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FitGirl: An Experience in Acupuncture

Katherine Ostrowski |
February 23, 2012 | 11:42 a.m. PST

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Is acupuncture effective on stress? (Creative Commons)
Is acupuncture effective on stress? (Creative Commons)
Acupuncture is one of the most common alternative medical treatments. 

Specialized doctors stick patients with thin needles into acupuncture points all over the body that correlate with specific organs. The needles are supposed to help improve the “Qi” or life energy that flows throughout the body and regulates organs, according to Dr. Min Hee Lee of Evergreen Herbs & Acupuncture in downtown Los Angeles. When stress or some other medical problem occurs, the Qi is blocked and organs suffer. 

Acupuncture is usually paired with natural herbal medicine. Herbs have fewer side effects than modern medication and are less stressful on the body stated Dr. Lee. Ancient Oriental Medicine uses herbs to return balance naturally without damaging the liver or organs with synthetic medication. According to Dr. Lee, acupuncture is beneficial for countless conditions such as mental disorders, back pain, hypertension, musculoskeletal disorders and chronic fatigue to list a few. 

When I went to see Dr. Lee, I claimed I had stress and anxiety, common symptons of a student during midterms. He measured my pulse and thsn asked me seemingly typical medical questions like “Do you have insomnia?” and “What are your eating habits?” After making notes in Korean, a nurse took me to a machine to measure how fast electricity ran through my different organs from the end points of my fingers and toes. The machine works by sending electrical pulses through the body’s different energy channels for each organ that the Qi flows through. The electrical pulse’s speed of flow indicates the health of the organ and the organ’s Qi. For example, Dr. Lee said my kidneys were weak because my Qi was more blocked in that channel. I did not really buy into the whole Qi, flow, channel technique, especially after Dr. Lee told me that basically all my organs are weak except for my pancreas. 

The actual acupuncture was next. Dr. Lee placed roughly 10 small needles in my hands, face, legs and feet, all the while explaining that thinking positive thoughts will decrease my stress. The needles were painless; I didn’t feel them at all throughout the 20-minute process. A nurse turned off the light, on a sunlamp and told me to relax for 15 minutes. 

Maybe it was the heat of the sunlamp, the dim room or the acupuncture but I felt slightly more tranquil than before. However, once Dr. Lee removed the needles and I went about the rest of the day, there were no significant changes in my mood, stress level or anxiety. Perhaps not having a real medical “problem” caused the ineffectiveness.  

Acupuncture, overall, might be more effective for problems like back pain or muscular issues, rather than a college student’s acute stress and anxiety. However, give this alternative medical treatment a try if you’re plagued by structural or muscular problems, but for simply stress, a massage or frozen yogurt are better and less expensive solutions. 

 

This is a new weekly health and fitness column that comes out every Thursday. If you have any questions you want to see answered feel free to email me  


 

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