Abundant Heaven

From an anatomical and physiological viewpoint, acupuncture stimulates the body’s tissues (nerves, vessels, myofascial/connective) to respond in such a way that is intended to encourage the healthy circulation of blood [18], body fluids [17], and lymph [30, 31] release of pain and stress-relieving hormones [14, 15,19, 29], as well as proper function of nerves and muscles [12, 13, 26, 32, 35, 36, 37]

​

What is classically known as an "acupuncture point" is an area of the body known to have a higher concentration of relevant tissues, primarily neurovascular bundles, to achieve a therapeutic response [16, 20, 21, 34].  A researcher from the Department of Aneasthesiology, and another from a Division of Cardiothoracic Surgery at UCLA discuss the known related anatomical tissues that correspond to traditional acupuncture points with an emphasis on nervous tissues as the primary set of tissues that transmit needle sensation.  They state, in their article Effects and mechanisms of acupuncture based on the principle of meridians.:

​

"In 1984, Dung listed the following anatomical structures found in the vicinity of acupoints: large peripheral nerves; nerves emerging from a deep to a more superficial location; cutaneous nerves emerging from deep fascia; nerves emerging from bone foramina; motor points of neuromuscular attachments; blood vessels in the vicinity of neuromuscular attachment; along a nerve that is composed of fibers of varying sizes; bifurcation points of the peripheral nerves; ligaments rich in nerve endings; and suture lines of the skull. These observations confirmed that there were no particular structures that were unique to acupoints. The prevalent finding that nerve bundles were involved in almost all such locations was also validated previously." (Zhou, Benharash. Effects and mechanisms of acupuncture based on the principle of meridians. 2014. link to paper)

​

Research shows that stimulation of the body with acupuncture also regulates the release of pain-relieving hormones [1,6, 10, 11, 19, 22, 33] anti-inflammatory compounds [2, 23], neurotransmitters [3, 16, 24], and hormones [4, 27, 28] that have broad effect on the body, but especially relieve pain and inflammation [5, 7, 25, 33]  In traditional Chinese medical terminology, which was pre-biomedicine, we would say that the needles activate and adjust the body’s ‘Qi and Blood’ in order to encourage the optimal state of the nervous system, myofascial tissues, fluids, and functional movements of a person’s body.

​

During an acupuncture treatment, you will lie on a padded table while sterile, single-use needles are inserted into the body at specific acupuncture points, which primarily are at major neurovascular bundles.  At our center in Campbell, our acupuncture treatment plans are specifically designed for the individual and their unique set of complaints and health history.  We will explain your personalized program and what treatment is recommended before beginning any treatment.  Acute or temporary illness may require only a few treatments, while chronic conditions may require several regularly scheduled treatments over several months.