1.What is Acupuncture or Acupoint-injection Therapy (AIT) ?

Acupuncture or Acupoint-injection is method of encouraging the body to promote natural healing and to improve functioning. Acupuncture is done by inserting needles at very precise acupuncture points. AIT is a combination therapy, using solutions of vitamins and Chinese herbs directly injected by hypodermic syringe into case-specific acupuncture points

2. How does acupuncture or acupoints-injection work?

The Traditional Chinese Medicine explanation is that channels of energy run in regular patterns through the body and over its surface. These energy channels, called meridians, are like rivers flowing through the body to irrigate and nourish the tissues. An obstruction in the movement of these energy rivers acts like a dam blocking energy to other parts of the body.
The meridians can be influenced by needling or by herbs injected at the acupuncture points, which unblock the obstructions at the dam and reestablish the regular flow through the meridian. Acupuncture or acupoint-injection treatments can therefore help the body's internal organs to correct imbalances in their digestion, absorption, and energy production activities, and in the circulation of their energy through the meridians.
The modern scientific explanation is that needling or herbs injected at the acupuncture points stimulates the nervous system to release chemicals in the muscles, spinal cord, and brain. These chemicals will either change the process of the diseases or they will trigger the release of other chemicals and hormones which influence the body's own internal regulatory system.
The improved energy and biochemical balance produced by acupuncture or acupoint injection results in stimulating the body's natural healing abilities, and in promoting physical and emotional well-being.

3. What is the scope of acupuncture and acupoint-injection?

This is a system that can influence four areas of health care:
1). Treatment of several medical conditions at the same time without worries about contraindications and side effects.
2). Prevention of illness, or preventing the disorders from getting worse up to the end stage.
3). Promotion of health and well-being, improving the immune system and an anti-aging effect. Whole-body approach means treating the patient by building up the whole systems' function and improving body's conditions rather than attacking the symptoms.
4). Few side effects, which is especially beneficial for patients with chronic disorders, multiple disorders or who has little or no response to the conventional western treatment. Also for those patients who reject conventional medication because of the accumulative side effects.

4. What's the difference between acupuncture and acupoint injection therapy (AIT)?

1). Patients who receive acupuncture have to lie down on the bed for about 30 minutes and take some herbal medicine at home. However patients who receive acupoint injection just lie down on the bed for a few minutes without taking any medicine at home. This is because we choose suitable herbs or vitamins to directly inject into acupoints in tinny dosages.
2). Acupuncture needles are special needle, and a special supply must be arranged; they are not available in every hospital or clinic. However, acupoint injection is performed by regular syringes and needles are available everywhere. As for medicine, the doctor can choose whatever medicine, such as natural herb, vitamin , normal saline, or even small dosage of conventional drug is available to perform the injection.
3). Acupoint injection therapy (AIT) is more effective by combining the effects of acupuncture and those of medicine. The benefits are not just greater convenience and longer and stronger stimulation of acupoints, but also more effectively using smaller doses of medicines (herbs and vitamins) as compared with regular intramuscular or intravenous injection. As the herb / vitamin is directly injected at the relevant point, the patient can recover faster . So acupoint injection is an easier, more convenient, safe, and more effective way to treat patients.

5. How can Acupoint injection therapy (AIT) successfully treat so many different diseases and bring so many miraculous health benefits?

The clinical results indicate that this combination therapy can strengthen the immune system, bring back or build up the body's systems, organs and tissues' function by regulating cell function and cellular regeneration of damaged cells. The fact is that AIT can operate on every part of the body (acupuncture points are all over the whole body). Faced with different diseases or problems or complications, we can always find acupuncture points to deal with them. According to the patient's situation, we can choose a suitable medicine ( we use Chinese herbs and vitamins) to perform the stimulant role instead of acupuncture needles. That's why AIT is useful for a wide variety of conditions.
The important thing is that we must get back to basics with our bodies, and find a more natural way to build up system and organ functions to save the body's natural enviroment, then fewer disasters, fewer diseases can attack the body. Using certain Chinese herbs and vitamins to stimulate specific acupoints can improve the whole body's blood circulation to save our bodies by giving us sufficient oxygen and nutrients we need. Finally, the body can sustain self-healing to resist new onslaughts of disease.
1). Not only does AIT provide many benefits on its own, but it also increases the effectiveness of other treatments.
2). AIT is incredible because it can help people who could not be helped by conventional treatment, nor traditional medical methods (acupuncture or taking herbs alone).
3). AIT can work on many kinds of disease, it can treat disease alone or can be combination with conventional treatment. We also often use AIT to maintain a healthy condition, for anti-aging and beauty treatment. We also help a lot of athletes to build up energy and manage damage or injury immediately before or during the competition.

AIT is a kind of fundamental treatment. Once you get your body's foundation of health strong, no disease can attack you and even when a disease comes to attack you, your body can defend itself well.

7. What is Integrative Chinese Western Medicine ( ICWM )?

The modernization movement brought Traditional Chinese Medicine into every medical school in China, to be taught along with Western medicine. The same doctors for the same patients in the same medical settings have practiced it side by side with Western medicine. For most clinical conditions, these two medical approaches are used together, and the results are usually better than either would have achieved if used alone. As part of this movement, many Western-trained doctors have devoted tremendous amounts of time and energy to scientific studies of TCM, using scientific methods to prove the effectiveness of Chinese herbs and acupuncture, which is resulting in a new type of medicine: Integrative Chinese and Western Medicine (ICWM).
This movement has resulted in three kinds of medical practice in China:
TCM, Western medicine, and Integrative Chinese Medicine. The government has continuously issued new policies to support ICWM for over 50 years. TCM has also been significantly modernised and developed.

8. How was Traditional Chinese Medicine Modernized?

One method used to modernize TCM was the creation of a terminology of pathophysiological diagnosis to match TCM's constitutional diagnosis and phytopharmacology (pharmacology of botanical products) to match the terms of Chinese herbology and acupuncture theory. In this way, language barriers between these two medical systems have gradually been overcome.
Moreover, some studies have shown the effectiveness of TCM (Chinese herbs and acupuncture) in treating newly discovered and newly defined diseases, such as HIV, Lyme disease, and hepatitis C. Although these diseases were not discussed in the classic texts of TCM, their pathophysiological and pharmacological descriptions can be used to research suitable TCM diagnoses and treatments.
The development of phytopharmacology of Chinese herbs and acupuncture means that we can use herbs and acupuncture based, not only on TCM principles, but also on the active ingredients of the herbs as well as on acupuncture meridian and points, their physiological actions, the pharmakenics (metabolism) of their active ingredients in the body, their possible toxicity and adverse reactions, and appropriate clinical dosages and treatment courses. All these studies have made TCM more modern, more scientifically based and more a effective school of medicine than ancient TCM. It can treat some newly defined diseases. Acupoint Injection therapy (AIT) is a good example of this development, as it started only 50-60 years ago with the availability of the hypodermic needle and syringe.

9. Why do most western medical doctors remain skeptical about TCM?

The skepticism voiced against Traditional Chinese Medicine has not surprised me. I myself had the same reaction when I was first introduced to TCM. In China during the third year of medical school, when we had already learned anatomy, histology, biochemistry, and pathology, we had to take one term to study the basic theory of TCM. What are yin and yang? What is the Five Elements Theory? What is acupuncture? We had to learn the basic therapy of TCM and some other Traditional Chinese Medicine concepts. We had to pass a strict examination before we could move on to further study. Even then we still remained our skepticism. We looked down on this "unscientific" medicine. When we had become residents and were faced with many practical difficulties, there were oftentimes when we found that we had no choice but to consult a TCM professor to seek help. Only then did we discover for ourselves that it really worked. So I went to Yunnan Traditional Chinese Medical school for further study and to practice TCM part- time. Reflecting back on my own early skepticism and ultimate embracing of TCM, I can well understand the suspicion of TCM by many Western-trained physicians.
However , after so many years of study and of clinical practice, now I have come to realise how lucky it was that God gave me the chance to know TCM, and how important TCM is . Keeping an open mind is most important for keeping our knowledge up-to-date and seeking cures for increasingly complicated diseases. So I am willing to dedicate the rest of my life to building up a bridge between TCM and western medicine and to using scientific clinical evidence to introduce TCM to western medical practioners.