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As widely known, acupuncture treatments sometimes is supplemented with some traditional Chinese herbs. These traditional Chinese herbs have an important place in the Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). The acupuncture treatment helps achieve the correction or improvement of chi (flow of energy) in the body and these herbs aid the acupuncture sessions in being as effective as they can be. Most of the acupuncture specialists are trained for preparing the herbal aid to the mainstream acupuncture treatment based on the disruptive energy patterns they diagnose.
Indeed, classification of the acupuncture herbs has been made considering how they affect the direction of energy (chi), their temperature, how they taste, and the organs they affect. While preparing the herbal formulas for to use as acupuncture herbs, it is important to be careful of all the characteristics of the plants used for making the herbs. Each of these plants has its own unique medicinal properties and those properties are used in synergy when an acupuncture herb formula is prepared. The medicinal properties of these herbs and their effects on the flow of energy have been studied for ages and have been a standard course of research and study for the acupuncture students and practitioners.
For instance, Hai Tong Pi (sea vine bark) is used to prepare a herbal formula to support acupuncture therapy of arthritis. This is because of the quality of remaining unaffected by cold and wet climate that this plant has. The health condition of arthritis patient is adversely affected by cold and moist climate and such a quality is thought to be desirable for an arthritis patient. Similarly, based on the energy flow characteristic of other plants, their usage in the TCM is identified and that’s how they are used to support acupuncture treatments. Most of these traditional herbal medicines are free from any negative side effects. However, it really takes hundreds of hours of dedicated study and research for the traditional Chinese acupuncture practitioners to master their preparation and effectively use them for the treatment.