I think what people mean when they ask that question is: can acupuncture be explained through science? More importantly, is acupuncture still a valid form of healthcare if science cannot explain its mechanism of action? These are the questions I’d like to touch on in this, my first actual blog post.

Can acupuncture be explained through science? The answer is yes, but not yet. Remember that science is not a system of set beliefs, but an ever-expanding process of understanding the world around us through investigation and the testing of hypotheses. Therefore, science will eventually be able to explain acupuncture if we continue to study it. Meanwhile, although it is both fair and appropriate to point out that qi, yin and yang are not concepts that can be proven in a “scientific” way (i.e. according to the principles currently understood and accepted in the scientific community), this should in no way negate the value of acupuncture to our society. In fact, this reality should only serve as a strong incentive to explore acupuncture through the scientific method, in order to gain a greater understanding of its effects on the body and expand the knowledge base of science to include these currently foreign concepts.

In recent years there has been a lot of activity toward this end, with flaring tempers and controversy on both sides of the issue (see here for a good overview of the valid attempts to scientifically explain acupuncture, or see here if you’d prefer to get all riled up). Like everyone else I have strong opinions on this subject, but for now suffice it to say that objectively speaking we cannot explain acupuncture in scientific terms.

With that in mind, is acupuncture still a valid form of healthcare? The unequivocal answer is, “yes.” Remember: our current inability to explain acupuncture’s mechanism of action through the scientific method does not invalidate the experience of billions of people over thousands of years. Instead, it is this experience that mandates scientific inquiry. In other words, all scientific discoveries are predicated by experience and circumstantial evidence – it cannot work the other way around. Through the observation of initial experiences comes a hypothesis, then an objective attempt to test that hypothesis in an appropriate setting. It is simply not true that the initial experience is invalid (or “un-scientific”) until it is explained, and indeed science could never have advanced at all if we only accepted observable phenomenon that conformed to the contemporary understanding of the world.

The classic example of this idea is gravity . Did gravity exist before Newton was able to explain its mechanism through the scientific method? Was it a mistake for every known civilization to use the effects of gravity (i.e. in agriculture, or weight training) before it was described mathematically? What would we have said to a pre-Newtonian skeptic who claimed gravity was un-scientific and should be avoided until double-blind clinical tests proved it’s efficacy in certain situations? Most importantly for our current topic: must gravity have conformed to pre-Newtonian ideas of the world to be considered valid? Obviously the answer is no. We are much better off having accepted the reality of gravity and stretching our minds to figure out how it works, rather than mandating gravity to conform to our previous understanding of the world – in fact, it seems kind of silly to suggest otherwise.

Perhaps you’re thinking that gravity isn’t a good example, because gravity is a natural phenomenon, while acupuncture is an intervention designed by human beings. In that case, a better example is might be the use of fire. The controlled act of setting and maintaining fire was, to early humans, a seemingly miraculous intervention developed over time to greater and greater degrees of sophistication. Its initial purpose was most likely to keep warm, but eventually the use of fire was expanded to easing pain and suffering, cooking food, keeping predators at bay, and lighting houses to allow socialization well past sunset (among very many other things). Can you imagine the early human who refused all the benefits of a controlled fire until s/he could draw out the process of friction heating kindle wood to its ignition temperature on the side of a cave? Would it have been a good policy for early cultures to refuse the advancement of fire until we understood its mechanism in a scientific way? On that note, would it have been sensible to demand that fire operate according to our contemporary understanding of the world, rather than change our understanding of the world to encompass this phenomenon?

In the case of both gravity and fire, we clearly gained a lot of benefit from them before they were scientifically understood. However, it is also true that those benefits were compounded exponentially as our scientific understanding deepened. I believe the same will eventually be said of acupuncture. In my view, the acupuncture community should strongly support and participate in attempts to describe acupuncture through the lens of science. Not only will doing so advance the practice of acupuncture and allow us to more effectively develop quality medical care, it will also advance science, and expand our understanding of the world.

Future topics: An Ode to Placebo, The Evolution of Acupuncture.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eEsHXG4yuvs

Find the Article Here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mercola/sugar-may-be-bad-but-this_b_463655.html

Word just got out that Karl Rabeder, Austrian Millionaire sheds his fortune and starts non-profit Mymicrocredit.org. Find the story here:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/11/karl-rabeder-austrian-mil_n_458774.html

Here you will find a short news clip telling the story of how a few acupuncturists can treat 100 people in a day, allieving people who have suffered greatly due to post-traumatic stress, surgical procedures and amputated limbs. Acupuncturists without Borders left people with the ability to smile, increased energy and relaxed. Thank you acupuncturists far and wide doing the work!

to keep informed about the trajectory of AWB’s involvement in Haiti and following up with patients in local clinics please go to www.acuwithoutborders.info

With your head up high?

Your shoulders slouched? Your gaze is direct and focused or is constantly looking from this to that throughout your day?

Wondering how you can move and hold yourself

more efficiently and without pain?!

For starters, you can come to a workshop with Beatrix Czegany LMT

at City Acupuncture of NY which starts Saturday Feb. 6th at 2pm

It’s called Stretch|Strengthen| & Find Proper Posture

Awareness to Possibility Physical Therapist Andrew Suseno

also has shed some light on the subject of postur-lating

yourself with proper alignment.

Find the article at:

www.ehow.com/how_5871183_think-posture_-move-awareness-possibility.html?shared=true

Thanks for reading!

 Please join us! 

Kundalini is interpreted as a three and half times coiled serpent sleeping at the base of the spine. It signifies creative potential energy, which when awakened will move up along the spine upbraiding and purifying the 6 chakras on the way up to the crown chakra. It is the working of the energy of the glandular system combined with the nervous system to awake the brain towards total clarity. Some people interpret the culmination of this yoga of awareness as enlightenment. This kundalini needs the concentrated life force or prana to activate it. Prana is equivalent to Qi or Holy Spirit. Prana is the universal life force.

When: Every Saturday in January 4-5:30 pm

Where: City Acupuncture of New York

What you need:  Comfy clothes and a yoga mat (or cushy towel)

Cost:  Suggested Donation $10

Teacher:  Austin Dixon L.Ac., MSTOM

 For questions contact Austin at dixon0915@yahoo.com

is an ancient Chinese System of self-cultivation

practiced for physical health, self-defense

and ultimately, spiritual enlightenment.   
 

A beautiful and mysterious art form,

Ba Gua Zhang teaches the practitioner

how to move and flow with the forces of

nature and change – essential components

in living in accordance with the Dao…

as well as providing a foundation for a happy, healthy life.  

The basic movements of Ba Gua Zhang date back thousands of years to when Daoist monks used to pray while walking in circles with their arms and hands in various postures.  This “circle-walking” exercise was originally designed to enable the monks to achieve high states of spiritual awareness as well as experience enhanced health and longevity.  Then, in the mid-1800′s, the physical techniques and philosophy (which was based on the 8 Trigrams of the I Ching) were developed into a sophisticated martial art – finally rounding out its reputation as a comprehensive and complete system involving physical, energetic, philosophical and spiritual parts.   

with Adam Sharon, L.Ac, MSTOM

Adam Sharon is a passionate practitioner and enthusiastic teacher of Ba Gua Zhang and the Chinese Internal Arts.  He has studied with some of Ba Gua’s best, including annual trips to China to train with the world-renowned Grandmaster Liu Jing Ru.   

Recently, he was accepted as a formal disciple of his main teacher, Master Frank Allen of the Wu Tang Physical Culture Association in NYC, one of the leading Ba Gua Zhang teachers and scholars in the country.   

An insightful and dedicated instructor, Adam is also a licensed acupuncturist with busy practices in Westchester County and New York City.

Saturdays starting February 6^th

^{12 noon – 1:30pm}

^{$10 – $20 sliding scale fee}

The New York Times wrote an interesting article about how acupuncture is just as effective if not more so then drugs in combating the side effects of traditional breast cancer treatments. In studying acupuncture side by side with an antidepressent drug named Effexor, they found “The acupuncture worked just as well as the antidepressant Effexor to curb hot flashes. Women who received acupuncture also reported fewer side effects and more energy, and some reported an increased sex drive, compared to women who used Effexor, the study showed”