The UK-based University of York Department of Health Studies did a recent study showing acupuncture’s ability to improve the condition of Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) sufferers. Although the study report showed the typical pandering that consigns alternative therapy as mere complements to mainstream Western medicine, it also revealed some interesting outcomes.
The study had 233 participants who were all suffering from IBS by an average of 13 years. In their SSS (symptom severity scores), each patient measured 100 or more. Half of them received conventional treatment plus a weekly session of acupuncture for 10 weeks while the other half was treated with conventional care only also for 10 weeks.
The one’s treated with acupuncture plus standard care manifested much better results in their SSS scores, which endured for up to a year during follow-up testing.
The question is why did the report categorize acupuncture as a potent but merely adjunct treatment for patients who had been suffering IBS for more than a decade when the study clearly shows that conventional treatment hasn’t worked at all? After more than a decade of use by these patients, the mainstream type of treatment obviously didn’t cut it.
More often than not Western modes of treatment have little to offer people suffering from IBS, which forces these people to rely on measures (such as observing their diets) to avoid setting off the symptoms.
A traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) physician will advice IBS patients to reduce their stress and watch what they eat, the same advice that Western doctors will give. But, unlike Western doctors who prescribe ineffective medications, TCM physicians treat their patients with Chinese herbal formulas and acupuncture to harmonize spleen and liver which are the underlying causes of the problem.
What is Acupuncture?
For a lot of Westerners, it is a bit difficult to understand Traditional Chinese Medicine. For Western trained doctors it’s especially hard to understand the fundamentals that underlie a 5,000-year-old healing practice. Ayurvedic medicine and TCM are both very ancient treatments. They are based on similar paradigms that are entirely different from the constructs that Western medicine is founded on.
TCM diagnoses are based on chi functions or organ energy rather than physical or biochemical causes which Western medicine relies on. TCM practitioners will prescribe herbs that are specific to the condition being treated. Acupuncture in Linwood is designed to stimulate the flow of chi energy in order to clear blockages and restore the smooth flow of blood and chi through energy channels known as meridians.
TCM practitioners are trained to determine excess, blocked, or deficient chi and how health is affected in relation to the state of chi movement. They determine health conditions by palpating the quality of your pulse with their fingers instead of invasive biopsies, X-rays, and numerous blood tests.
Also, they notice signs about your symptoms that are usually ignored by making a thorough observation of your tongue.
One would be astounded at the symptoms that could be identified with just the examination of your pulse and tongue. These practitioners can even tell you about the trend of your health trend and the consequences that would entail before any medical technology in the West can. So, we can see that when we diagnose at the levels of chi, we can detect a health issue in its early stages which, can be cured completely before it becomes a full blown physical disease.
Herbs and acupuncture are recommended for the treatment of the underlying cause of the condition as well as the symptoms. Addressing the core of the problem is one big reason why more and more people are abandoning Western conventional therapies and turning to Chinese medicine.
The pharmaceutical cartel has a very powerful hold on the FDA and the AMA and because of this the cartel can maintain its toxic monopoly that generates more sickness than cures. And, even though alternative health practices are much cheaper, the insurance industry refuses to cover them.
This unhealthy monopoly generates a way of thinking that equates symptomatic relief to a cure, never mind the side effects people have to endure from the drugs or from the dangers they are exposed to from X-rays, MRIs and CT-scans. For people who really want to stop the cycle of becoming sick and taking drugs to become even sicker, Chinese medicine is a safe, effective, and oftentimes, much more superior treatment they can turn to.