Acupuncture: Little prick in the fast lane
When patients put their lumbago or tennis elbow into the practice of sports physician Regina Schwanitz, they probably brush their teeth very carefully. You know that her doctor not only looks for blocked joints, but also looks extensively into the throat: Is the tongue tip possibly very dry? Are the edges of the tongue swollen? Does a rubber exist?
In eight out of ten cases, the doctor then takes to thin stainless steel needles, which she puts a few millimeters deep into the patient's body. Rostock has been combining classical medicine with Far Eastern medicine for 30 years - and is now marveling at how the former outsider method of acupuncture has become a Western standard of care.
An estimated 45,000 acupuncturists now offer their arts in Germany. Since the beginning of 2007, there is the wholesome prick on chronic back and knee problems even on medical certificate. Especially when conventional medicine with its Latin is at an end, patients increasingly rely on acupuncture. Rightly? "In pain, she generally achieved very favorable results," said Dr. med. Schwanitz. "But it also helps with functional complaints, such as irritable bowel syndrome or emotional upsets."
Worldwide research is running at full speed, further applications are confirmed or rejected in studies. The method reaches its limits mainly where organs are affected and tissue is destroyed. Acupuncture does not repair broken discs, nor does it conjure back missing cartilage in the knee. But after all: who gets rid of long-standing pain and regains his old mobility, for which much has been won.
On the next page: How does acupuncture work?
Here it gets a bit complicated, because there are different explanations. In the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) model, needling restores the free flow of life energy Qi. This Qi flows through the organs on twelve main channels - so-called meridians - that span the entire body.
Important for the understanding of Chinese medicine is not least the theory of the five elements. Schwanitz: "This doctrine from Confucianism assigns all processes of change in nature to a symbolic element, such as fire or earth." The interaction of the five elements also explains, in conjunction with the Taoist opposites Yin and Yang, how the human body works. If yin and yang are in equilibrium and the qi circulates without disruption, then the person is fiddling. If there is an imbalance or is the Qi disturbed in his tracks, then he falls ill.
And here, according to TCM, acupuncture can begin. The imbalance in the energy system can be detected by examining the pulse and tongueHow Schwanitz performs them. The outermost tip of the tongue, for example, represents the heart, while the root of the tongue represents the kidney. However, strictly speaking, this tongue diagnosis has so far been unproven. No Western anatomist has yet discovered a meridian in the human body. And no X-ray machine or magnetic resonance tomograph could ever make these energy paths visible.
Moreover, recent studies nourish the suspicion that the path to the needle therapist in certain chronic diseases even more effective than the art of conventional medicine, if the practitioner does not follow the traditional prescribed acupuncture points, but needles adjacent points ("Sham acupuncture") ,
On the next page: Why does acupuncture heal?
All this has the consequence that some followers of Far Eastern medicine already break away from the traditional explanatory model. "According to the new findings, it is no longer clear which assumptions the acupuncturist must use in order to successfully treat," says Dr. Dominik Irnich, Head of the interdisciplinary pain clinic at the University of Munich.
But if Qi and meridians may only be the bridge of understanding for things that could not be explained differently more than 2000 years ago, why does acupuncture heal at all? On the one hand, the circulation at the point of needling improvesThis is how muscular tension dissolves. On the other hand, the steel needles cause nerve stimuli, which inhibit the transmission of nerve signals to the spinal cord and thus block the transmission of pain. It is also known that the mini-injuries via certain pain sensors send electrical impulses to the midbrain and the cerebrum.
As a result, the brain releases analgesic peptides and mood-enhancing messengers such as serotonin. An enormous influence on the psyche has not least the medical attention and the intensive discussion with the patientwhich is typical for the Asia-medicine.With hardly any other medical procedure, therapists treat their patients as intensively as with acupuncture.
On the next page: How do I find a good acupuncturist?
But of all the acupuncture boom could lead to this being missed out in the future. Since the health insurance companies pay for the acupuncture treatment for chronic back and knee problems, some doctors get the license to jump on a quick course and then need as on the assembly line. "Of course, the treatment results of these doctors fall significantly," said Irnich.
You should first make sure that this has at least the so-called B-diplomawhich includes 350 lessons. With non-medical practitioners or midwives, there are no standardized certificates. Not infrequently, however, their acupuncture training includes more hours than with the medical TCM-Kundigen (possibly before the doctor exclude serious illnesses). Equally important is that the practitioner makes a thorough diagnosis.
An hour or more may be the first conversation à la Chinoise. The costs then also: If the treatment is not paid by the cash, for a detailed diagnosis of TCM between 60 and 120 euros are due. Each session then beats again with around 50 euros. If, after three to five sessions, there is no significant improvement in symptoms, TCM may not be the way to go. After all, apart from rare side effects such as muscle hangover-like complaints or small bruises, acupuncture brings no unwanted side effects with it.
On the next page: These diseases are worth it
back pain Acupuncture relieves chronic low back pain more effectively than classical massages, physiotherapy or medication - a large study showed. Success sets in even when the doctor treats non-acupuncture points (sham acupuncture). While conventional medicine was able to help only 27 percent of patients, just under 48 percent of the patients were better off after ten needling appointments. Since the beginning of 2007, the needle treatment is therefore cash benefit. (Private insurance companies accept the acupuncture costs for pain disorders anyway.)
osteoarthritis pain According to the study, acupuncture in knee joint wear is also better than conventional medicine, even with sham needling. After 10 to 15 sessions, 51 percent of patients received better treatment thanks to China Therapy, and 28 percent of those treated with standard medication helped. The therapy is therefore paid by the statutory health insurance. Also in hip osteoarthritis or shoulder-arm syndrome relieves the Far Eastern medicine pain and improves mobility. However, lost cartilage does not bring back either acupuncture or classical medicine.
fertility problems When women are treated with acupuncture during in vitro fertilization (IVF), their chances of becoming pregnant increase considerably. Already two or three sessions, scheduled shortly before and after embryo transfer, raise the pregnancy rate to 36 percent. With sham acupuncture - or no additional treatment - the chances of success are only 26 percent. This is shown by a recently published meta-analysis of 7 studies with a total of 1336 women.
high blood pressure People with mild or moderate high blood pressure can noticeably lower the atu in their veins with a six-week acupuncture treatment: namely 5 mmHg systolic and 3 mmHG diastolic, If the treatment stops, the blood pressure returns to its old level after a few months. In patients with sham acupuncture, the blood pressure remained consistently high, according to the "Ärztezeitung".
On the next page: More diseases where acupuncture helps
allergies While in asthma the negative acupuncture studies outweigh, the method seems to help with hay fever well. Combined with allergy medications, quality of life improves after 10 to 15 sessions more than with medication alone. This was the result of an investigation by the Institute for Social Medicine at the Charité Berlin. Acupuncture could also prevent annoying itching, such as in contact allergies, suggests an experiment that doctors at the Department of Dermatology of the Technical University of Munich recently performed. They triggered artificial itching on the arms of the study participants. Whoever had been needlepunched felt a much lower scratching need.
Irritable Bowel Syndrome People with irritable bowel syndrome have after a five-week acupuncture treatment less stomachache, The physicians of the Heidelberg University Hospital recently determined this in studies on 43 patients, each of whom received ten needles. While the stress hormone cortisol, measured by saliva test, only decreased in the group with the real acupuncture, digestion and sleep also improved in the sham-acupunctured participants.
migraine Acupuncture makes migraine attacks less common. According to a study by the Center for Naturopathic Research of the TU Munich, attended by about 300 headache patients, The number of seizures dropped from five to two per month after twelve sessions, Acupuncture also did well in migraine in a study commissioned by the statutory health insurance funds. Nevertheless, the treatment of the coffers is usually not adopted so far.
endometriosis Unfortunately, acupuncture hardly or never helps against the pain (dysmenorrhea) and heavy bleeding associated with the uterine lining. Combined with Chinese herbal therapy, however, an observational study showed surprisingly good results: Endometriosis regressed, pain and bleeding anomalies decreased.
