Acupuncture can be used to cure asthma
Asthma is a condition manifested by recurrent paroxysms of dyspnea (shortness of breath) due to obstruction of the flow of air in smaller bronchi and bronchioles. It is commonly classified into two types—extrinsic and intrinsic. The attack of extrinsic asthma is caused by inhalation, ingestion, injection or contact of specific substances to which a person is allergic. It occurs in patients who have atopic disease, including hay fever, eczema, urticarial and other atopic diseases. Patients with intrinsic asthma are allergic to bacteria which is located in the upper respiratory tract (tonsillitis, rhinitis, sinusitis) and lower respiratory tract (bronchitis, koch pulmonum). The symptoms may occur at any age, but mostly occur during the fourth decade of their lives or at an older age.
A study was conducted by Metty Dewajani Adi Kusuma, department of medical acupuncture at Dr Cipto Mangunkusumo Hospital in Jakarta, Indonesia. A six-year-old boy was admitted with complaints of dyspnea, wheezing and cough. The attack occurred in the morning as well as at night. However, the condition wasn’t hereditary.
He was given anti-asthmatic powders for two years, but there was no improvement in his condition. Finally, the child was brought to the acupuncture department. During the physical checkup he was found to be thin, pale, had dyspnea and wheezing, accompanied with coughing. It was concluded to be a case of asthmatic bronchitis, which meant that it was intrinsic asthma.
Acupuncture was done with stainless steel needles which were one inch long. The needles were inserted into the selected points with weak manipulation. The patient felt a tingling sensation, which are usually localised or may radiate to other areas. These responses are known in Chinese as ‘Te chi’, or ‘needle feeling’. The needles were retained for 20 minutes. One course of such a treatment consists of 12 sessions.
There was no improvement in the patient until the seventh session.
From the eighth session onward the dyspnea began to decrease. At the end of the first course of treatment, it was found that the dyspnea had decreased and occurred only once a day accompanied by little coughing. The patient looked better and his appetite had increased. At the end of the second course he was free from dyspnea, but was still coughing. The therapy was continued and by the end of the third course of treatment, there were no more complaints. However, the patient was asked to come back if the issue reoccurred.
After four months the patient came back with the similar complaints. Three more rounds of treatments were performed and he became free of dyspnea. Maintenance therapy was continued until the seventh course of treatment and then finally stopped. The author is Head of the Department of Acupuncture, Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, Delhi. This treatment is now being made available in India.