Is "energy medicine" a good label for acupuncture?
نویسنده
چکیده
419 The currently popular classification of acupuncture as “energy medicine” is explored historically and examined critically in this Guest Editorial. Evaluated against the conceptual systems, diagnostic frameworks, and treatment techniques of Oriental Medicine, classifying acupuncture as energy medicine is found to be much too restrictive. Classical acupuncture is more accurately described as a full-spectrum medicine capable of embracing the entire breadth of the energy–matter continuum. As a clinical acupuncturist, I hear my work routinely referred to as energy medicine by my patients and in professional and academic circles. Personally, this label bothers me. I think it shortchanges classical acupuncture and Chinese Medicine. Since the 1970s, people have been very eager to embrace the term “energy” when referring to a variety of “softer, gentler” therapies. This stems, understandably, from a rejection of the prevailing materialistic preoccupations of mainstream medical thought of the past several decades. Energy medicine gives many of us in alternative medicine a means by which we can distinguish ourselves from mainstream medicine. But by sliding to the other extreme of the energy–matter spectrum, are we not guilty of the same narrowness we are rejecting? What do we mean when we use the term energy medicine? In a strictly scientific sense, we must surely be careful. In that context, x-rays, magnetic resonance imaging, laser eye surgery, and cancer treatment with radiation are all energy medicines! It is doubtful that readers of this journal include such medical interventions under the energy medicine umbrella. It is probably correct to assume that most people who embrace the term energy medicine are referring to medicine whose concepts, diagnostic approaches, and therapeutic techniques are primarily nonmaterial. THE HISTORICAL ROOTS OF ACUPUNCTURE AS ENERGY MEDICINE
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ورودعنوان ژورنال:
- Journal of alternative and complementary medicine
دوره 10 3 شماره
صفحات -
تاریخ انتشار 2004