Is Acupuncture a Viable Stop-Smoking Solution?

The typical individual who has at least some desire to stop smoking likely has already tried at least one and possibly more approaches to smoking cessation. Because such a person is still looking for an effective means of ending their habit, prior attempts at smoking cessation have obviously failed.

 

With this in mind, it is important to understand that thousands of people can be found each and every day looking for different approaches to smoking cessation. As a result, alternative stop smoking methods have started to look more and more attractive to many a smoker around the world.

 

One smoking cessation option that increasingly steady numbers of smokers find themselves considering, is acupuncture. Of course, many people have heard of acupuncture being utilized as a means of pain control. However, many of these same men and women simply have not heard of acupuncture as an alternative way of stopping smoking.

 

At its essence, acupuncture is a medical technique that is derived from ancient China. The theory behind acupuncture is that needles can be placed at specific spots in the skin at different locations across the human body in order to treat or control pain and even disease. Some practitioners have taken this ancient art a step further and maintain that they can utilize acupuncture in order to treat addiction to nicotine – an addiction that is at the root of smoking for most individuals.

 

Even many acupuncture specialists concede that the proverbial jury is still out when it comes to the overall effectiveness of acupuncture as an aid in smoking cessation. The actual results of acupuncture as a means of smoking cessation have been mixed. (In fairness to those people who do espouse acupuncture as a viable means for aiding a person in stopping smoking, other methods and regimens have produced equally mixed results over time.)

 

The fact is that although acupuncture literally has been around for thousands of years, the use of this practice in smoking cessation is of a very new (and accidental) origin. In the 1970s, an opium addict underwent acupuncture for pain management in regard to a medical condition not directly related to his addiction. The opium addict reported that his cravings and other side effects disappeared following the acupuncture treatment.

 

Not long after this “accidental discovery”, the use of acupuncture broadened to treat other addictions as well. This included the treatment of addictions to other types of drugs, including alcohol and ultimately nicotine.

 

Perhaps, in the final analysis, a trip to the acupuncturist might be worthwhile if other types of smoking cessation plans, regimens, and programs have failed. Once again, although it appears that acupuncture has been effective in some instances when it comes to smoking cessation, there is no guarantee that it will be effective for every smoker.