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“Acupuncture: New Uses for an Ancient Remedy” Transcript
Six months ago, my 78-year-old grandmother was quickly losing her independence. Severe arthritis in
both knees hampered her ability to take care of herself. Shopping, getting around the neighborhood,
even walking down her front steps was becoming almost impossible. Pain medications helped
somewhat, but the side effects created their own problems.
Not surprisingly, I wanted to learn more about this treatment that produced such miraculous results for
both my grandmother and myself. Today I will share part of what I have learned by explaining what
happens when you receive an acupuncture treatment, how acupuncture works, the kinds of medical
conditions that can be treated by acupuncture, and the growing use of acupuncture in combination with
Western medical techniques. Let’s start by looking at a typical acupuncture treatment.
Acupuncture is the insertion of needles into the skin to achieve a balanced flow of energy, which in turn
restores and preserves health. To prevent any chance of contamination from one person to another,
acupuncturists in the U.S. use sterilized needles that are individually packaged and are disposed of after
a single use.
I realize that the notion of having needles stuck into you may seem frightening, but the needles are so
thin that the process is painless. Acupuncture needles are much smaller than the needles used for
drawing blood or getting shots. Here are some needles that I received from my acupuncturist. After my
speech I’ll pass them around so you can see how incredibly light and small they are. They are so thin—
about the thickness of a human hair—that you can hardly tell when they’re inserted. And there’s usually
no sensation other than pain relief once they have been inserted. After being left in for 20 or 30 minutes
while you lie in a darkened room, the needles are removed and the treatment is over.
The aim of acupuncture is to restore the open flow of energy through these meridians. This is done by
placing needles at specific points on the meridians. Altogether there are more than 1,000 acupuncture
points on the meridians. These points have been mapped out over the centuries with scientific
precision. In China there is a saying: “There is no pain if there is free flow; if there is pain, there is no free
flow.”
In light of all this, it is not surprising that a number of clinics and hospitals are combining acupuncture
with Western medicine in an effort to provide patients the benefits of both. For example, Massachusetts
General Hospital in Boston, the third oldest hospital in the U.S., has added acupuncture to its wellness
center. Positive results have also been seen at the Mattel Children’s Hospital at UCLA. Dr. Lonnie Zeltzer,
director of the hospital’s pediatric pain program, confirms that acupuncture “really does help. Most
children accept acupuncture, and in fact, really feel good about it.”
