Acupuncture: History of Acupuncture

Acupuncture is considered one of the most important forms of therapy in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and looks back on a tradition that goes back thousands of years. This alternative healing method is also becoming increasingly popular in Western countries, especially in the treatment of mild to moderate chronic pain.

What is acupuncture?

The acupuncturist – a physician with appropriate training or alternative practitioner – treats the patient with special thin needles that are inserted into the skin. Often, this puncture site is far from the diseased organ – the way it works is explained by the principles of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The stimulus triggered when the needle is correctly placed is supposed to exert its healing or soothing influence via energy currents in the body and restore the disturbed overall balance. The main field of application of acupuncture is the therapy of pain of various origins, especially migraine, back and nerve pain, rheumatic complaints and menstrual headaches. Also treated are allergies such as hay fever, but the field of healing indications is much wider.

History of acupuncture

The beginnings of acupuncture are hard to date. It was first mentioned in literature in 90 B.C. Before that, there were already wooden figures with conduction paths (e.g., as a grave find from the early Han Dynasty) – however, it is assumed that the puncture openings, i.e., the acupuncture points, were added later. In addition, there are some stories that are probably not true, but interesting. For example, legend has it that several thousand years ago a Chinese soldier was hit by an arrow and only wounded. But the hit is said to have been not only to his disadvantage: As the wound healed, the disease of another organ is said to have receded in response to the hit. This is reckoned as the (mythological) beginning of acupuncture therapy. Another explanation about the beginnings of acupuncture includes the assumption that early humans discovered that an injury or pain could occasionally be relieved by laying on hands (other healing methods did not exist at first), massaging or pressing certain parts of the body. But since this did not help in all cases, people tried to refine this principle by using stones or bone splinters. Experience led to the development of a system, according to which points were assigned to certain clinical pictures, which then provided relief from the problem. But the Asians are probably not the only ones who discovered the healing effect of the prick therapy for themselves a long time ago: Thousands of years ago, stimulation methods (e.g., through tattoos) were also known as pain therapy in other cultures. And in the case of the glacier man “Ötzi” (dated to about 3300 BC), scientists found puncture marks and tattoos on the joints.

Acupuncture as a component of Chinese medicine and philosophy

While knowledge of the healing effects of pricking was apparently lost in Europe, acupuncture – combined with moxibustion (the burning of medicinal herbs over acupuncture points) – also became established in traditional Chinese medicine under the influence of natural philosophical currents. An important concept from Chinese philosophy is qi, which refers to the life energy that flows in all things. Equally important are the contrary currents Ying and Yang, which form a pair of opposites and to which all pairs of opposites in nature can be assigned (sunny-shady, male-female, etc.). According to the philosophy, such currents also flow in the human body and thus make life possible – and only when the currents are balanced is a person healthy. Accordingly, illness is a state of imbalance, and acupuncture is intended to restore balance by intervening in the affected pathways.

“Rediscovery” of acupuncture.

As Western influence spread through missionaries in the Asian region in the 19th century, traditional medicine there also began to falter and was soon regarded as superstition even by many Chinese. It was not until the initiative of Mao Tse Tung at the end of the 1950s (also due to the poor medical care of the population) that traditional medicine regained a higher status.The visit of the American President Richard Nixon to China in 1972 led to the Western world also taking greater notice of Asian needle therapy: the Chinese healing artists made a particular impression with the operations they performed using acupuncture instead of under anesthesia in a state of pain elimination. Quickly TCM spread in the USA and in Europe and there began to systematically research its mode of action.