Inserting acupuncture needles superficially into various parts of the body can facilitate weight loss by giving the person a feeling of well-being which can suppress the desire for excess food. Acupuncture also can stimulate metabolism and thereby enable the body to utilize food efficiently instead of storing it as fat.
The specific points used for each patient at each treatment depend on many individual factors. Doctor Qiqing Li determines which points should be used with regard to the patient’s fat distribution, emotional status, eating habits and other factors.
At first it is important to determine the types of obesity.
Type-1 and Type-2 Obesity
Type-1 obesity is not caused by a disease and, in most cases it is caused by excessive eating habits and lack of exercise. Type-2 obesity accounts for less than 1% of obesity cases and is caused by a disease; abnormal weight gains occur with type-2 obesity even when little is eaten.
Cushing syndrome, hypothyroidism, polycystic ovarian disease, and insulinoma, are some internal secretion diseases that cause type-2 obesity. Cushing syndrome is characterized by thinning arms and legs and abdominal obesity, whereby fat gathers around the body, and in some instances, the hypodermis cracks from sudden weight gain causing line marks on the abdomen, groin, underarm, and back. Persons with hypothyroidism experience a drop in their metabolism, and weight gain occurs as a result of low calorie consumption. Type-1 obesity can be treated with general obesity treatment methods like simultaneous dietetic treatment and exercise. But type-2 obesity requires that the underlying disease be treated first. Usually, obesity goes away naturally after the underlying disease has been treated.
Child-type and Adult-type Obesity
Although obesity may look the same from the outside, a full examination reveals that there’s a considerable amount of personal difference in the number and size of fat cells. According to the size and number of fat cells, obesity can be divided into adult-type, where only the size of fat cells is increased, and child-type, where the number of fat cells is increased.
The number of fat cells increases the most during the year after birth. People who have always been obese since childhood, have 3-4 times more fat cells than people who became obese as adults. With adult-type obesity, the number of fat cells is close to normal, but the size increases. This happens mostly after middle age. But generally, the reason child-type obesity is more dangerous and important than adult-type obesity is because it is extremely difficult to reduce the number of fat cells already made. Therefore, treatment is much more effective for adult-type obesity, where the enlarged fat cells just have to be returned to their original state, than for child-type obesity.
Abdominal Obesity and Limb Obesity
Depending on where fat is stored on the body, obesity can be divided in to abdominal obesity and limb obesity. Abdominal obesity is when fat is mostly distributed over the abdomen and back, and limb obesity is when fat is concentrated around the thighs, arms, legs, and buttocks. Abdominal obesity occurs mainly in men; limb obesity occurs primarily in women.
The reason the distribution of fat is significant is because depending on where it’s concentrated the danger level for adult diseases changes. So with abdominal obesity there’s a higher danger of ischemic heart disease, diabetes, and hyperlipidemia. This is because the enzymes, which break down nutrients into triglycerides and store them in fat cells, are very active within abdominal fat.
Before the beginning of acupuncture procedures for the weight loss Doctor Qiqing Li will always suggest the right diet, natural herbal pills and exercise regimen for you and your child. Together they will produce the long-term effect we all are looking for.
The use of staples in the ear for weight control is an American innovation which is often ineffective and dangerous. Only two points — one in the upper outer part of each ear – are used by this method in contrast to the ten or twenty points used in regular acupuncture treatments. The cartilage of the ear does not replace itself after injury and has little resistance to infection. Staples left in place for many days promote infection and sometimes fall out and enter the ear canal, where they can damage the ear structures. There have been cases of people having permanent holes in the upper parts of their ear as the result of infected staples with sloughing. For these reasons, we do not recommend the use of ear staples for weight reduction.
Diet and exercise are helpful in any program of weight reduction. Most people who come for acupuncture treatments, however, have been given diets and exercise regimens before. They may have good knowledge of what they should and shouldn’t eat but they feel depressed or irritable when they try to stay on a diet. Acupuncture should relieve such problems and improve will power along with aiding in weight loss.
The actual weight loss to be expected is about two to four pounds a week. Six to ten acupuncture treatments are usually sufficient, and these can be given once or twice a week. Weight loss should continue after the treatments are completed until normal weight is achieved. The effects of acupuncture usually last at least six months and sometimes a year or more. If the desire to eat excessively returns at any time in the future, a few more acupuncture treatments should relieve it. For the curious we provide the general picture of the acupuncture points used.
1. Body acupuncture
Prescription: Quchi (LI 11), Shangjuxu (ST 37), Neiting ( ST 44 ), Yinlingquan ( SP 9 ) and Sanyinjiao (SP 6).
Modification: For heat in the stomach and intestines: Hegu (LI 4), Zusanli (ST 36) and Fenglong (ST 40) are added; for asthenia of stomach and spleen qi, Pishu (BL 20), Weishu (BL 21), Zusanli (ST 36) and Taibai (SP 3) are added; for insufficiency of renal primordial qi, Zhong-wan (CV 12), Guanyuan (CV 4) and Sanjiaoshu (BL 22) are added; for constipation, Tianshu ( ST 25 ), Zhigou (TE 6) and Yanglingquan (GB 34) are added; for profuse sweating, Zhongwan (CV 12), Shangwan (CV 13) and Zusanli (ST 36 ) are added; for somnolence, Zhaohai (KI 6), Shenmai (BL 62) and Tianshu (ST 25) are added; for abdominal distension, Xiaochangshu (BL 27), Xiajuxu (ST 39) and Wangu (SI 4) are added; for palpita-tion and shortness of breath, Shenmen (HT 7), Neiguan (PC 6) and Jugue (CV 14) are added. For thirst with pol-ydipsia, Zusanli (ST 36), Chengjiang (CV 24) and Taixi (KI 3) are added; for edema of lower limbs, Shangqiu (SP 5), Shuifen (CV 9) and Sanjiaoshu (BL 22) are add-ed; for irregular menstruation, Xuehai (SP 10), Diji (SP 
and Ququan (LR are added; for impotence, Shenshu (BL 23), Mingmen (GV 4) and Guanyuan (CV 4) are added.
Performance: Heat in the stomach and intestines is treated with reducing needling technique; asthenia of spleen and stomach qi or insufficiency of renal primordial qi is treated with reinforcing or mild reinforcing and reducing needling techniques. In the early stage 4 – 5 acu-points are selected each time. Eventually ten or more acu-points are selected for each treatment. Deep needling is required for all acu-points except the ones on the limbs.
2. Ear acupoints
Prescription:Hunger Point ( External Nose ) ( TG1,2i ), Mouth ( CO1 ), Esophagus ( CO2 ), Lung (CO14), Stomach (CO4), Endocrine (CO18) and Pancreas and gallbladder (COil).
About the author: ChineseHerbalAdviser
