The Truth about Acupuncture, Chinese herbs and Inflammation

Summary: Disorders of inflammation can be caused by foreign particles or your body’s unbalanced immune system. Acupuncture and Chinese herbs can not only strengthen the immune function, but can balance it as well depending on your body constitution type and which organs are not balanced. Inflammation is always linked with heat: external or internal heat. Stress, energy blockage, spicy food, alcohol, too much histamine, injuries and medications can make your body produce internal heat. This can explain why some people have no symptoms when they are infected with Covid-19, while other people will produce a lot of thick mucus damaging their lung function because of too much internal heat and unbalanced immune function.

Your body has its mechanism to fight infection and foreign particles like bacteria and viruses. Inflammation is the body’s defense mechanism, which is orchestrated by small proteins called cytokine. There are two groups of cytokines; one group promotes the inflammation, while the other group has anti-inflammatory effect. However, in some cases like rheumatoid arthritis, MS and colitis, the unbalanced immune system triggers an inflammatory response even if there are no foreign particles to fight off.

A healthy immune system is also connected with a balanced nervous system. That is why people who drink too much coffee and alcohol tend to develop prolonged and strong inflammation. Furthermore, anything which can trigger an abnormal histamine release such as nuts, certain kind of seeds, spicy food, dark chocolate as well as insufficient sleep can lead to chronic inflammation or autoimmune disease.

Symptoms of Inflammation

Acute Inflammation can be associated with flu-like symptoms that include fever, chills, fatigue, headache, loss of appetite, and muscle stiffness depending on where the inflammation occurs. Autoimmune disorders such as colitis, MS, Sjogren’s, Raynaud’s disease, eczema and psoriasis are all linked with chronic inflammation due to unbalanced nervous and immune systems. The body’s protective system triggers a response to damage its own tissues. Rheumatoid arthritis, Gouty arthritis, and Psoriatic arthritis are linked with inflammation in joints. The symptoms may include redness, swollen joints, joint pain, joint stiffness, and loss of joint function.

Effects of Inflammation

When virus or bacteria triggers an inflammatory response, chemicals from the white blood cells get released into the affected parts of your body to protect your body from foreign invaders. This will result in redness, swelling, pain and warmth at the site of infection. In some cases, the chemicals cause a leak of fluid into the tissues which leads to swelling. This response stimulates nerves and causes pain. In joints, the increased number of white blood cells and inflammatory substances may cause irritation, pain and swelling of the joints. As a result, the cartilage of the joints wears down and people will have joint pain.

Acupuncture in Inflammation

Acupuncture is based on the principle of the energy flow in the body which maintains a healthy balance. This energy flow is called qi, pronounced as chi, and its imbalance will result in diseases and discomforts. This energy flow is accessed in more than 450 acupuncture points along several pathways called meridians. A trained acupuncturist identifies the acupuncture points that can influence the disease sites and inserts very thin needles along the meridians. This process balances the flow of the energy and improves the blood flow. This will result in reducing the symptoms, healing of infection and normalization of the body’s immune system. The anti-inflammatory effect, antioxidative effect and regulation of the immune and nervous system can help the body clear up the inflammation to protect the tissues.

Research, as published in PubMed, indicate that acupuncture alone or when combined with other treatment modalities can be beneficial to the clinical conditions of Rheumatoid arthritis, an inflammatory disease. There were no adverse effects reported and the study concludes that acupuncture can improve function and quality of life. This study on the clinical efficacy of acupuncture on Rheumatoid arthritis can be accessed in PubMed, (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5925010/).

Editor: Barry Pattern