The Thammasat University Libraries have newly acquired a book about an increasingly popular and influential health treatment. The Acupuncture Handbook: How Acupuncture Works and How It Can Help You explains such commonly asked questions as who should get acupuncture treatment, what it does, and what it feels like. The TU Libraries own other books on acupuncture, including Reinventing Acupuncture: A New Concept of Ancient Medicine. As all Thais know, acupuncture is a form of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), using thin needles. Many people dislike the idea of needles, even very thin ones, being stuck into their bodies, so they avoid this treatment. Also, medical research has disagreed on the value of acupuncture treatments, although most seem to agree that it does help some patients who are suffering from headaches and back pain. Because it does not involve taking medicines, acupuncture can avoid side-effects that are felt with other treatments. Perhaps for this reason it remains popular in China, the United States, Australia, and Europe. Since 2004, acupuncture has been the most frequently used alternative medicine in Switzerland. In 2009, four million acupuncture treatments were given in the United Kingdom. In 2004, about one-tenth of the adult population of Australia was treated with acupuncture. In Japan, about one-fourth of citizens try acupuncture at some point in their lives, even though the treatments are not usually covered by their health insurance. By around 2010, over 14 million Americans had tried acupuncture, and treatments are offered at such distinguished university medical centers as Harvard, Stanford, Johns Hopkins, and UCLA. In 2011, over one million Germans were treated with acupuncture, two-thirds of them women. Some German public health insurance policies cover acupuncture treatments for chronic low back pain and osteoarthritis of the knee. Despite this widespread use, critics remain of the treatment, and more scientific studies will bring further evidence of whether it works as well as its practitioners claim it does.

Thailand and Acupuncture

In 2013, The Nation reported that menstrual pain (dysmenorrhea) may improve with acupuncture treatments. An article by Dr. Theerawat Tangaramvong, who works at the Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Centre at Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital, states:

In the circle of alternative medicine, acupuncture is recognized as a viable method of relieving dysmenorrhea because it is effective in correcting and balancing hormones. In addition, it helps improve the circulation of blood around the pelvis, alleviates the congestion of blood, and relaxes the muscles of the pelvic walls and the ovary. In an acupuncture session, the acupuncturist applies needles for 30 minutes to stimulate the neurotic system, which is located in several areas, including the arms, legs, and lower abdomen. Generally, the doctor will make an appointment two weeks in advance of the menstrual cycle and acupuncture is then performed twice a week in order to prevent or relieve the pain. However, the numbers of needles and the frequency is dependent on the severity of pain.

Dr. Theerawat, who in addition to earning an M.D., also received a bachelor’s degree at the Faculty of Chinese Medicine, Huachiew Chalermprakiet University, in 2011, further advises:

Before acupuncture, women should eat moderately and get enough sleep. During the procedure, tenderness may be felt in the areas where the acupuncture is being applied while the needles are still inserted. Electrical currents may also be felt circulating the meridians, as the acupuncturist inserts needles next to a nerve. To achieve maximum results, the needles should stay inserted for 20–30 minutes.

Many potential patients may never get over the fear of needles, but in The Nation in 2014, Suwatchai Songwanich wrote that traditional Chinese remedies such as acupuncture are a multi-billion dollar industry, among the most successful exports of Chinese culture. With a growth rate of about 12 percent annually, it was expected to reach $88 billion USD by this year, or over three trillion Thai baht. Khun Suwatchai adds:

The biggest overseas customers are Japan, Hong Kong, the US and South Korea, which together account for over 70 per cent of the export market… While Western medicine is empirical and focused on treating specific diseases, Eastern systems, including Thai traditional medicine, are more inclined to look at the body as a connected whole and they often use a range of treatments and herbal concoctions… Meanwhile Western medicine is increasingly being used alongside traditional medicine in China. Many hospitals in Asia including Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand offer traditional Chinese medicine, while the WHO has established collaborative centres for traditional medicine in the US, Asia, Europe and Africa.

In 2013, Khun Suwatchai examined how Thailand is facing competition from China as a destination for medical tourism in Asia. Much sought-after medical tourists are being attracted to Sanya TCM Hospital in Sanya, Hainan Province, China. It offers TCM therapies such as acupuncture, among others. Over 25,000 patients have traveled from overseas since 2002, mostly from Russia and Central Asia. The hospital even established a travel agency to better coordinate its medical tourism business. Still, over 60,000 Chinese choose to travel abroad for medical treatment annually, and they continue to prefer Thailand, along with India, South Korea and Singapore, as their medical tourism destinations.

In 2014, Dr. Juthamas Kuesakul, a specialist in traditional Chinese medicine and acapuncture at Samitivej Sukhumvit Hospital noted that acupuncture might even help small children grow taller:

Some kids want to be taller than they actually are for different reasons. Some want to be flight attendants or sportsmen when they grow up. And when it comes to achieving those careers, body height is a major factor… Modern parents are very active these days in encouraging their children to be engaged in activities like regular exercise and drinking lots of milk, which consequently leads to Thai children being not too small in size. Even so, a number of parents feel the need to visit a specialist for consultation to see how they can make their kids taller.

Traditional methods such as diet, exercise, and making sure children get plenty of sleep can encourage growth. Starting at age ten, children who have stomach problems and do not absorb enough nutrients, or have trouble with their endocrine glands, may possibly benefit from acupuncture treatments, Dr. Juthamas explains:

Acupuncture points on the head stimulate the pituitary gland resulting in the production of growth hormones. Acupuncture points around the joints are also to help enhance blood circulation around the area which leads to joint and bone strength… Some patients become much taller after a short treatment period, while in some cases the increasing height is hardly noticeable.

Of course, parents who are frightened of needles in acupuncture treatments for themselves are not likely to bring their children for such experimental treatments. Instead they may rely on traditional common-sense approaches to increasing the height of their children. One such is to not feed them chicken, since hormones widely used in the poultry industry, are likely to destroy human growth hormones, Dr. Juthamas observed. Also, there is no need for children to take calcium supplements, as they may keep the body from absorbing other needed minerals such as magnesium and zinc. Exercise, drinking milk, and sleep are the main approaches to solving the problem, whether or not the parents choose acupuncture treatments for their child.

(All images courtesy of Wikimedia Commons).