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History of Acupuncture & NADA Protocol

Dr.Arindam Sinha*

  

 History of Acupuncture is a beautiful story of mankind, anthropology, dynasties, roles of Jawaharlal Nehru, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose , banning of acupuncture in mainland China and its propagation in entire world by the efforts of few lion hearted physicians.

Though believed to be originated in China, origin of acupuncture and its concept is spread in a very big area, like no one can claim about origin of agriculture same with acupuncture, Otzi the mummy found in Italy is 8000 years old and has specific acupuncture points tattooed on his body for specific diseases he had. India and Sri Lanka have their claims.
But it flowered and reached its zeniths under Chinese dynasties, the first written proof, can be called minutes of the meeting between Yellow Emperor and his court physician Qi Bo, is featured in the medical text, the Huang Di Nei Jing, The Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine.

During Ming Dynasty acupuncture and moxibution attained new heights but slowly started to wane away after that , after losing opium war Chinese culture was heavily influenced by western way of lives, in 1920 Acupuncture and other Chinese cultural practices were banned in china.

When General Mao Tse Tung/ Mao Zedong started his long march Acupuncture came in handy for malaria and other infections, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose sent an Indian Medical Mission to China in 1938. Dr.Kotnis and Dr.B.K.Basu were part of the 5 doctor team. Dr.B.K.Basu became the first acupuncturist of India. His pioneering efforts gave acupuncture the foothold in India.

NADA History

NADA celebrated its 25th anniversary this year. Incorporated in 1985 in the state of New York, NADA has helped spread acu detox far and wide, nationally and internationally under the International leadership of Dr.Michael O.Smith .
In 1985, following 10 years of their experience developing the basic three to five ear-points NADA protocol for treatment of addiction, the staff and other professionals associated with the South Bronx's Lincoln Hospital determined a need for a national-level organization to expand training capacity and awareness of the value of acupuncture as a tool of recovery.
NADA has since trained more than 10,000 health professionals, including counselors, social workers, nurses, medical doctors, psychologists, acupuncturists, chiropractors, outreach workers, drug court judges, corrections officers and others to use the protocol. 

Dr.A.L.Agrawal, Dr.T.C.Tolia, Dr.A.K.Sinha, Dr.RamanKappor, Dr.Vinay Verma Dr.P.B.Lohiya laid the foundation of acupuncture in different parts of India. History of acupuncture can’t be completed without mentioning two names, first of Dr.Anton Jayasuriya from Sri Lanka, he taught thousands of practitioners worldwide.

Today no textbook, course or program is complete without the mention of NADA protocol for addiction treatment and rehabilitation; this was developed and promoted across the diverse cultures & settings  by Dr. Michael O Smith psychiatrist and acupuncturist from  New York. He is working for the same since 1975.


Dr.Arindam Sinha*
MBBS (KGMC), DAc, PGDACP, 
MD(Acu), NADA ADS, MISMA, MIAADS
Managing Director
Consultant Medical Acupuncture & Rehabilitation
Sinha Medical Acupuncture 
M-53 Kalkaji New Delhi-19


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