Many ailments that resist treatment by conventional Western biomedicine often respond favorably to the approach and practices that comprise the ancient Chinese healing art of acupuncture. Based on the cumulative store of knowledge and experience of several centuries of Eastern medicine, acupuncture seeks to restore, promote, and maintain good health, a goal inextricably bound to disease prevention.
The author of this work, Yoshiaki Omura, is a physician, educator, electrical engineer, and experimental physicist who was born in Japan and came to the United States in 1959. Among his many impressive credentials and illustrious achievements, he performed the first acupuncture analgesia for surgery outside of China in 1972 at the University Hospital of Albert Einstein College of Medicine. This highly publicized event stimulated research in acupuncture not only in the United States, but also in Europe and elsewhere. To date, Professor Omura has published six books and over 200 articles in professional journals on the subject of acupuncture, and he continues as a pillar in the field.
Starting with a historical background, including the origins and meanings of concepts essential to the practice of acupuncture, the text discusses the anatomical and pathophysiological concepts of Oriental medicine, and concludes with a detailed review of diagnostic methods. This comprehensive history is certain to be of value to lay practitioners as well as healthcare professionals.