What is the difference between Western and Traditional acupuncture?
Western acupuncture bases its diagnoses and principles of acupuncture treatment on modern concepts of Western medicine. Most conventional doctors, nurses and physiotherapists use this form of acupuncture and tend to work by isolating the problem being treated and concentrating on establishing changes in the pathophysiology of that condition.
Traditional acupuncture focuses centrally on the theories of Qi flow along meridians and of yin and yang in order to establish patterns of disharmony within the body. Practitioners of traditional acupuncture view the body holistically and aim to balance the physical, mental, emotional and spiritual aspects in order to address the problems that are happening throughout your body. This makes traditional acupuncture particularly popular amongst those who present with a number of apparently unconnected problems which may actually be classic symptoms and signs of a certain disharmony seen in traditional Chinese medical practice.