Two flavors of Chinese acupuncture

Chinese acupuncture comes in two flavors: the Eight Principle Acupuncture, also known as TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) and the Five Element Acupuncture.

Both of them use the core theory, anatomy and needle technique developed thousands of years ago but the Eight Principle branch was put through a revolution and re-organization in 1949. This method was reorganized for efficiency and providing comfort by treating a symptom. Since then, the a Eight Principle Acupuncture became very similar to Western medicine and is used in western medicine hospitals in the developed world.

The second branch of Chinese acupuncture, Five Element acupuncture is less studied and used but it brings a very different application. While the Eight Principle focuses on addressing the physical discomfort, the Five Element proposes that all five layers of a human can be treated with acupuncture. As mentioned before, every human operates on five levels: physical, intellectual, emotional, spiritual and sexual. The Five Element acupuncture uses the same acupuncture points and meridians but adds block treatments and focuses on discovering and eliminating weaknesses in the body. The idea is that the doctor can not fix the body - only the body can fix the body, doctor's job is just to assist in the process of healing.

Instead of addressing the symptom, the Five Element acupuncture promises a true holistic approach by treating the (whole) person.