j Battalion
Aggielife
Page 3 • Thursday, July 8, 1999
Just a
Little
BY SCOTT HARRIS
The Battalion
Acupuncture and massage therapy
offer relief for common ailments
H eadaches, back pain, stress — to
many, these might be caused by
being stuck with pins. For oth
ers, being stuck with pins is the solu
tion to these common problems. For
over 2000 years, the Chinese practice
of acupuncture has been used to treat
these problems, and many others, with
a surprising amount of success.
Acupuncture is the technique of in
serting needles into certain pressure
points on the body in order to create a
medicinal effect. The areas the needles
are inserted into are known as chan
nels! The insertion of these needles
into the specific points on the body ad
justs the function of a certain area or
organ.
Dr. Nancy Wang, a certified acupunc
turist and therapist at China Acupunc
ture Clinic in College Station, said
acupuncture can treat many ailments.
“Acupuncture can help people lose
weight, treat arthritis and TMJ [a pain
disorder],” Wang said. “Also, it is very
effective in helping people quit smok
ing. We are very successful with help
ing people quit - it usually only takes
three sessions in one week.”
For the smoking treatment, the ther
apist puts the needles into the lung
channel. The lung channel runs along
the side of the arm, leg and ear, which
contains the “quit smoking point.”
Wang said the treatments for weight
loss take more time.
“Weight loss takes more time be
cause you can’t just lose weight
overnight,” Wang said. “We only do
one session a week, and the channels
we use are on the stomach, which con
trol the metabolism of the body.”
Along with the acupuncture thera-
* py for weight loss, Wang said she also
implements dietary control and herbal
teas for the patient. After the treat
ment, Wang said the patients simply
do not feel hungry.
This supplemental therapy is not
uncommon for acupuncture. Wang
said she also uses herbs and teas to
help the patient with the acupuncture
therapy.
Wang said the sessions are brief
and, contrary to what many might
think, are relatively painless.
“The sessions involve little pain and
only last about 20 minutes,” Wang
said. “At first, many people are very
afraid of the needles, but there is no
feeling. They are very small.”
Along with putting needles into the
channels, acupuncture also involves
electric and massage therapy.
• “We use electric therapy at the
same time. We attach nodes to the
needles and turn on the electricity,”
Wang said. “There is a slight tingling
sensation, it is very comfortable. Af
terwards, we take out the needles and
give a massage.”
Massage therapy incorporated with
acupuncture does have certain medic
inal effects, but some people just are
not able to overcome their fear of nee
dles, which is why they opt for just the
massage part of the therapy.
Tammy Jones-Hemphill, a regis
tered massage therapist, said massage
therapy can help treat many of the
same things acupuncture does.
“Massage helps relieve back pain
and stress and is also a great relaxer,”
said Jones-Hemphill.
see Pins on Page 6.
*