K.K. Jain, Textbook of Personalized Medicine, DOI 10.1007/978-1-4939-2553-7_19, 577
© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2015
Chapter 19
Personalized Non-pharmacological Therapies
Introduction
Most of the discussion in personalized medicine relates to pharmacological therapies.
Some of the complementary therapies such as acupuncture do not use drugs. Some
non-pharmacological approaches that have become a part of integrated modern
healthcare are also personalized and will be discussed here briefl y. There are per-
sonalized aspects of surgery as well.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture, as the derivation of the word implies (acus meaning needle; puncta
meaning puncture), is the insertion of a needle into the skin of the human body. The
ancient Chinese attributed disease to an imbalance between Yin (negative) and Yang
(positive) forces. Acupuncture was supposed to restore the balance between these
two forces. Acupuncture was used mostly for the relief of pain and muscular dis-
ability but has been applied to other disorders as well. The mechanism of action is
not well understood and is the topic of most of the research studies.
Acupuncture is the most commonly integrated of the alternative methods into
conventional medical practice. It does not confl ict with modern neuromuscular
anatomy and pain physiology even though it is based on the classical Chinese con-
cept of a subtle circulation network of a vivifying force called Qi. This hybrid acu-
puncture approach expresses the best of both worlds by describing a context in
which to organize patient symptoms that usually escape attention in the standard
medical evaluation.
Acupuncture is performed at certain specifi ed points (acupuncture points) that
are located on the 12 major meridians on the body, each corresponding to a major
organ system of the body. More than 1,000 such points exist; they have been
determined by trial and error. Computers are used in acupuncture, and computerized