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| ENERGY INJECTION: Needles and herbs are becoming increasingly prominent in the spectrum of medical treatment. |
The mystical-sounding Chinese medicinal principles of qi and yin and yang date back thousands of years.
Nowadays, you can find dozens of their practitioners listed in your local Yellow Pages.
An increasing number of Kiwis are turning to the ancient disciplines of acupuncture, herbalism, moxibustion (acupuncture combined with the burning of herbs) tuina (medical massage) and qi gong (breathing exercises) as treatment for virtually any ailment.
For Wellington man Rob McDonald, 57, acupuncture has become a semi-regular part of his life.
"I've never liked the intervention of taking pills that much . . . Some people probably think that sticking in needles is more invasive. It seems to me that it's using the resources of your body a little bit more than throwing drugs at it."
Rob, a manager, first had acupuncture about 10 years ago for a knee injury. Since then, he has also turned to it for hip pain, allergies and back pain. He says it was particularly effective for occupational overuse syndrome.
He's not squeamish about needles and doesn't wince as acupuncturist Karuna Olatunji inserts their fine points in his forehead. He describes it as a relatively effortless treatment. "You turn up. They stick a few needles in. You lie about for a while. Twenty minutes later, you shove off and you tend to get an improvement."
Besides acupuncture, he has used other branches of traditional Chinese medicine. He practises tai chi (or taiji) 每 a gentle exercise that helps reduce stress and maintain mobility and flexibility. ACC promotes tai chi as part of its "preventing falls" programme for older adults.
He has taken herbals in the form of "little black pills" that include a range of ingredients to meet his body's needs. "I've used some of the herbal remedies a bit, but generally in conjunction with acupuncture."
He has also been treated with tuina 每 Chinese medical massage.
Rob sees three practitioners on a semi- regular basis. He compares them to "detectives" who work to find the source of an ailment and treat its root, rather than just the symptoms.
He keeps his doctor up-to-date on the treatments he receives. "I think it's probably quite important that you have a GP who is quite accepting of that sort of thing. I think most of them probably are these days.
"The GP would still be my bedrock layer. I'm a standard Kiwi bloke in that sense."
At the core of the various branches of Chinese medicine is the concept of qi (sometimes written as chi), which can be translated as life force or energy. Also important are the opposite qualities yin and yang 每 terms many of us will recognise as associated with female and male, darkness and light. Traditional Chinese medicine says that if the two become unbalanced, illness can result.
"If that energy (qi) is moving through the body and it's unimpeded then you would remain healthy," says Adejola Olatunji, director of the New Zealand School of Acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine, which provides four-year courses in the discipline.
"But if it's blocked or stopped, if there's too much in one place and not in another, you tend to see that as illness."
He likens it to a traffic jam, with "too many vehicles in a given place at a given time".
Acupuncture aims to restore the body's natural balance by inserting fine needles into the energy pathways of the body. The needles are inserted into carefully selected points and left in place for an average of 20 minutes. A patient might have two or three needles inserted 每 or they might have more than 10.
The number of treatments they require depends on the condition being treated.
"To the average person, they only know it as pain relief, when in fact it's more than that," Mr Olatunji says. "It handles internal problems. It's a preventative. Having regular treatment is like health insurance."
The placement of needles depends on the person and the nature of their conditions. For instance, needles would not be put in certain places on a pregnant woman's body.
Diagnosis is a key part of identifying the source of the problem and deciding how to treat it, Mr Olatunji says. There is a range of systems for diagnosis that incorporate detailed questioning, observation, listening and even smelling. Emotions, temperature, activity and lifestyle are among the things patients can be asked about.
His wife, Karuna Olatunji, says people can suffer from a depletion of qi, in which case their therapist would look at using herbal supplements to bring levels back up.
"Sometimes the herbals are really essential when you need to strengthen and nourish."
Many of the herbal medicines have rather ordinary, recognisable herbs like liquorice, cinnamon and ginger. "There's a huge number of herbals. There's herbals that will have a warming and dispersing effect on the body. There's herbals that will cool you down in a fever situation."
She personally tends to give patients "patent" remedies with a range of herbs to treat their conditions, because they fit in better with people's lifestyles.
Though traditional Chinese medicine is often considered a natural, alternative remedy, that does not mean it should be taken lightly. Karuna emphasises that people should not self-prescribe Chinese herbal remedies. "They have very specific actions these herbals, and they need to be dispensed with some knowledge."
At present, there is no legal requirement for people to get training before practising Chinese medicine. The couple recommend patients check whether a traditional Chinese medical practitioner belongs to a professional body, such as the New Zealand Register of Acupuncturists.
Mr Olatunji says Chinese medicine is becoming increasing mainstream.
"I think what's happening is acupuncture is becoming more and more acceptable."
A study published in the New Zealand Medical Journal last month backs that up. It found more than 70 per cent of GPs recommended alternative treatments 每 the most common being acupuncture, chiropractic manipulation and osteopathy. One-fifth practised a form of complementary medicine themselves.
College of GPs president Jonathan Fox says acupuncture has become widely accepted by Western medicine, with many physiotherapists and doctors using it.
However, Chinese herbals are less enthusiastically embraced. "There are a lot of concerns about some of the medicines that are available", he says.
"Although they are promoted as herbal, some of them have some very powerful drugs." For instance, they can contain steroids, anti-diabetic drugs and Viagra. Even drugs people think of as "natural" could be powerful.
"A lot of natural things are quite toxic 每 arsenic is one."
Furthermore, natural medicines can interfere with other drugs. For instance, the blood thinning medication Warfarin could be affected by "quite a few" herbals 每 such as St John's Wort.
It has become a normal part of a general practitioner's repertoire to ask people about herbal medicines.
Some people working in traditional Chinese medicine have no training or professional registration, he says. He advises people to consult only registered ACC treatment providers.
As for Rob, he has no hesitation in recommending traditional Chinese medicine to others who are unwell or suffering pain.
"Acupuncture was quite an unusual thing to do once, but it's just a part of standard medication now."
