Acupuncture History
The History.
Acupuncture is a non-pharmaceutical treatment with simple application, has a wide range of use, good curative effect, and low cost.
The cultural exchange between China and other countries has promoted a global interest in this subject; one could even say the interest in this oldest holistic medical method has come full circle after so many thousand years, ancient to modern.
Acupuncture is an important part of Traditional Chinese Medicine and is recorded as at least four thousand years old. Over the past 2500 years medical scholars in each age have contributed to the development and refinement of this wonderful art in China, and it is respected throughout the world as an ancient art that has evolved through time into a unique system.
1000 yrs BC is the oldest record of acupuncture on bone etchings. The period of establishment in ancient China is - 21st-3rd century BC; Xia, Sheng, Zhou dynasties in the autumn & spring periods. In the ancient literature there are records regarding the use of stone needles (long before iron casting.) The discovery of stone needles and medical tools as funerary objects in Stone Age burial mounds brings right up to date the legends regarding acupuncture from the ‘clan commune period’ of primitive society - the period before the written word - which lasted up until about 4,000 years BC.
The Han prince’s tomb, Liu Sheng, (113 BC) contained gold acupuncture needles. One such legend, that of a doctor ‘Bian Que’, tells of the physician portrayed mythically as half-man, half-bird, who came upon a supposedly dead prince. Bian Que noted flaring of his ala nasi [a diagnostic indicator] and treated the prince by administering herbs and needling the well established point for ‘wind invasion’ which is Governor Meridian no: 20. Wind Invasion is a term used to describe amongst other diseases, bronchial & respiratory tract infections.
According to the legend the prince made a miraculous recovery. Although I have not seen this particularly mentioned miracle myself … but I have frequently witnessed the common cold stopped ‘dead’ in its tracks (excuse the pun) using this point of GV 20 with others myself, before it could turn into a more problematic condition, as you can imagine I am very popular at such times in my family!
The Dutch philosopher Benedict Spinoza (1632-1677) gives a description of pain thus; “A localised form of sorrow.” The accidentally pulled ligament or broken bone causes more modern expletives these days, but fortunately can still receive this treatment from a gentler time!
Modern medicine is beginning to understand what the ancients knew without having the jargon to describe it - that endorphins released by the stimulation of acupuncture needles can reduce pain, and in extremes this knowledge is also used in modern hospitals to anesthetize areas for surgical use.
Many years ago I had a young friend who told me of her leg being amputated after an accident using this method, together with hypnosis, because of her inability to tolerate the chemicals otherwise needed.
I was not incredulous at that time because I had already read at that time an article by a vet from the then Manchester Zoo who went to China in the 1960’s and witnessed operations on animals in this way.
Acupuncture went into a decline during a political period of Chinese isolation, but the revival of TCM in 1949 brought about by Mao Tse-tung after the War of Liberation, meant that the much valued knowledge, once passed abroad, was returned to its homeland by its faithful adherents.
The University of Beijing, which is now very much in the forefront of international training, proudly exhibits its name on TCM Diplomas.
Location: Reepham in Norfolk, East Anglia, is about 20 minutes from the outskirts of Norwich. Appointments are made by telephone: 01603 879126
The cost of treatment is dependant on the monetary resources of the client. I have helped many people through the holistic healing approach, from the busy man working all day in his office, who has a hidden fear of public speaking, to the retired farmer who’s back pain has troubled him all his working life.
If unable to answer the phone I will ask you to leave a message speaking slowly and clearly, and give your contact number so I can return your call as soon as is possible.