Message-Id: <v01510100b023d382a377@[205.134.246.15]>
Date: Fri, 22 Aug 1997 16:00:22 -0800
To: pinhole@exploratorium.edu
From: bcomet@sirius.com (Burt C. Kessler)
Subject: Re: electronic healing
>Burt, Scientists are getting a pretty good handle on why acupuncture
>works. It seems to stimulate nerve cells which in turn inhibit the
>perception of pain. Some of these cells may carry signals to the brain
>where natural opiates are released. There is nothing magical there. It
>does work though, and I imagine is quite good therapy for certain ills.
>Eiger
Eiger,
Release of endorphins accounts only for the relatively new application of
acupuncture for anesthesia. The meridians do not follow nerve pathways for
the most part. Acupuncture points are detectable with an ohm meter as
points of low resistance on the surface of the skin. Manipulation of these
points using, touch, heat, electricity, ultrasound, or of course needles,
has for thousands of years been used effectivey to prevent and treat most
illnesses. The system of "chi" or energy system acupuncture alters does
not correlate to any grossly observable system in the body. The Western
scientific bias for mechanistic reductionism, i.e. the whole is equal to
the sum of the parts, allowed rapid inroads into the circulatory system.
It has not been as satisfactory dealing with the mind. Which part of the
brain IS the mind? The immune system was poorly understood for so long
primarily because it has no central organ. It is not inconceivable that
their is another system, as yet undescribed by Western science, which
acupuncture affects. Eastern science has described it in detail in humans
and other animals.
I am not suggesting that these electronic therapies are necessarily
effective. I too suspect that their successes are due to the placebo
effect. But I am wondering if they are perhaps affecting something not
well understood. Has the human body been studied and/or described in terms
of electrical fields? Do individual cell potentials vary under different
states of wellness? Does any body know anything about this?
Burt
"The real voyage of discovery lies not in seeking new landscapes but in
having new eyes." Marcel Proust