I am more than halfway through reading The Spark in the Machine: How the Science of Acupuncture Explains the Mysteries of Western Medicine. A good friend is in a graduate medical program learning to be an acupuncturist. When she talked about the electrical basis of how acupuncture works, I became interested.
The book describes how acupuncture works in the spaces between organs and even cells inside the body and uses tiny charges to promote healings. Right away I found myself more interested than I expected. The beginning of the book talks a lot about fascia, the tissue that wraps around organs in the body and divides different zones of the body. Fascia is made from cartilage which also makes up bone and ligaments.
The author says cartilage is a semiconductor. It can carry a charge along its triple helix structure, but like many crystal structures, it can also generate micro charges when bent or compressed.
When DNA does its many jobs in our bodies, the signals move up and down the double helix. Charge carries information among genes. So it made sense that cartilage could carry and generate charges. Also, a crystal that can generate electricity when compressed can be moved when a charge is applied. I am looking forward to seeing how this effect works in acupuncture.
I have not yet had acupuncture, but the book is opening some fascinating views of the body and how it works.
At one point the author was talking about how tough fascia is. In my mind I went to my worst injuries from missile explosions and high-speed crashes and thought, 'Fascia kept my insides inside!'
If you are interested in acupuncture and how it works. This book is really good.
