I want to get some acupuncture treatment yesterday for my back. G has been asking me about how it works so I took him with me. He watched Dr Mai examined my back, and then applied about ten needles in my back. On the way home, I started to explain meridians, and chi to him. Then he asked a couple of questions that made me realized there were some fundamental misconception: Remember all his experience in medicine are
- taking over the counter western medicine like fever reducers
- annual check ups by his pediatrician
- vaccination via needles
- and ok -- he did take a course of Chinese herbal medicine once
The misconception is that he thought the acupuncture needles were injecting medicine (like a western needle) into the body. Once I explained the needle is there to adjust (unblock or reduce) chi flow, his next logical question is how can the doctor tell where are the acupuncture points. I told him that ultimately is done by feel. Then he appreciates the difficulties. When I told him that Traditional Chinese Medicine is slowly getting lost because the difficulties in studying and practicing, he shared my concern.