Page 11 - Acupuncture explanation electronic version 2

Stage 2: Reaction phase

inflammation. Sometimes, however, inflammation

flares up in an organ or tissue and we do not know

the cause. We simply know that there is pain and

inflammation and that the immune system is

reacting to something it considers harmful.

Because the reaction phase tends to be

uncomfortable to painful, many people seek out

medical help. This help many times comes in the

form of anti-inflammatory drugs. Where limiting

the inflammation is good in certain problems like

the sprained ankle where we do not want it blowing

up to the size of a softball, in other situations this

works against the body.

Rather than a sprained ankle, lets now imagine

that the cause of the inflammation is a pathogen or

toxin which has invaded the tissue and begun to

damage the cells. In this case,we do not want to

block the inflammatory process because this is the

immune cells clearing out the pathogen or toxin

before it can do further damage to the tissue

affected. The focus here should be to limit the pain

associated with the inflammatory reaction so there