Jessica Sleight spoke to a room of 21 people on Nov. 16 about the merits and uses of acupuncture. The topics were incredibly varied, ranging from military use to being used to help reduce stress.

The goal of acupuncture is to help the body find balance with the application of needles to select pressure points on the body. However for this specific seminar, Sleight used the ear for the placement of the needles. She made it clear that the needles can be placed on pressure points throughout the body.

“The ear is a microcosm of the body,” Sleight said.

Sleight has had very intensive training in her field. After her graduation from Maryland University, she continued to learn from training from experts in acupuncture. This close relationship has given her insight into her field that many others lack when trying to explain the benefits of the art of needles.

A performer of acupuncture will try to regulate any of the 12 pulses within the body, with six being found on either side. The placement of the needles is very precise to a select pressure point, but these are not chosen at random. The pressure points are dependant on the symptoms of patients.

A typical resting period after the needles are in is about a half-hour.

There are five points in the ear, each with a corresponding effect on the entire body. During the resting period, it is very possible to move around with the needles in. The placement of the needles needs to be exact and precise; if a nerve is hit, then the patient will feel an electrical current sensation throughout their body, which may not be a very enjoyable experience.

Sleight had a smile as she went about her work, while those at the lecture awaited their fated turns. Each person was a mix of smiles and not-so-suppressed nervousness. She explained that some bad reactions could include nausea and lightheadedness. A girl in attendance began to feel nauseous and had to lay down, but Sleight said it is important to state that this sort of reaction is very rare. This was the only bad reaction of those in attendance.

Sleight placed four needles in each ear; one in the upper-inner ear, middle, one crossing the middle and one in the bottom.

“It feels kind of heavy, you know,” said Yasuka Huff an instructor at SFCC. “ I think this is a great experience for students to be able to have.”

One of the main purposes of the treatment when used in specific areas besides the ear is to cause a lightening of tension in that place or through the entire body.

“I don’t really feel it,” said SFCC student Evelyn Calderon.

There was a treatment study published in the American journal of Emergency Medicine, in which they used acupuncture to try to immediate lower back pain relief.  Thirty patients were separated into two equal trial groups. One would receive standard military treatment, while the other group was given the acupuncture treatment. They used a 10-point numeric pain scale. The acupuncture patients who received the treatment scored significantly lower than the group that only received the standard treatment, 5.2 vs. 6.9. There were also no adverse effects found in any of the acupuncture patients.

Mike Hutchins, a doctor based out of Missoula, Montana, recalled a groin surgery in which he did not use any anesthetic on the patient, because he wanted to use acupuncture to try to numb whatever pain might come about during the surgery. He prepped the anesthesia just in case things went wrong very quickly\. The doctor began the surgery, and to his surprise, the patient only complained of slight pain once, whereupon he placed a few more needles, and continued the surgery. At no point in the surgery did the doctor apply any medication. If that wasn’t enough, after being wheeled out to his car, the patient drove himself home.

In addition to acupuncture, other therapeutic treatments include cupping and scraping. A well-known user of cupping would be swimmer Michael Phelps, who sported purple bruises on his shoulders during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.

For some of those who are Washington residents, it is also important to note that acupuncture is covered under insurance.