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The first time I ever heard about this strange practice of putting needles into people other than to give an injection, draw blood, or simply be mean was when I was living in Japan. I was at a friend’s house and saw a pair of Coke bottle thick glasses. He didn’t wear glasses, so I asked whose they were. “They’re mine,” he responded. “Really?!” I thought as he didn’t wear glasses.

Well, that was true, he didn’t wear glasses when I knew him, but he used to. He had received acupuncture and no longer needed them! I stored that bit of bizarre info in my brain and didn’t revisit it until a couple of years later when I was back in Canada. I happened on a book about Traditional Chinese Medicine and acupuncture and decided that I wanted to learn more about this mysterious practice.

Nearly 15 years later and I’m still fascinated by this amazing therapy called acupuncture and the philosophies and diagnostic systems of TCM.

Today I received a newsletter about acupuncture and the eyes, so I thought I would share it. http://www.acufinder.com/Acupuncture+Information/Detail/Acupuncture+and+Eye+Health

I don’t do many points directly around the eyes, but there are some great points listed here and there are many more far from the eyes that do wonders. For example, one study had a popular point called Liver3 on the foot acupunctured while an fMRI of the brain was done (looking at the brain in real time during acupuncture). The same areas that would light up in the brain when a light is flashed in the eye responded when Liver3 was stimulated. When a different, but nearby point (Liver2) was acupunctured, a different response in the brain occurred. Liver3 is commonly and traditionally used to treat the eyes. This is the study (but note that they made an error stating that the point is on the hand; it’s not, it’s on the foot): http://www.springerlink.com/content/w708x6438421547k

Isn’t the body amazing?!