Introduction: Probably everybody has experienced some sort of pain in his/her life. Pain is an unpleasant, subjective feeling, a psychological addition to protective reactions of our body, which warns us of any pathological processes in the body or harmful stimuli from the environment. Apart from different medication pain treatments, there is also non-medication therapy with accupuncture performing here the leading role. Accupuncture is a method where fine needles are inserted at strategic points of your body. It originates from traditional Chinese medicine and has been accepted in Westeren medicine as a complementary method of treatment for decades. Purpose: The thesis presents accupuncture, its purpose and usefulness with pain relief, what disease it is most commonly used for, and how often it is used in Slovenia. The thesis also presents some cases of good practice of using accupuncture for different medical conditions. Methods: The thesis uses descriptive and comparative methods, the study of Slovene and foreign professional as well as scientific literature including explanations and the use of accupuncture, the influence of accupuncture on pain, and the description of pain. Results: According to the results of published studies, accupuncture is a safe and, with the right indications, effective treatment without medication, with very few and insignificant side effects. It proved to be particularly useful for and effective against migraine, headache, back pain, hypertension, trigeminal neuralgia and all other conditions included by the WHO for pain relief with accupuncture. In some countries accupuncture is practiced as complementary therapy, in others as primary therapy for pain relief. There are 17 inpatient pain relief wards practicing accupuncture in Slovenia. The average of 50 patients a day are treated with accupuncture therapy at the Pain Relief Inpatient Ward of Peter Držaj Hospital in Ljubljana. Discussion and conclusion: Accupuncture is by far more than just inserting needles, it involves complicated interactions including empathy, touch, attention and expectation. In contemporary health system it is an important addition to medication therapy and surgical treatment, and has thus to a great extent marked pain relief treatment and management also in the Western world. With regard to hitherto findings and results of medicine, the author believes that accupuncture is an imporant addition to classical (medication) approaches and that its positive effects must not be overlooked.
|
