Acupuncture can cure Kidney disease among others

REMI ADEOYE

When Acupuncture is mentioned what first comes to the mind of a novice are the needles and pins which is understandable after all  the first document that described what was recognized as acupuncture is the yellow emperor’s classic of internal medicine dating from about 100 BCE in china

However according to Dr John Essien  of Acupunture  whose profession for over 30 years has been acupuncture, naturopathy and reflexology, his health center has brought relief to people having stroke, diabetes, impotence, kidney, liver problem, sleeplessness, asthma lumbago, hypertension stresses and hormonal imbalance which causes infertility in women.

Dr Essien believes that alternative and complementary medicine under which acupuncture is categorized can work wonders at healing.

Being a member of the national complementary association in  Nigeria  and a consultant for  federal college of complementary  and  alternative medicine who over the years had written three books on acupuncture,  Dr Essien can be trusted when he explains the principle and practical application of acupuncture.

‘Acupuncture is an English word derived from latin ‘acus’ meaning needles and ‘cuntus’ meaning point. It can be defined as a form of Chinese traditional medicine developed to overcome diseases, it involves sticking some fine hair-like needles in to selected points on the body.

History has shown that acupuncture was invented in Egypt, Africa. During the reign of medo- Persian king Ahausuerus  Egyptians were dispersed to Asia; from  there acupuncture settled in Siri lanka, Indonesia and then it spread to China where it was developed to what we have today.

The Chinese developed it over the years discovering certain points in the body which if massaged,punctured, heated and burned will relieve pain or have beneficial effect on certain disorders. They kept it a secret to themselves until 1972 when American president Richard Nixon visited China. He saw how acupuncture was used to carry out anesthesia for open  heart surgery  and that was how it spread to America today about 50% of Americans use acupuncture.

However when asked about the percentage of Nigerians who  have accepted acupuncture Dr Essien says “the percentage is less than 5, most Nigerians are quite ignorant, they believe it’s all about magic or some strange spiritual powers, which is unfortunate because it has been discovered that acupuncture can help cure kidney problems even at the dialysis stage”