Acupuncture started out as, and remains, an individualised form of treatment. The needles are inserted into one individual at a time by one individual at a time. This means that the acupuncturist and their client can develop a genuinely human relationship.
Acupuncture also has wider implications – for ecology and social justice too.
These are not as often commented on as its healing benefits, so I’d like to spend a little while in this article drawing attention to them.
Acupuncture is a very ‘light’ technology.
Most of the skill in acupuncture resides in people and the technology it uses (the acupuncture needle) is very simple, and costs little (money or energy) to make. Acupuncture needles are recyclable. Acupuncture doesn’t require the very sophisticated machinery of modern western medicine, each machine containing extraordinary amounts of embedded energy to make and then more to run. Acupuncture is a very ecological form of medicine.
Acupuncture can also be practised in a way that promotes social justice.
One factor that disguises this is the subsidies which governments give to western medicine. If people had to pay for machines and medicines they use directly there would be very few people using western medicine. The cost of even routine medicines for blood pressure is quite hight. The costs of a single dose of more specialised drugs can run into hundreds of dollars (for each dose!). The cost of just one machine can be hundreds of thousands of dollars. Compared to this the acupuncture needle is incredibly cheap. This means that acupuncture can be provided cheaply and so can be readily accessible to poor people as well as rich people.
The other cost associated with medicine (and other carers) is training. I’m convinced that this can be done quickly and easily. Unfortunately neither private colleges nor professional associations have an incentive to make acupuncture as easy and speedy as possible. I first learned acupuncture two nights a week for a year from a course run by a friend. I then went to a government approved college – and learned less in three years four days a week than from the first course. This has convinced me that acupuncture can be taught simply and easily. Especially with the kind of media that can now be accessed on line it should be possible to spread training in acupuncture far and wide. There will of course have to be some person to person as well, but this can be fairly brief and concentrate on the people to people part: how to relate well to clients when doing diagnosis and treatment. All the theory can be delivered and demonstrated on line. This means that huge numbers of acupuncturists can be trained rapidly, easily and cheaply. Who is doing this? Well, me for one (you can see how I’m going at acupunctureiseasy.com).
Acupuncture is a form of medicine that is both ecologically sound and has the ability to fit well with social justice.
