Two traditions work their healing power

Countries brought together by therapies that transform lives.

- Wang Xiangyan reports

For Ankit Meena, rising from bed in the morning presented a bleak prospect: yet one more day of excruciating pain.

At the age of 27, a slipped disc had cast a shadow over him for four years, restricting his movement and making even sitting for more than 20 minutes unbearable. Even the painkillers he took exacted a heavy toll on his body, bringing kidney distress and digestive problems.

Reluctant to have surgery, he found a possible solution: acupuncture.

"Within three days half my pain was gone," Meena says, "After seven sessions I have seen a big improvement in sitting, walking and sleeping."

The acupuncturist who gave Meena that new lease on life was Anish Gupta, a medical practitioner in Kota, Rajasthan, who says that over 35 years he has seen the therapy's transformative power in many people. Indeed it was his own encounter with physical ailment and pain that changed his perception of healing, showing him that effective treatment could be achieved without medicines, he says.

"When I was studying for my bachelor's degree in Ayurvedic medicine and surgery I had a stiff neck and frozen shoulder for two months. On the advice of a friend I tried acupressure and experienced complete relief within a single day.

"Motivated by this, I initially began learning acupressure but was soon advised to explore acupuncture because it was considered even more precise."

Gupta now runs an acupuncture clinic in Kota and is national president of the Acupuncture Science Association of India. He trained at the Indian Acupuncture Training and Research Institute in Jaipur and has practised acupuncture since 1991.

He sometimes combines Ayurvedic herb therapies with acupuncture sessions.

"More than 90 per cent of the patients do not need any medicines. I give them Ayurvedic hot fomentation only in chronic or severe cases."