Acupuncture For Asthma - Fact Or Fiction?

Acupuncture For - Fact Or Fiction?
By Rebecca Prescott

Acupuncture for may sound like an odd combination. One
is a common disease that affects approximately 20 million
Americans; the other is a mysterious, esoteric, alternative
medicine technique. Lots of people have asthma, but not many
people have tried acupuncture.

But if you are an sufferer, it can seem at times that
anything - even something as mysterious as acupuncture - is
worth trying. Breathing is something that most us never think
about. It's an unconscious process and unless we're ill, we
easily get the oxygen we need. But for people with asthma,
breathing is always on their minds. There is always the chance
that an attack will leave them gasping for air. Sometime
these attacks are predictable and sometimes they are not,
sometimes they are minor and easily handled at home, and
sometimes suffers end up in an emergency room. It's no
wonder that some sufferers have turned to acupuncture for
asthma.

Asthma is a chronic disease with no cure. There are different
types of asthma, but they all produce the same signs and
symptoms: rapid breathing, sweating, rapid heartbeat, and the
uncomfortable sensation of suffocation. The exact cause of
asthma is not known (there may be a genetic factor at work), but
there is no doubt that environmental factors - cold, dust,
pollution, etc - trigger the attacks. During the attacks,
inflammation and constriction of the respiratory passages limit
the amount of air that can be inhaled, the attacks can last for
minutes or hours and as mentioned earlier, there is no cure. But
although there is no cure, there are constant efforts to find
new methods of treatment, and there are practitioners and
patients who believe that acupuncture for is the answer.

Acupuncture (the word comes from the Latin words acus, meaning
needle, and pungere, meaning to puncture) is a very old system
of medicine. It is not clear where acupuncture originates from,
but it has been most closely associated with China. In
acupuncture, very narrow needles are inserted into the skin
(just barely penetrating the surface) at certain key points in
the body. The needles are said to correct a disharmony in the
flow of energy through the body, a disharmony that is said to be
the cause of disease. Traditional, Western medicine has several
theories about how acupuncture works (e.g., it may stimulate the
release of natural pain relievers, endorphins) but has not yet
completely explained how acupuncture.

Of course, the big question is, does acupuncture work? And can
acupuncture successfully treat asthma? Well, not unlike the
search for an explanation for how works, the answers are
not clear - and they depend on whom you ask. According to
traditional acupuncturists, yes, acupuncture for is an
effective treatment, especially with in young children.
There are dozens of websites and thousands of testimonials that
all attest to the effectiveness of acupuncture as a treatment
for asthma. Acupuncture, they say, has worked where nothing else
has.

But ask the same question - does acupuncture for work -
of doctors and scientists who have been trained in traditional,
Western medicine and

scientific methodology, and the answer will
be quite different. Acupuncture, they say, is as interesting
phenomenon, but the question of how it works is less important
than the question does it work, and their answer to that is no.
There is no conclusive evidence that acupuncture for asthma
works, and a review of the scientific studies that have
attempted to answer this question have not proven acupuncture to
be a viable technique for treating asthma. If there are reports
that it works, these can be explained by the placebo effect (The
placebo effect states that medications or medical techniques/
procedures may be perceived by the patient as effective because
they believe they are effective, but there is no measurable
effect).

So can acupuncture truly help someone who suffers from asthma?
That seems to depend on your point of view. If you feel that
illness is caused by disruption in energy flow and you are
convinced by anecdotal reports, the only reasonable answer is:
try it and find out. Acupuncture for is very safe;
serious adverse effects are very rare. But if you are the type
of person who needs proof in the traditional sense, it may make
more sense to stick with the medications/therapies you are
taking and wait for solid evidence that acupuncture can help
treat your asthma.

About the Author: Rebecca Prescott presents more articles on
asthma here:
http://www.articlehealthandfitness.com/categories/Conditions-and-Diseases/Respiratory-Disorders/Asthma/
For alternative health articles, check out these:
http://www.articlehealthandfitness.com/categories/Alternative-Health/
Rebecca is a health writer for this health article directory:
http://www.articlehealthandfitness.com

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