Complementary Alternative Cardiovascular Medicine

Chapter 11 / Acupuncture and CVD 173
energy flow. The patient immediately described a feeling of “pins and
needles” on the other side of the scar. After waiting some time, a needle
was placed in the scar in the opposite direction.
The patient then said that the “pins and needles” stopped—she felt a
calmness and a normal, comfortable feeling. At the end of the treatment,
the scar and the surrounding area were hot. On her next visit, she told the
author that the discomfort had been gone for 2 d. The treatment was
repeated, and after a few visits, the patient’s discomfort was alleviated.
If we imagine energy streaming along the meridians like water in a
river, it’s not difficult to see how a scar across the direction of flow could
cause a blockage, like a dam in a river. We can also understand how
pricking a hole in the blockage could allow the energy to flow again.
If we compare how acupuncture works with how common medical
and surgical treatments work, there is a significant difference. While
both medicine and surgery can be viewed as treatments of the symptom
or the disease through an active intervention that tries to block biological
processes, acupuncture works by stimulating the body’s own healing
resources, so that the body heals itself. I have asked patients who were
undergoing angina pectoris treatment using acupuncture what were the
effects they experienced. Although their comments can’t be taken as
proof that these things are true, they are certainly thought provoking. The
needles make them relax, so that when they face situations that normally
make them stressed and irritable and lead to angina, they instead find
they are much more relaxed. They also discover, to their surprise, that
they don’t get heart pain. They describe it as a contrast to treatment with
medicine, which indeed prevents their heart pain but doesn’t change
their feeling of stress. In addition, as with conventional treatment, they
experience an improved physical performance.
CONTEMPORARY USE OF ACUPUNCTURE
Global and Local Variation
The practice and the teaching of acupuncture vary considerably
throughout the world, from a close adherence to the rules of the TCM to
a western “prescription” use of acupuncture. This implies a variety in the
use of diagnostic procedures, treatment approach, dosage, choice of
acupuncture points, use of electrical stimulation, and treatment frequency.
Most practitioners adopt a personal style, which is developed
from a mix of inspiration from various sources, combined with their own
clinical experience, and this variety shows up in clinical and scientific
studies, as illustrated later in this chapter. Only a few attempts at systematic
development and improvement of the technique, such as the Swed-