Documentary looks at acupuncture

Press, 5 July 1983, Page 19

Documentary looks at acupuncture

In the last 10 years, New Zealand doctors have made several trips to China to study acupuncture. What the doctors have seen has convinced them that acupuncture works, and the result is a complete change in the attitude of the medical profession. Doctors trained in traditional medicine are now accepting acupuncture as a valid form of treatment and are combining it with their normal practice. A two-part documentary, starting on One tonight, looks at this most ancient form of medicine. It has been practised by half the world’s population for centuries but until recently has been widely viewed with suspicion and disregard by the Western medical world.

In the first half-hour programme, the narrator, lan Johnstone, investigates the reasons for the change in the attitude of the medical profession, and in the second, he examines how acupuncture works.

New Zealand doctors have been able to further their knowledge of acupuncture because they enjoy a unique relationship with China, allowing them to visit and observe acupuncture in practice in the place of its origin. One of the first New Zealand doctors to visit China was Dr Gerald Gibb, a rheumatologist, who went in 1974. He came back convinced of acupuncture’s usefulness, and returned for three months in 1976 to study it further. He is now regarded as one of the leading exponents of acupuncture in this country and conducts courses for other New Zealand doctors. Dr Gibb’s work with acupuncture and his influence

in spreading the message among the medical profession, is explored in the first programme, “Acupuncture — New From the Old.” In 1981, Dr Gibb headed a team visiting China specificaljy to study acupuncture, and one of the party, a filmmaker and doctor, Simon Cotton, captured what they saw on film. “This film is the basis of our interest in acupuncture,” said the producer, Alan Thurston. “Acupuncture is shown being used for major surgery with patients conscious and not feeling any pain. What could be a more effective demonstration?” However, the programmes does not set out recommend acupuncture above traditional medicine. “We’re not saying that acupuncture is the panacea to cure all ills,” said Thurston. “In New Zealand there are doctors trained in traditional medicine who are using acupuncture, and there are practising acupuncturists. “We’re not saying go and see one in preference to the other, or that doctors are wonderful after their one week’s training, but we are saying that acupuncture may help cure many ills that traditional medicine has failed to cure — including sports injuries, mi-

ing sports injuries, mi-

graines, acute and chronic pain, asthma and drug and alcohol addiction. “Even a body as auspicious as the World Health Organisation now recognises that no fewer than 43 medical diseases lend themselves to treatment by acupuncture,” said Thurston. The- documentary shows the work of several New Zealand doctors who are now using acupuncture in the field of soft-issue injuries, stress-related illnesses, and childbirth. The second programme, “Acupuncture — Finding the Key,” to be screened next Tuesday, deals with how acupuncture works, and incorporates the findings of one of China’s most eminent scientists, Professor Han JiSheng, who was in New Zealand at an international seminar on acupuncture in Napier last year. Professor Han was a pioneer in the field of research that showed that acupuncture stimulates the release of endorphins — a naturally-produced mor-phine-like substance that deadens pain. Professor Han’s findings, which reveal a scientific basis for acupuncture, should give validity to those who already know it works, and should help to break down the resistance of those still sceptical.