Background of Acupuncture
The origins of acupuncture are possibly in ancient Bharath on the sub-continent of India. One of India's ancient scriptures was devoted to Ayurveda, a medicine whose practitioners were skilled in reading a subtle energy called Prana as it flowed through the body in an intricate web of channels called Srotas. Ayurvedic medicine is still practiced. Its practitioners examine the Srotas to diagnose and treat imbalances in prana. Dietary counsel, massage, exercise therapy and herbal prescriptions are among the healing methods used by Ayurvedic practitioners to restore balance and prevent disease.
Five thousand years ago in China a court physician answered questions from his king about the practice of medicine. Published today as The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, the dialogue between doctor and king describes a system of diagnosis and healing in which a subtle energy called Qi is perceived to circulate through the body along channels called meridians. The practitioner palpates Qi as it flows through the meridians to diagnose conditions of disharmony in the mind and body of the patient. Treatment proceeds by the use of diet, exercise, massage, herbal remedies and counseling, as well as by the insertion of thin metal needles at control points along meridians. All of these methods have as their purpose to regulate Qi and restore harmony among body organ networks.
The medicine described to the Yellow Emperor is today broadly termed "Oriental medicine" to account for long historical developments not only in China, but also in Korea, Viet Nam and Japan. Oriental medicine is practiced today much as it was in the Yellow Emperor's time, and its essential premise remains unchanged: harmony in the flow of Qi is a condition of health; as long as harmony prevails in the Qi as it flows along the meridians, disease can have no foothold.
French missionaries returning home from China in the 18th century are thought to have introduced Oriental medicine to the west. Thereafter, French medical doctors began to use acupuncture in their practices. Because some of the doctors were using the new science of homeopathy, which also aimed to diagnose and influence subtle energy in the body, acupuncture and homeopathy began to be used together -- a custom that is increasingly followed by Western-trained acupuncturists.
French priests returning from China may have also indirectly introduced Oriental medicine to America. While visiting in Paris in the early 18th century, a Swedish military officer named Per Henrik Ling was reportedly cured of a long-standing ailment by a priest who used a form of medical massage that he had learned in China. Returning home to Sweden, Ling persuaded the Swedish government to establish an academy to teach the Chinese procedures that had restored his health. Ling called his program "gymnastics." It combined active exercises and passive movements, guided by a masseur, into a system of physical culture.
In medical circles gymnastics was known as "The Movement Therapy," and doctors traveled to Sweden from Europe and America to learn it. In the United States movement therapy evolved into Physical Therapy and Swedish Massage.
The journalist, James Reston, brought acupuncture to the attention of the American public and the scientific community in 1972 with a front-page article in the New York Times, telling of his emergency appendectomy while accompanying President Nixon to China. Chinese doctors used acupuncture with Reston after surgery for pain control, and his recovery was swift. Curious about this, he was permitted to watch surgery with patients who received only acupuncture for anesthesia. Patients talked with their doctors during the operation and then walked back to their rooms with minimal assistance. Intrigued by Reston's report, American doctors began visiting Chinese hospitals to observe Oriental medicine being practiced. Chinese hospitals responded with training programs which soon drew professionals from many Western countries.
Among the many individuals who have contributed to the development of American acupuncture, two Chinese clinicians stand out as pioneers: Dr. James So and Myriam Lee, O.M.D. Dr. So was a Christian missionary in south China before learning acupuncture. He taught acupuncture in his own school in Hong Kong for 30 years. Then in 1972, Dr. Stephen Rosenblatt, one of his American students, brought him to UCLA to start an acupuncture research program. Later Dr. So moved to Boston where he and Dr. Rosenblatt taught a small group of students in Dr. Rosenblatt's Tai Chi school. The original training course, which was one year long, eventually became America's first school of Oriental medicine, the New England School of Acupuncture. Dr. So's students practice in many states. Like their teacher, they have often been forerunners in their profession.
Miriam Lee was a nurse-midwife in China before learning acupuncture. She practiced in Singapore for some years and then in the early 1970's moved to California. At first she worked on the assembly line in a factory helping friends and co-workers in her spare time. As word of her art spread, many sick people asked for her help. In time she built a large practice in the office of a friendly doctor, seeing as many as 80 patients in 5 hours. There being no licensing for acupuncture at that time, Dr. Lee was eventually arrested for practicing medicine without a license. But when her patients protested to their legislators and testified on her behalf, it was arranged for her to practice as a researcher at the State University. Not long afterwards, California passed the first acupuncture licensing act. Miriam Lee trained many acupuncturists in the early colleges and in her office. Her books express a deep caring for her patients, and bring forward a non-meridian form of acupuncture that predates traditional Chinese medicine.