Acupuncture is a therapeutic means of treatment for a very wide variety of ailments. It serves as an anesthetic when we perform surgery. We use it to treat all forms of paralysis, pain and bodily imbalances or blockages such as those that the 'dystonias' represent. Acupuncture allows us to avoid the side-effects commonly encountered in Western drug therapy and surgery. Today the percentage of North Americans going to Chinese doctors for acupuncture treatment is rapidly rising. This is because people are learning that our medicine really works.

Patients are often curious about how acupuncture works. The answers are not as simple and straightforward as one might wish. This is because acupuncture has several effects all at once, and there are some highly complex interactions between them.

First is the analgesic, pain relieving effect. Acupuncture raises the pain threshold. It matters little where the pain holds sway. Acupuncture can effectively relieve most pains, whether they come from headache, fallen arches or anything in between. University of Toronto physiologist, Dr. Bruce Pomeranz has shown that acupuncture stimulates the body to produce several pain-blocking neurochemicals. It can stimulate pain blockers at the pain site, and also in the brain (Guinness 1993:46).

Second is the sedation effect. Acupuncture relaxes people. They often fall asleep during treatment and then wake up refreshed. Brain waves slow down, delta and theta wave activity decreases. This is a useful effect for treating nervous disorders, insomnia, anxiety, hysteria, addictions, epilepsy, and the like. We think the effect impacts especially on the midbrain's reticular formation and on the brain's basal ganglia (where chemical imbalances produce Parkinson's disease and the dystonias). One impact is to increase the brain's available store of dopamine, a shortage of which is implicated in several mental disorders, in Parkinson's, and dystonia.

Third is the homeostatic or self-regulatory effect. This helps the body adjust the internal environment toward the outside environment and helps the body maintain a state of balance. Maintaining this balance requires a complementarily within the autonomic nervous system and the endocrine system. Also the body must perform specific homeostatic functions, such as breathing, heart rate, temperature, ionic blood balance, rat of sweating, etc. Many diseases affect these. When we get sick we take our temperatures. This tells us roughly how much the homeostatic balance has become deranged. When a disease disturbs any of these delicate balances, acupuncture can intervene powerfully to help restore equilibrium.

The fourth effect of acupuncture is its enhancement of the immune system. There is an increase in the blood's white corpuscles, and in several other factors that constitute or affect the body's natural resistance to disease. The entire immune system gets a boost. For example, scientists think the increase in the body's interferon levels increases resistance to infections and perhaps even resistance to the onset of malignant disorders.

Fifth, there is a psychological calming and tranquilizing effect. It goes far beyond mere sedation. We do not fully understand how this works. Here re few facts. This effect has nothing to do with hypnosis or auto-suggestion. It is also not the same as the well-studied placebo effect, because it can be seen in animals as well as humans. This psychological calming must have a positive impact on the patient's general ability to cope. It is an important result of acupuncture.

Finally, there is acupuncture's boost to the rate of motor recovery in patients suffering from paralytic and spasmodic conditions. Acupuncture regularly helps patients who have tried all other therapies without success. Why does acupuncture work where other thrapies fail? Various researchers have put forward answer, when it eventually becomes widely evident, is likely to be very complex.