Acupuncture is probably one of the oldest forms of Oriental Medicine and it is widely practiced Miami alternative medicine. Nowadays, due to the popularity of acupuncture, other forms of acupuncture have developed from other parts of Asia. Here are some of the acupuncture types:
- Korean Acupuncture- This type of acupuncture is probably the least known among western patients but Korean acupuncture has a rich tradition. One aspect of Korean acupuncture is placing the needles in the hand that one can treat all of the organs. This is believed to be a very powerful treatment modality.
- Japanese Acupuncture- This type of treatment is well known in the west and this originated from the teachings of Keiko Matsimoto. She emphasized that physical touching of the body particularly the abdomen for diagnosis. The treatment methods used in Japanese acupuncture often follows the principle of extraordinary vessels and the needles are often placed shallower than in TCM. In Japan, herbs are prescribed by an M.D. so acupuncturists will rely on sophisticated needling techniques.
More than anything Oriental Medicine is considered a clinical science. There are over thousands and thousands of books written about Chinese Medicine. Aside from that, there are books about theory, herbology, acupuncture and case studies. Unfortunately the only downside about these books is they are written in Chinese and other Asian languages. This is mostly the reason why Oriental Medicine has yet to be accepted as a Western science.
In Asia it is considered immoral to withhold a treatment from a patient if it is believed it will help. For that reason there are few “control-group” studies in the 2000 years of Oriental medicine. The control-group is a mainstay of western scientific proof.
Oriental diagnosis does not neatly translate into western diagnosis. A disease category such as asthma has a dozen or more causes in Oriental Medicine. “Asthma” could be from Cold Excess, Heat Excess, Heat Deficiency, Excess Above-Deficiency Below, etc… Each of these has a completely different treatment strategy and uses different herb formulas and acupuncture points. The medicine itself demands that the treatment is modified according to each patient. In addition, the acupuncture or herbs change with the progression of the disease or cure. It would be bad medicine to prescribe the same herbs over a series of treatments when the patient’s conditions change.
The constituents of the herbs are so complex that it will take years to analyze them. Most herb formulas use about one to 20 types of different herbs. These are used in differing amounts according to the signs and symptoms of the patient at that time. A single raw herb used in a formula may contain a dozen or more chemical constituents.
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