I used to think that acupuncture was strange.
I was introduced to acupuncture as being about Qi (chi) as your vital force, your energy, and how it travels through your meridians.
Over time that chi gets blocked and leads to sickness. Through acupuncture, they said they could unblock the chi and make you well.
That sounded pretty nice, but very strange, very wishy-washy, very new age to me.
My name is Carine Chalut, and I’m an acupuncturist here at Oaktree Health.
We designed this article to help give you more information about acupuncture and Chinese medicine. I hope that by better understanding how this beautiful medicine works, we’ll give you better results.
I know that many people who have tried acupuncture in the past weren’t really informed or didn’t really understand what was happening, so I’m here to make it clear for you and give you more knowledge.
Restoring Communication Within Your Nervous System
Here at Oaktree, what we understand is that your body is meant to communicate with your brain.
The moment there are disconnects from your brain to your body parts, you start having problems with your:
- Back
- Shoulders
- Neck
- Vital organs like heart or lungs
With acupuncture, what we want to do is improve communication from body parts—muscles, joints, organs—making sure that those body parts are communicating well with the brain.
How we do that: We stimulate the nervous system and hormones to cause a reaction to send more blood to the area we’re targeting.
Acupuncture is not just about treating one specific problem. It’s about treating the whole body.
When you come in, we’re going to ask you questions about:
- Your key challenges
- How everything’s functioning as a whole
This helps us understand your complete health picture.
Core Concepts of Acupuncture, Demystified
It’s important to explain acupuncture concepts and terms in plain English. I truly believe understanding these principles will help you get better results from your treatments.
Understanding Qi : More Than Just “Energy”
One of the first concepts you need to understand is the word Qi .
Here’s the truth: Qi actually means a lot of different things—it doesn’t just mean energy, and it depends on the context.
Qi can refer to:
- The function of an organ
- Oxygen in your body
- Blood that’s circulating
- Lymphatic fluid movement
- The energy extracted from food and transferred to your body
As you can see, there’s so many Qi — not just one particular thing.
What An Acupuncture Practitioner Is Really Doing
Yes, we are trying to encourage more movement inside the body. A lot of times we’re encouraging more blood flow.
Important: That blood doesn’t move through invisible energetic vessels—that blood flow moves through your veins and your arteries.
If you’ve ever sat on your leg during a road trip and noticed that your leg was getting sleepy, all tingly—you were cutting off some of the circulation.
The moment you started getting up, you felt the blood rushing back.
That’s the same idea. If your blood’s not moving well, it’s going to lead to problems.
Here’s another way to think about it:
If I take a string and tie it real tight around my finger, eventually the part that I’m cutting off circulation is going to:
- Change color
- Become painful
- Fall off if left too long
The key point: If we encourage more blood flow anywhere, we’re encouraging more function to the body, and things will work a lot better.
The Role of Meridians in Acupuncture
The next concept I want to introduce to you are the meridians.
The truth is that many acupuncturists will debate on what meridians actually are.
It’s hard because there are books that talk about the meridian system that are definitely older than me, older than you, older than our country — we’re talking about thousands of years old.
How I Understand Meridians As a Practitioner
The meridians that I talk about are really a connection of different muscle groups combined together that flow well together.
Over top of your muscles sits something called fascia — a thin, stretchy layer of connective tissue that:
- Wraps around your muscles
- Links different parts of your body together
- Helps explain how movement and tension can travel along certain “paths”
So the simplest way to think about meridians?
They’re muscle groups that work along the fascia lines.
For example, in Chinese medicine, we talk about:
- The lung meridian
- The stomach meridian
Important clarification: It doesn’t mean that it has something to do with your stomach—it just means that perhaps there are some points in that area that could benefit the stomach.
Your Body Is Connected
What I need you to understand is that it’s not just energy circulating through the body.
These are muscle groups that we know affect other muscle groups.
For example, the muscles in the back of the leg and calf will affect the hamstring next to it. Those are connections.
Big picture: A big part of acupuncture and Chinese medicine is looking at how the body is connected from one part to the other.
The Yin-Yang Balance That Drives Healing
You might have heard of yin and yang. You might have seen it on somebody’s tattoo or a necklace with a symbol of the black and white.
What it represents: It’s a great example and concept of showing that in everything, there are opposites:
- Black and white
- Night and day
- Good and bad
- Hot and cold
- Active and passive
Think of these real-life examples:
- Thyroid conditions: Sometimes the thyroid is hyperactive and sometimes it’s hypoactive.
- Blood pressure: Your blood pressure is not supposed to be too high, it’s also not supposed to be too low—it’s supposed to be balanced. There’s a sweet spot.
The core concept? If your body’s in perfect balance, perfect harmony, then your body is healthy. That’s where yin and yang comes from.
How We Apply This at Oaktree Health in Ottawa
What definitely makes us unique is that we treat underlying causes. We treat the root of a problem so you can become well for good.
What This Means for Your Treatment Plan
When you understand these concepts, you get a better idea of what we’re really doing:
- Improving circulation
- Improving movement
- Encouraging blood flow to specific areas
- Helping areas function better
The reality: We’re not just trying to move energy. We’re really trying to get your body to be balanced, work in harmony, and really do what the body can do best—heal and regenerate.
If there’s one thing we believe, it’s that the human body is incredible.
It has so much potential. A lot of times we might need to facilitate or encourage it to do what it’s meant to do, which is to heal.
What Acupuncture Can Help You With?
Our holistic approach means we can help with a wide range of conditions:
Pain & Physical Symptoms
- Pain conditions that may also benefit from chiropractic care
- Lower back pain
- Headaches and migraines
- Sciatica
Mental Health & Emotional Wellbeing
- Anxiety and stress management
- Sleep disorders
- Overall wellness support
Specialized Treatments (Fertility, Cosmetic, etc.)
- Fertility concerns and reproductive health
- Digestive issues
- Facial rejuvenation
The benefit of treating the whole body: Many patients find improvements in areas they didn’t even expect, because we’re addressing root causes rather than just symptoms.
Ready to Experience How Acupuncture Can Work for You?
Now that you understand how acupuncture works, you might be curious about experiencing it yourself.
We’re here to support your journey toward better health and help your body do what it’s meant to do: heal and thrive.
If you’re ready to see how acupuncture can help you, book your consultation at one of our three Ottawa locations.
Have questions about acupuncture? Check out our acupuncture FAQ or contact us directly.
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