With the arrival of cold and flu season, I thought it would be appropriate to write about how acupuncture is used in the treatment of these illnesses. Acupuncture and Chinese medicine has a rich history of treating cold and flu-like symptoms. One of the first texts, “Treatise on Cold Damage,” discusses the symptoms, treatments, and progression of these conditions. In the text, the first channel invaded is the most superficial channel the Urinary Bladder and Small Intestine channel. When cold invades these channels, the signs and symptoms include chills, fever, and neck pain. The text goes on to discuss how cold invasions progresses through the channel system when the body cannot expel the pathogen completely.
How Acupuncture Can Jump-Start Your Immune System
Modern research has shown that acupuncture at certain points stimulates the production of white blood cells. This can be helpful in the treatment of those who frequently get common colds. Because of this effect, acupuncture has been useful as adjunct therapy in the treatment of cancer when blood cell counts lower as a result of treatment.
Recent research by my colleague Dr. Jeremy Steiner, has shown that when electricity is added to the blood at acupuncture points lung 8 (blood electrification treatment), many positive systemic effects take place. Live blood analysis has shown increased activity of white blood cells. When the white blood cells are active, they decrease pathogen load in the blood. In other words, the white blood cells actively kill viruses, parasites, and bacteria in the blood.
In addition, blood electrification treatment benefits the cardiovascular system. As electrical current passes through the blood stream, the blood cells develop a negative charge. This negative charge causes the blood cells to repel against each other, having an anticoagulant effect, which enables them to pass more freely through the blood vessels. This is particularly useful in the prevention of cardiovascular incidents. In fact, all patients tested in this study showed improvements in blood pressure and heart rate.
Because the blood is less viscus, circulation flows more freely and can benefit injuries to muscles and other tissues that are chronically inflamed. This treatment is especially useful when combined with acupuncture for pain relief.
Does Center for Spine Care & Mobility in Flatiron Offer Blood Electrification?
Yes acupuncture has been very useful in the prevention and treatment of illness during the cold and flu season. Blood electrification treatments are performed with the best equipment in the acupuncture field developed by Dr. Steiner himself.
The above photo is from the study conducted by Dr. Steiner. You can see the progression of separation in the blood cells. The top left photo was taken on day 1. The top right is 30 minutes post treatment. Bottom left is 1 week of daily treatments. Bottom right is 1 week after stopping the last treatment.
In the top two photos we can see significant clumping of blood cells with atrophied white blood cells represented by the brighter circles. In the bottom two we see more separation of the blood cells with activated and increased white blood cell count and activity. In the first 3 photos you can see a cloudy substance in the black space (plasma) around the blood cells. These cloudy substances are parasites in the blood. 1 week post treatment the plasma is cleaner as the immune system has had more time to do work.
How often should I be treated for Immune Wellness?
Acupuncture can be performed weekly during the cold and flu season to prevent illness. With this specific type of treatment more is definitely better. It enables the red blood cells to maintain their negative charge thereby improving blood flow, and keeps the white blood cells activated destroying parasites and decreasing viral and bacterial loads in the blood.
