What is Acupuncture

Acupuncture is a healing technique with unknown origins which became popular in China sometime before the beginning of the common era. The oldest surviving Chinese medical texts mentioning acupuncture are over two thousand years of age.

In 1991 a natural mummy of a man who lived some time between 3350 and 3105 BCE was found in the Italian Alps. Archaeologists called him Otzi the Iceman. Otzi had a total of 61 tattoos, consisting of 19 groups of black lines, including groups of parallel lines running along the longitudinal axis of his body and to both sides of the lumbar spine, as well as behind the right knee and on the right ankle, and parallel lines around the left wrist. 9 out of the 19 groups of his tattoos are located next to, or directly on acupuncture areas that are used today. The majority of the other tattoos are on acupuncture meridians, other acupuncture areas of the body, or over arthritic joints.

Radiological examination of Otzi’s bones showed “age-conditioned or strain-induced degeneration” corresponding to many tattoed areas. It has been speculated that these tattoos may have been related to pain relief treatments similar to acupuncture. For example, the tattoos on his upper chest are placed on acupuncture points that help with abdominal pain. Since examination of his stomach showed that Otzi had whipworm, which would cause intestinal pain, such tattoos could have helped him feel some relief, which supports the theory that they were used for therapeutic purposes. If such a theory is correct, this would constitute the use of acupuncture that is at least 2,000 years older than its earliest recorded use in China.

Classical acupuncture uses the laws of yinyang (the principles of mutual support and struggle between the opposites) and wuxing (the theory of Five Phases) in its application of acupuncture therapeutics.

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1300 Industrial Blvd, Ste. 100, Southampton, PA 18966

To book, please text or call: (267) 753-5337

or email: sasha@acupunctureworks.us