Dr. Raman Kapur is a renowned medical acupuncturist, who was awarded the Padma Shri in 2008 for his contribution to the field.
Apart from being the president of the Indian Society of Medical Acupuncture, and chairperson of the Department of Acupuncture at Sir Ganga Ram Hospital, New Delhi, he is chairman of the Institute of Acupuncture and Natural Medicines, where he conducts regular courses on acupuncture for doctors. These courses are being conducted jointly with the Beijing College of Acupuncture.
Kapur has also written three books on his subject, titled “A Guide to Acupuncture and Tissue Cleansing System”, “Soft Lasers in Medical Practice”, and “Acupuncture — Cure for Common Diseases”.
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In view of the growing demand among doctors to learn acupuncture, he, along with his wife Dr. Sunita Kapur, developed an online course. This course is now conducted in collaboration with the Indira Gandhi National Open University, for a one year post graduate diploma in acupuncture (PGDACP).
Here he replies to questions in an email interview:
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Acupuncture is derived from the Latin word ‘acus’ and ‘puncture’, where acus means ‘ needle’ and puncture means ‘ to penetrate’. When these needles are inserted and stimulated on specific points, located near the nerve endings, gives therapeutic effects.
What conditions are commonly treated by acupuncture? Are there any risks or side effects associated with the acupuncture therapy?
According to a report of the World Health Organization, the following ailments can be cured by acupuncture: acute and chronic colitis, acute and chronic gastritis, acute and chronic pharyngitis, acute bacillary dysentery, acute bronchitis, acute rhinitis, acute sinusitis, acute strains of soft tissue, acute tonsillitis, acute simple appendicitis, arthritis, bronchial asthma, cervicobrachial syndrome, chronic duodenal ulcer pain, common cold, constipation, coronary heart disease, diarrhoea, disease of the biliary tract, dysmenorrhea, facial palsy, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, gastroptosis, gingivitis, headache and migraine, hiccups, hypertension, intercostal neuralgia, irregular menstruation, lower back pain, Meniere’s disease, morning sickness, neurogenic bladder, nocturnal enuresis, osteoarthritis, paralytic ileus, peripheral neuropathy, sciatica, sequelae of poliomyelitis, spasm of esophagus and cardia, strained neck, tenosynovitis, toothache, post extraction pain, trigeminal neuralgia
Can you describe a typical acupuncture session?
In a typical acupuncture session a patient gets needle inserted at specific acupuncture points in the body, which can vary from 15 to 20 needles and lies down comfortably for 30 minutes.
How has the demand for acupuncture grown in India — among doctors and patients — in the years that you have been working in the field?
It has grown very well in India in the last 32 years I have been practising, amongst doctors as well as patients. It is important to create more awareness amongst people so that they start taking it as a first line of treatment and not as a last resort.