncture practice.
