Note that with the new legislation for TCM and acupuncture, only members of the CTCMPAO may call themselves "acupuncturists." I have been practicing clinical acupuncture since 1986. I studied clinical acupuncture first at the UofT medical school with Dr. J. Richmond in 1985/86 and 1986/87, with Anton Jayasuauria (on his visits to TO), and with other practitioners. I conducted research into acupuncture in Dr. Pomeranz world renowned laboratory at the UofT from 1984 through 1991. I designed and taught a course in acupuncture at the request, and under the aegis of, the CMTO from 2009 through 2011. (And while I was an "acupuncturist" until 2012, I am now, by definition, simply a practitioner of clinical acupuncture.

It works. Its relatively safe, risk free. Acupuncture is amazing for sinuses, allergies, insomnia. It can help with all sorts of complaints, but.. for something like a toothache, it might soothe the pain for a couple of hours, but it won't mend the tooth ...

How does it work. From a western, scientific, point of view: acupuncture needles cause the release of endorphins in the nervous system. This was demonstrated in the mid 1970s by Prof. Bruce Pomeranz and Richard Chang of Toronto University, and it explains (in part) how acupuncture analgesia works.

I worked with Dr. Pomeranz from 1984 to 1991 as his research associate. Among other things, we worked on some of the electrical aspects of acupuncture. At its simplest, the body uses electricity as a signal for healing. Acupuncture mimics these signals. (Acupuncture simulates Jaffa's "current of injury".)

Sitting with Pomeranz at lunch, I asked him to guesstimate how much of acupuncture these two mechanism, "endorphin" and "current of injury". can explain. Endorphins are very important in acupuncture analgesia (pain killing), but that's a small part of acupuncture. Maybe 10%. And the electrical signal, the current of injury, we guessed maybe 5%. But most of acupuncture is a mystery. It's that Chi and those meridians and cauldrons and pulses and the five elements and the eight influences...

(do the needles alter the electric fields of the body - like fingers pressed on the fretboard of a guitars? you'd think...)


see also: tonification and sedation
                 current of injury

Pomeranz and Chang have done some work on the significance of different frequencies in electric acupuncture. If you wish to know more, please ask.

or go to: www.acupuncture.com