Acupuncture

The Chinese and other eastern peoples have been using acupuncture to restore, promote and maintain good health for about 2500 years. Stone needles were originally used, and later bronze, gold and silver needles. The first medical account of acupuncture was ‘The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine which dates from about 300 BC. Acupuncture is rooted in the Daoist philosophy of change, growth, balance and harmony, and this text outlines the principles of natural law and the movements of life - yin and yang, the Five elements, the organ system and the meridian network along which acupuncture points are located. Amazingly, these records also contain details of pathology and physiology which provide the theoretical foundation for acupuncture today, some 2000 years later.

Acupuncture practice was gradually developed and refined. During the Ming Dynasty (1368 - 1644), the famous Chinese herbalists Li Shi Zen published his 50-volume 'Compendium of Materia Medica', as well as a study of the Pulse and the Extraordinary Meridians But from the mid-seventeenth century there was a decline in acupuncture and herbalism which coincided with the increasing influence of Western ideas on China.

Although acupuncture was always practised in rural communities, it was not until after the Liberation and the establishment of the People's Republic in 1949 that there- was a great resurgence of interest in it at a national level. During the Cultural Revolution (1966-76) with the persecution of surgeons and doctors practising bio medicine, traditional Chinese medicine was give new opportunities to develop. Today acupuncture is used far more extensively in China than in the west in a hospital-based system with facilities for treating acute as well as chronic cases. The national policy is to pursue both Systems side by side, with extensive clinical research.

In Britain, serious study of traditional acupuncture did not develop until the 1950s and early 1960s. They were made either through Europe or through direct contact with teachers and schools in Taiwan, Korea and elsewhere. The serious students of acupuncture came from the ranks of those who were already interested in, or actually practised, natural medicines - osteopaths, homeopaths and naturopaths. To many it seemed that traditional Chinese medicine had formalised and set down many of the concepts they had found through their own experience.

Over the last 20 years there has been a dramatic rise from just a handful of qualified acupuncturists to over 2000 registered with The British Acupuncture Council (BAcC). The Council was formed in 1995 as an amalgamation of five separate organisations, who agreed that one body should represent and govern their professionally qualified traditional acupuncturists in all aspects of their work. The BAcC maintains common standards of education, ethics, discipline and codes of practice to ensure the health arid safety of the public at all times. Members carry insurance in the same way as doctors do. The training of member acupuncturists is regulated by the British Acupuncture Accreditation Board which is currently chaired by Dudley Tee. Training is for a minimum of two years full-time or its equivalent on a part-time basis.

Acupuncture is becoming increasingly popular in the United Kingdom as more people seek and find its benefits in promoting health as well as managing illness.