Acupuncture For Drug Detox Programs

Acupuncture is one of the most successful techniques in Traditional Chinese Medicine with proven efficacy in drug detox programs. It has been scientifically demonstrated by modern Western medical research, that acupuncture stimulates the secretion of endorphins in the brain. This accounts for its ability to relieve chronic pain, which is the main medical condition for which Western medicine utilizes acupuncture today.

This analgesic action enables acupuncture to give solid support to a drug detox program, since it helps cushion the symptoms of addictive-drug withdrawal, particularly in cases of cocaine addiction. Studies have found that the analgesic effects of acupuncture are up to 85 percent effective in providing significant relief, contrasted with 70 percent effectiveness from morphine.

Some acupuncturists enhance traditional acupuncture by attaching electrodes to the needles and running a gentle electric current. This amplifies the analgesic effects considerably, making the technique even more powerful support to addictive-drug withdrawal. At one hospital in the U.S., which treats up to 250 drug addicts every single day, acupuncture is the preferred treatment technique for drug detox.

The remarkable success of acupuncture for drug detox programs stems from its integrated approach that brings both psychological and physiological benefits simultaneously. Western physicians find this phenomenon difficult to comprehend. Western medicine dichotomises the human being into body and mind, separating them into two mutually exclusive departments; Chinese medicine recognizes a third system, the human energy system, which serves to bridge the physical body and the psychological mind.

Any drug detox treatment approach that works directly to restore balance to the human energy system, such as acupuncture, necessarily must balance the body and the mind, giving the patient a sharper sense of wholeness and organic integration that neither physiology nor psychology, each acting alone in Western medicine, can ever achieve. These combined psychic and physical effects make acupuncture a superior form of therapy in all cases where the patient’s state of mind, emotional condition, and patterns of thought are closely linked with complex physiological problems, such as drug addiction.

Your concerns about the safety of acupuncture are totally understandable as there can always be potential harm when any sharp instrument penetrates the body. However, a conscientious professional who is using sterilised needles will rarely do any serious harm. It is highly recommended that you make sure the acupuncturist is using sterilised and disposable needles on you. You would not want any cross-infections to complicate your problems while undergoing drug detox.