2006.04.01 Auricular Acupuncture

Usually when I say the word “Auricular” people give me a funny look. They have never heard the word and are a bit nervous about what Auricular Acupuncture could be. Fortunately they feel at ease again when I tell them that Auricular is a fancy word meaning “of the Ear”.

Ear Acupuncture, as it can be called for simplicity’s sake, is a powerful form of acupuncture that has been used almost as long as body acupuncture has been used. It is thought that for many hundreds of years, various practitioners would use a point or two on the ear.

It was in France in 1950 that a neurologist, Dr. Paul Nogier, noticed that many of his patients were coming in with a scar on their ear. The scar, he discovered, was a cauterization (burn mark) made by a lay practitioner to stop sciatica. While he found cauterization a bit barbaric, he found that a simple acupuncture needle did the trick just as well to stop patient’s sciatica.

In 1972 Nogier published his book, Treatise of Auriculotherapy. In this text he outlined all the research he had devoted to studying the ear, and a complete map of the human body and its corresponding points on the ear. From this text comes the tradition of Ear Acupuncture used today.

The ear is a powerful part of the body to treat because of its ability to affect the brain. Ear acupuncture can not only stop pain in the limbs and trunk, it can modulate the endocrine and nervous systems. One of the more famous applications of Ear Acupuncture is the NADA protocol, which is a specific set of ear points used to curb addictions. All over the US, clinics occur every morning to help people make it through the day without heroin, alcohol, or nicotine.

The positive results of this therapy with patients is what makes it so exciting for me. Whenever a patient is amenable to Ear Acupuncture, I add in those points to their treatment plan. Occasionally, people are not ready for a needle in the ear, and for them there are “ear seeds”- small balls on a sticker that can be pressed for the desired point stimulation.

Any questions or comments? You can email me at marian@marianhughesacupuncture.com .

Wishing you the best of health,

Marian