Acupuncture, a branch of Traditional Chinese Medicine, has been practiced in the East for more than 3000 years with the aim of maintaining and/or restoring the energetic homeostasis of the organism through the stimulation of specific parts of the body (acupuncture points): through the insertion of needles without and with thermal stimulation (moxibustion) and the use of complementary techniques such as percussion (plum blossom and cowpea seeds) or cupping, it represents a serious and valuable cultural approach to the problem of health with the aim of preventing and treating diseases with the intent of maintaining the state of well-being of an individual for as long as possible. In 1979, the World Health Organization recognized the therapeutic efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture in at least 64 diseases; Since 1997, acupuncture has been defined as a true medical science, based on a complex system of interconnections that allow a wide range of reactions at the level of the Central and Peripheral Nervous System, the Immune System, the Endocrine System and the Circulatory System. Since 2022, Traditional Chinese Medicine has been fully included in the WHO compendium, as the official world medicine. Today we can define acupuncture as an "evidence base medicine", thanks to over 26,000 scientific publications available in scientific literature, which have made it possible to document therapeutic findings and understand the mechanisms of physiopathological response in patients undergoing Traditional Chinese Medicine courses, often integrated with the classic protocols of Western Medicine. YIN and YANG and the LAW OF 5 MOVEMENTS represent the criterion for interpreting the reality of Man and the Cosmos, meaning the individual (microcosm) in continuous transformation through a constant relationship of energetic exchanges with the Cosmos. Traditional Chinese Medicine has an analogical approach based on the interaction that man establishes with nature and with everything around him; it is based on the method of symbolism. The Western Doctor who approaches this Medicine must not simply learn an "alternative medicine" but must have as his objective that of integrating his own cultural and scientific identity with the knowledge of the tradition of Traditional Chinese Medicine which is a GLOBAL, ENERGETIC and DIALECTIC MEDICINE. Man is perceived in his intimate and essential unity; he lives in the inseparable unity of all his components and cannot be separated into sections, compartments, sectors distinct from each other: it is necessary to treat the patient and not the disease! In the West we follow a path that goes from the "general" to the "particular"; in the East we go from the "particular" to arrive at the "general". Every disease phenomenon manifests itself with the "top" but often represents the outcome of a disorder of the "root": the top is often treated with Western Medicine but the root can be treated with Eastern Medicine. The main objective of Traditional Chinese Medicine is "to cure the sick person before he becomes sick": it is necessary to treat the origin of the disease (BEN) and not the external manifestations (BIAO XIAN); therefore it is certainly a curative medicine but it is first and foremost a preventive medicine! Three thousand years ago, Chinese culture had an astonishing intuition, it intuited that matter and energy were the same thing. Man is an immense energy center composed of organs and viscera responsible for the production, accumulation and use of energy itself and by the system of meridians responsible for the circulation and distribution of energy between the same internal organs and viscera and the external extremities. In this way the inside and the outside, the top and the bottom, the periphery and the center of each individual connect with each other and influence each other reciprocally. In this perspective, ILLNESS is represented by an energetic imbalance due to an excess or a lack of energy that can manifest itself throughout the organism or be localized only in some sectors. Traditional Chinese Medicine is based on dialectics, just think that Chinese writing is "ideographic" (it is based on ideograms); the symbol of the DAO is the foundation of all the epistemological processes of Chinese culture: "the DAO produces the ONE (energy), the ONE includes the TWO (matter); the TWO manifests itself as THREE (man) and the THREE produces the ten thousand beings". The manifestation of the THREE is possible if the energy is transformed into matter according to the bipolar law YIN-YANG: only the transformation of these two complementary and opposite forces ultimately allow LIFE!

EFFECTS OF ACUPUNCTURE AND MOXIBUSTION: 

• ANTALGIC EFFECT (PAIN-RELIEF)
• ANALGESIC EFFECT (SURGICAL ANALGESIA)
• TROPHIC-VASOMODULATING EFFECT
• IMMUNOMODULATING EFFECT
• NEURO-ENDOCRINAL REGULATORY EFFECT
• ANTISPASTIC AND RELAXING EFFECT ON BOTH SMOOTH AND STRIPED MUSCLES
• SEDATIVE-ANXIOLITIC-ANTIDEPRESSANT EFFECT

In June 1979, the WHO organized a symposium on Acupuncture in Beijing, China. The participating doctors made a list of 43 diseases that could benefit from acupuncture treatment. This list, however, was not based on adequate clinical studies, so it was necessary to demonstrate the true efficacy through controlled clinical studies with accompanying scientific publications. In 2003, after approximately 255 scientific publications, the WHO concluded: "It should be noted that the level of evidence existing until 1998 was not high. The authors included results from Chinese studies that were not rated as highly reliable and the report was criticized by some scholars for this reason. Since then, however, the quantity and quality of the work has begun to grow rapidly with the publication of an ever-increasing number of randomized controlled trials and even meta-analyses on the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of various diseases. Some problems, relating to research on a highly individualized type of therapy that is far from a simple drug trial, remain. Nevertheless, many well-designed studies return remarkable results especially when acupuncture is compared with usual care. The work of the authors in the first WHO report was, from this point of view, pioneering, opening the doors to a real revolution both in the perception of acupuncture and in its study according to the methods of modern medicine." In 2013, WHO published "The Strategy for Traditional Chinese Medicine 2014-2023" with the aim of: Exploiting the potential contribution of TCM to the maintenance of health, well-being and person-centred healthcare; Promoting the safe and effective use of TCM through regulation, research and integration of its products, practitioners and practices into health systems, where appropriate. TCM and with it obviously Acupuncture play a very important role. On 18 June 2018, WHO released the first version of the next "International Classification of Diseases" which will become operational for Member States from 1 January 2022. Since that report published in 2003, much progress has been made but many things remain to be discovered. The future will reserve us, in this respect, many surprises.

The WHO now distinguishes the indications for acupuncture into three groups:

Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which studies have demonstrated a certain efficacy of acupuncture:

1. adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
2. allergic rhinitis
3. depression
4. acute bacillary dysentery
5. primary dysmenorrhea
6. periarthritis of the shoulder
7. acute epigastralgia from peptic ulcer, from acute and chronic gastritis, from gastrospasm
8. facial pain (including cranio-mandibular disorders)
9. headaches
10. essential hypertension
11. primary hypotension
12. induction of labor
13. gonalgia
14. leucopenia
15. low back pain
16. dental pain
17. correction of fetal malposition
18. emesis and hyperemesis gravidarum
19. nausea and vomiting
20. rheumatoid arthritis
21. sciatica
22. sprains
23. stroke
24. epicondylitis
25. neck pain

Diseases and symptoms or conditions for which acupuncture has been shown to be effective but for which further evidence is needed:

1. acne vulgaris
2. alcoholism (dependence and detoxification)
3. lack of breastfeeding
4. gouty arthritis
5. arthrosis
6. bronchial asthma
7. motion sickness (car or sea sickness)
8. acute and chronic cholecystitis
9. gallstones
10. chronic ulcerative colitis
11. postoperative convalescence
12. cerebrovascular dementia
13. type II diabetes mellitus (not insulin-dependent)
14. smoking
15. male sexual dysfunction (not organic)
16. abdominal pain from acute gastroenteritis or gastric and intestinal spasms
17. pain from obliterating thrombopathy
18. pain during endoscopic examinations
19. oncological pain
20. radicular and pseudo-radicular pain
21. acute back pain
22. hepatitis B (carrier state)
23. essential epistaxis
24. recovery of respiratory functions after extubation in children
25. fasciitis
26. epidemic hemorrhagic fever
27. fibromyalgia
28. Herpes Zoster infections type 3
29. female infertility
30. recurrent cystitis
31. insomnia
32. ovarian endocrine insufficiency
33. unexposed traumatic brain injury
34. sore throat, tonsillitis
35. Ménière's disease
36. neurodermatitis
37. post-herpetic neuralgia
38. cardiac neurosis
39. obesity
40. ocular pain with conjunctival irritation
41. drug addictions
42. otitis
43. Bell's palsy (facial paralysis, cold paralysis)
44. whooping cough
45. chronic prostatitis
46. pruritus
47. post-traumatic urinary retention
48. schizophrenia
49. drug-induced sialorrhea
50. Stein-Leventhal or polycystic ovary syndrome
51. primary Raynaud's syndrome
52. Sjogren's syndrome
53. Tietze's syndrome (rib and sternal pain)
54. Tourette's syndrome
55. premenstrual syndrome
56. complex regional syndrome (sympathetic reflex dystrophy)
57. female urethral syndrome
58. spasm facial
59. stress
60. stiff neck
61. labor
62. urolithiasis

Diseases, symptoms or conditions for which there are only individual controlled studies reporting therapeutic effects but for which it is worth trying acupuncture because treatment with conventional therapies or other therapies presents critical issues:

1. chloasma
2. central serous choroidopathy (chorioretinopathy)
3. chronic cor pulmonale
4. color blindness
5. hypophrenia (mental retardation)
6. small airway obstruction
7. irritable bowel syndrome
8. deafness
9. neurogenic bladder from spinal cord injury.

A special mention, beyond pain therapy, must be made without a doubt about the effectiveness of acupuncture in the gynecological field. The indications are many:

1. Leucorrhoea and vaginitis
2. Dysmenorrhoea
3. Amenorrhoea
4. Bleeding
5. Ovarian cysts
6. Fibroids and myomas
7. Endometriosis
8. Polyposis
9. Fibrocystic breast disease
10. Menopause disorders
11. Sexuality disorders
12. Fertility disorders
13. Obstetric and postpartum disorders
14. Lactation disorders

More and more women are now turning to acupuncture to deal with their "menstrual cycle disorders" (dysmenorrhea, amenorrhea, abnormal bleeding); "sexuality disorders" (dyspareunia, decreased libido, anorgasmia); "menopausal disorders" (early menopause, palpitations, hot flashes and sweating, emotional instability, anxiety with depressive notes, cold hands and feet, insomnia, bone pain, arthrosis and osteoporosis); "infertility problems" where acupuncture is used as the sole therapeutic tool or as an adjuvant in PMA protocols. Before starting a specific treatment for infertility, it is first necessary to regulate the flow, by carrying out the treatment during the 4 phases of the cycle (during, after, before menstruation and in the middle of the cycle), then regulate the hormonal production (lower the levels of FSH, prolactin and testosterone; increase the levels of estradiol and progesterone; increase the ovarian response). Acupuncture can also be very useful in "pregnancy prevention" (expel toxins from the fetus by activating the drainage function of the mother's kidney, prevent spontaneous abortion, neonatal hernias, absence of milk, restlessness, allergies, cradle cap and ensure that the child sleeps at night and smiles during the day); in "pregnancy pathologies" (placenta previa, threatened abortion, spontaneous abortion in the 1st trimester, excessive fetal movement in the 1st-2nd-3rd trimester, red spotting in the 3rd trimester, reflux and vomiting, sialorrhea, anxiety, insomnia, gestational diabetes, stranguria, polyuria, diarrhea, hemorrhoids, edema, pregnancy-induced liver toxicosis, galactorrhea, itching, anemia, cramps, tremors, headache, osteoarticular symptoms, lumbosciatica, back-lumbar pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, pain in the iliac fossa due to fibroma); in "induction of labor" (preparation, cephalic orientation, uterine contractions, dilation of the cervix); in "postpartum syndromes" (retained placenta, depression, hemorrhoids, uterine and/or bladder prolapse, episiotomy healing, painful uterine contractions, sphincter pain and dysfunction, colostrum leakage); in "lactation disorders" (hypogalactia, milk engorgement, nipple cracking, related headache, effluvium, inhibition of availability).

OTHER ACUPUNCTURE INDICATIONS:

PAIN THERAPY (musculoskeletal pain on an inflammatory, traumatic and degenerative basis: arthrosis, arthritis, cervicalgia, back pain, lumbosciatica, tendon-muscular and joint capsulo-ligamentous pathologies).

HEADACHES (headaches, tension headaches, migraines, facial neuralgia, trigeminal neuralgia, etc.).

GASTROENTEROLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS (reflux, gastritis, digestive disorders, diarrhea, constipation, irritable bowel syndrome).

RESPIRATORY TRACT DISEASES (rhinitis, sinusitis, chronic bronchitis, allergic asthma, etc.)

MANIFESTATIONS OF THE MALE REPRODUCTIVE ORGANS (sterility, impotence, premature ejaculation, prostatitis, etc.).

POST-TRAUMATIC REHABILITATION (bruises, sprains, strains, tendonitis).

NEUROPSYCHIATRIC DISORDERS (state of anxiety, nervousness. Agitation, stress, panic attacks, minor depressive disorders, sleep disorders, smoking and addictions, etc.).

ENDOCRINOLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS (hyper- and hypo-thyroidism, alterations of the menstrual cycle, climacteric disorders).

SENSE ORGAN DISORDERS (anosmia, tinnitus, conjunctivitis, ear infections, etc.)

DERMATOLOGICAL MANIFESTATIONS (itching, eczema, dermatitis, psoriasis, acne)

CIRCULATORY AND MICROCIRCULATION DISORDERS (precordialgia, hypertension, tachycardia, telangiectasia, edema)

ANAESTHESIOLOGICAL TREATMENTS (tooth extractions or surgical interventions in patients at risk for classical pharmacological anesthesia)

INTEGRATED ONCOLOGY (reduction of side effects of chemotherapy and radiotherapy such as nausea, loss of appetite and asthenia; improving the patient's energy balance before a possible surgical intervention; stimulation of the immune system; psychological support for the patient).

LIMITS OF ACUPUNCTURE

ADVANCED ORGANIC-DEGENERATIVE DISEASES (pediatric viral encephalitis, angina pectoris, dyspnea from COPD, tumors, liver cirrhosis, multiple sclerosis, bulbar and pseudobulbar paralysis, coma)

MAJOR PSYCHIATRIC DISEASES (infantile convulsions, manic or major depressive forms)

PATHOLOGIES OF EXCLUSIVE SURGICAL INTEREST

1. REDUCTION OF DRUG CONSUMPTION
2. REDUCTION OF SICK HOURS AND RELATIVE INCREASE IN PRODUCTIVITY
3. IMPROVEMENT OF QUALITY OF LIFE
4. REDUCTION OF HOSPITALIZED HOURS
5. ABSENCE OF SIDE EFFECTS AND SECONDARY EFFECTS

Each ACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT consists of:

1. an initial visit (lasting approximately 1 hour) where the anamnestic data and the signs and symptoms that the patient presents are collected, which allow us to arrive at a diagnosis;
2. sessions varying from 6 to 10 (lasting approximately 30 minutes) on a weekly basis;
3. sporadic annual sessions to maintain a regular state of well-being and homeostatic balance.