This month's article on Acupuncture comes to you from Tina Underwood. Tina created the award winning Arthritis Net to help others deal with life with arthritis. She has now moved on to create Arthritis Insight , a three-person partnership created of combined skills and insights. Tina shares with us her Cecil Award winning journalistic style and the unique insights that only a young mother with severe arthritis can have. The general theory of acupuncture is based on the premise that there are patterns of energy flow through the body that are essential for health.
Illness can cause an imbalance in qi, and an out of balance qi can cause pain or illness.
The acupuncturist is able to influence health and sickness by stimulating certain areas along these meridians to restore the flow of qi. Most folks think of acupuncture and picture thin needles. But there are several different methods that can be used to stimulate the more than 300 acupuncture points that lie along the meridians. Heat, herbs, magnets, pressure, lasers and even bee stings or any combination may be used. Depending on what condition you are attempting to treat, acupuncture just might be effective for you.