One of the best Eastern types of healing systems that has been practiced for thousands of years and continues to rise in popularity in the West is acupuncture. For people who know very little about acupuncture, the idea of inserting needles in a person to treat health conditions such as bronchitis may be a bit odd.
Acupuncture – My First Experience
Being a newbie to acupuncture, I knew nothing about the theory underlying this holistic therapy and how and why it works. The only thing I knew then is that some of my friends really got something good health-wise from it.
My first experience with acupuncture turned out to be quite positive. I had horrible back pain that caused me many sleepless nights; one session of acupuncture and the pain went away. Since now I know that it works, I now want to find out how acupuncture works.
The Two Schools of Thought of Acupuncture
There are two schools of thought of acupuncture: Traditional acupuncture and medical acupuncture. Traditional acupuncture is the millennia-old type of acupuncture that is grounded on the ancient Eastern healing system. This type of acupuncture is based on the notion that the needles need to be stuck into specific points in the body known as acupuncture points or just acupoints that correspond to areas of the body where underlying energy channels known as meridians are located.
Traditional acupuncture believes that energy called qi flows along a dozen meridians and if the flow is either too slow or too fast, disease can arise. Practitioners of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) usually utilize some diagnostic tools to diagnose a patient’s condition and will often choose acupuncture to start treatment as well as augment it with herbal remedies.
Medical acupuncture is acupuncture’s other school of thought and experts who practice this type of therapy think that the acupuncture needles help stimulate a patient’s central nervous system (CNS) that then causes the CNS to produce beneficial chemicals and hormones.
Acupuncture Can Help with Bronchitis
A lot of those who have tried acupuncture regardless of what type of acupuncture they have chosen have stated that acupuncture can indeed help relieve the many bronchitis symptoms. Furthermore, they added that not only can it alleviate bronchitis symptoms but acupuncture can also prevent any future episodes or bronchitis from reoccurring and also it can help better the overall health of the lungs.
What Is Bronchitis?
The lungs have main airways known as bronchi. When these bronchi are infected they become irritated and inflamed resulting in the condition we know as bronchitis. The main symptom of bronchitis is a hacking cough which sometimes may be accompanied by grayish-yellow colored mucus.
Bronchitis and TCM
TCM practitioners state that bronchitis is either the result of external or internal pathogens infecting the lungs.
Seasonal pathogens relate to external pathogenic factors while problems of the specific internal organs relate to internal pathogens. Acute bronchitis is generally thought to be caused by external factors while chronic bronchitis is the result of internal factors.
Acupuncture Treatment for Bronchitis
Usually bronchitis can be treated at home. One should know that no cure for bronchitis has ever been developed yet.
Acupuncture can boost the strength of the immune system and restore balance to the whole health system of the patient resulting in optimal lung function. After completion of the entire course of treatment, the patient’s body becomes stronger and more balanced which can help repel future pathogen infections.
Acupuncture is able to lower the body’s sensitivity to physical or chemical irritants, lessen congestion and relieve the inflammation of secretions.
For acute bronchitis, a few sessions of acupuncture are typically required while for chronic bronchitis, around 10 – 15 sessions are needed.
Scott Paglia is a licensed and board certified acupuncturist in Bellingham, WA and provides master level pulse diagnosis, Chinese herbal medicine and acupuncture in Whatcom County, WA.