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"If you are interested in success stories regarding acupuncture treatment, then I would be interested in sharing my remarkable story," begins a testimonial from Maria of Southington, Connecticut. "I was a person who tried traditional medicine first, was a suicidal, walking pharmacy, there wasn't a part of my body that didn't suffer from pain, had trouble with muscles working, and had such fluid retention, I thought the acupuncture doctor was going to turn me down. That was in Nov. 2005.

Today I am drug free, emotionally better than I have been in years, and I am able to control pain when not in a session. Traditional medicine still hasn't found out what is wrong with me, but if it wasn't for acupuncture, I wouldn't be here today." Like many other Americans, Maria found that acupuncture and Chinese medicine has an inexplicable healing power that succeeded where traditional medicines had failed.

The philosophy behind acupuncture and Chinese medicine is based around Dao (sometimes referred to as Taoism). The natural laws promote moderation, balance and harmony with our environment. The three treasures that fuel us are: Qi (energy), Shen (the spirit) and Jing (our essence). Qi manifests itself in the heart, lungs and oxygen circulating in the blood. Shen expresses itself as personality, thought, perception and self-reflexivity. The Jing is sort of like genetics, growth/development and reproduction.

Another Chinese theory is called the "Electrical" theory, which says that the body is always discharging slight magnetic energy and that Chinese acupuncture actually works by manipulating the body's electromagnetic fields, altering chemical neurotransmitters in the process. In 1999, British doctors found that collagen was a good conductor of electricity -- and Dr. Mae Won Ho concluded that "the kind of conducting water channels that more or less follow the collagen fibres may correspond to the so-called meridians of the acupuncture channels. So when you put a needle in you are giving a local electrical stimulation which then enables this positive electricity to be conducted to some distant sites."

While the Chinese medicine books have remained basically in tact for the past 5,000 years, Americans are just starting to recognize the value of alternative medicines. In California, there are now schools offering Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine classes, alongside the standard biology and chemistry. According to the Dean at Los Angeles Samra University of Oriental Medicine, acupuncture classes are always full. Perhaps exercises like Yoga and this Green Tea craze has paved the way for Chinese acupuncture and medicine. Either way, it seems Americans are thrilled with the new options for pain relief being brought to the table.

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