How do Acupuncture and Acupressure work and Which is the Better One?
Acupuncture and acupressure are essentially treatment methods based on the same theory of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and energy meridian lines and points. Both involve the stimulation of acupoints on the body to treat illnesses and balance the elements in the body. However, acupuncture makes use of needles insertion into the acupoints as the mode of stimulation while acupressure involves the use of fingers, knuckles or joints of the body to stimulate the points. Hence they are two methods aiming for the same result in rectifying body conditions.
So which is then the better method?
Depths of stimulation
With acupuncture, the stimulation of needles insertion is much stronger as the needles pierce through the skin to reach deeper into the depths of the acupoint. As acupoints are also known as ‘energy vortices’, sometimes the core of the energy vortex can be rather deep depending on the body part. For example, for the buttocks area or the glutes, acupoints there can have a depth of even more than 3 inches. Therefore, some needles are designed to be about more than 3 inches so that the stimulation can be deep and to the point, literally. But once the needle is deep down and with the right skills and techniques of the TCM doctor, the acupoint can be tweaked and the energy can be changed accordingly.
With acupressure, there is no piercing through of the skin to deeper muscles and energy centers like what acupuncture does. Rather, as the term implies, a pressure is exerted to give the acupoint the stimulation. The pressure can be exerted through using the fingers, knuckles, joints of bodies especially the elbows. Therefore, no matter how hard one exerts strength on the acupoint, the deepest level of the pressure can be maximally only to 1 inch and maybe slightly more.
Therefore acupuncture is the better method than acupressure for reaching deeper into the body parts that require treatments.
Pain Level
With acupuncture, many people are afraid of this treatment method due to the phobia of needles and the pain that it can inflict.
However, the pain the acupuncture inflicts is dependent once again by the skills and experience of the doctor administering the treatment. A good doctor can do the treatment with the patient feeling almost nothing except the feeling of the bite of an ant at the point of insertion and some soreness and achiness when the needle reaches the core of the acupoint and picks up the energy from there, also known as de qi. Therefore the actual pain level with acupuncture is almost null.
For acupressure, there will definitely be pain and soreness. Furthermore the stiffer and more tensed the person is, the more discomfort will be felt as the acupressure tries to work through such stiffness and tension to reach the deeper parts of the acupoints. In fact the pain level with acupressure can be equivalent to the original level of the condition or even more.
Hence acupuncture is the better method than acupressure when compared in terms of pain level of administration.
Range of illnesses treatable
Acupuncture is well known to treat all kinds of illnesses, ranging from anxiety, depression, diabetes to gastritis, hives, insomnia. These have already been backed by science as you can read from my previous posts. Basically, you name it, we got it.
For acupressure, due to the shallower level of stimulation, the conditions mostly treated with acupressure are milder and more musculoskeletal related such as daily aches of neck and low back. For chronic illnesses and complicated conditions, using acupressure to treat will be equivalent to using aa small bucket of water to douse the forest fire.
Hence in terms of the range of illnesses treatable, acupuncture outweighs acupressure.
Accessibility of treatment method
Acupuncture is only to be administered by qualified TCM doctors or acupuncturists as it requires years of training to not only insert the needles but insert at the right point and with the right kind of stimulations.
Acupressure can be done by anyone, qualified or not. Hence acupressure is often taught to people of all walks of life as it is safe to be administered by themselves.
Therefore, in terms of accessibility of the treatment method, acupressure definitely will be much easier to access than acupuncture.
Having said the above, it can be seen that out of four of the areas that we have touched on to evaluate acupuncture and acupressure, three of which have shown that acupuncture is the better method. And because acupressure is more easily administered and accessed by anyone, it definitely shows that acupressure is for the less serious body conditions whereas acupuncture holds an efficacy way beyond that of acupressure to treat wider range and more complicated illnesses.
With that said, acupuncture is the better method.
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