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This series presents information based in part on theory and conjecture.

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The producer's purpose is to suggest some possible explanations, but not necessarily the only ones to the mysteries we will examine.

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In this special insertion we travel to the People's Republic of China to examine a modern mystery which had its beginnings centuries ago, the ancient medical art of acupuncture.

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Chinese doctors claim a mysterious energy force they call Qi flows through the human body and controls our health and well-being.

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They believe this flow can be altered by the insertion of needles at specific points on the body.

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Peking Hospital in the People's Republic of China.

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Lin Yanling is about to undergo brain surgery.

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The only things between her and severe pain are four tiny acupuncture needles.

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How these needles can have so powerful an effect is one of the mysteries of Chinese medicine.

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We traveled to the People's Republic of China to attempt to solve a mystery.

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Our goal was to investigate the ancient medical art of acupuncture.

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We discovered that while a new China is emerging, the old continues to be prized along with the new.

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We found much to admire in a culture thousands of years older than our own.

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A replica of a bronze figure cast over a thousand years ago is used to explain acupuncture by Dr. Lu Xi Tsun, China's foremost expert.

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He tells us that 12 lines of force, called meridians, flow through the human body, each connected to a vital organ, such as the lungs or the heart.

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As long as this flow of force, the Chinese called Qi, is uninterrupted, the body will be healthy.

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But if an imbalance occurs, pain, disease, and even death may result.

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Over the centuries, the Chinese discovered that if small needles were inserted at specific points along the meridians, the flow of force could be balanced and the problem would subside.

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It has long been a mystery to the Western world how this tiny needle inserted in the human body could often stop pain, and in some cases be a seemingly miraculous cure for many diseases.

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At first, acupuncture was regarded with suspicion by the medical profession of the West.

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In the early 1970s, when China opened her doors, the first visiting physicians returned with remarkable stories about the apparent effectiveness of acupuncture.

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The University of California at Los Angeles was one of the first institutions to take acupuncture seriously.

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An early believer, Dr. David Bressler of UCLA's Pain Center.

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Acupuncture is probably the world's oldest contemporary medical system.

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We consider it experimental in this country, but probably more people have been treated by acupuncture than by all other systems of medicine combined.

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We give the ancient Chinese credit for discovering things like gunpowder, porcelain, paper, silk, the compass.

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But their discoveries in the field of medicine were even more astounding.

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They knew about vaccination against smallpox.

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Thousands of years BC, and I don't have to tell you what it did to Western civilization.

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They knew about circulation of blood in the body.

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What's most intriguing is that their whole orientation to the human body is quite radically different than ours.

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Western medicine is based principally on anatomy and physiology.

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We open the body, we dissect it, we see what goes on inside, and that forms the basis of our medicine.

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The Chinese worshiped their ancestors, so to do gross dissections was unthinkable.

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Rather, they looked at the functional organization of the body, how all these organ systems are interrelated.

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We visited a typical acupuncture clinic in Peking, China.

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One of thousands throughout that vast country where acupuncture is a common practice.

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Acupuncture is one of three related techniques used here for a variety of ailments.

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Acupressure involves the stimulation of acupuncture points on the outside of the body without breaking the skin.

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When heated maxi herbs are applied to the acupuncture areas, it is called moxibustion.

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This patient is a worker whose left side has been paralyzed for over four years.

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After placing several needles in the man's back, the doctor locates the precise motor point on the right side of his head

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that controls the motor functions on the patient's left side.

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After insertion, the needles are stimulated and left in for about 20 minutes.

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After 11 treatments, he is much improved and soon will be able to return to work.

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This patient suffers arthritic pains.

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In addition to the usual treatment, the doctor adds a special needle fitted with a burning capsule of moxa herb.

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They heat from the needle and the presence of the herb will strengthen the effect.

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Obviously, this patient has found relief.

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In China, I'd say one of the most exciting things they're doing is using acupuncture, anesthesia and surgery.

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They have it to a point where they're using very minimal amounts of drugs and depending rather heavily on acupuncture

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to provide anesthesia during really a variety of surgical procedures.

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In the neurological center in the Peking hospital, a woman patient is about to undergo an extraordinary surgical procedure

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under the supervision of Dr. Chao Yadwop.

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She came to a hospital after examination.

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The diagnosis is very clear.

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That is, she suffers from a pituitary tumor and this tumor is located in the base of the brain.

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Today, we use acupuncture and anesthesia to perform this operation.

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There are many benefits and many advantages of acupuncture and anesthesia.

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First, during operation, the patient remains fully conscious and she can cooperate with you.

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The patient, blind for some years in one eye, now has almost total loss of vision in the other.

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The cause, a tumor at the base of the pituitary gland.

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The remedy to saw out a 4-1-1-1-1 section of her skull and remove the tumor from her brain.

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The aim, total restoration of sight in both eyes.

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The only anesthesia to be used throughout the operation, during which the patient will be fully conscious, will be acupuncture.

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A skilled acupuncturist must know the precise points where the needles will be effective.

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The slightest misjudgment could be crucial.

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To strengthen their effect, electric stimulation has been added to the needles, using special low-voltage equipment.

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Only four needles are used, but those in her head contact two acupuncture points each.

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The usual procedure in the United States in such an operation is to administer a general anesthetic, rendering the patient unconscious.

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Occasionally, a local anesthetic is given to prevent pain, allowing the patient to remain awake and able to cooperate.

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Chinese doctors feel they must treat the total person, so they're careful to establish close relationships with their patients.

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Confident, Lin Yanling is now ready for her operation.

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In the Peking Hospital of the People's Republic of China, Lin Yanling has been prepared for brain surgery.

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Her only anesthesia will be the four tiny needles placed strategically in special acupuncture points, which the Chinese surgeons know will block any feeling of pain.

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Electric stimulation has been added to the needles to strengthen their effect, using special low-voltage equipment.

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What you're about to see are very graphic scenes of an actual brain operation.

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First, the outer layer of skin must be peeled back.

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Her condition will be watched carefully by a specially trained nurse.

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Conscious throughout, Yanling will be able to communicate her feelings through this nurse to the doctors.

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The nurse asks if she feels any pain. Yanling answers that she does not.

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Next, the surgeons must drill four small holes and saw out a four-and-a-half inch section of her skull in order to reach the tumor.

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Yanling feels the vibration, but miraculously, no pain.

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The nurse constantly comforts her and warns her that there will be a new sound and more vibration. Yanling says she's alright, but doesn't like the vibration.

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The nurse says, try to relax. The more you relax, the easier it will be for the doctors to remove the tumor.

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The surgeons can now remove the section of skull and search for the tumor.

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The nurse tells Yanling the vibrations are over.

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Yanling asks how much longer. The nurse replies, not too much.

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The most difficult period for Yanling is now over, but the critical part for the doctors begins.

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Because there is no feeling in the brain, there is no sensation of pain when the brain is touched.

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However, electrical stimulation with a probe into certain critical areas of the brain will cause the patient to feel unusual sensations.

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The main advantage of having the patient conscious is that she will be able to feel these sensations and convey them to the doctors so that they may map a pathway to the tumor without damaging any other part of the brain.

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At last, the surgeon finds and removes the tumor.

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Yanling is relieved to know that it is nearly over, and as they close the opening in her skull, she feels only an uncomfortable swelling in her head, but no actual pain.

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With the operation over and the tent removed, the doctor holds up two fingers in order to test Yanling's sight.

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The operation has been successful, and the results are immediately clear.

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She has been an excellent cooperative patient.

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While surgical use of acupuncture is dramatic and spectacular, the benefits may be even more merciful when applied to the relief of chronic pain.

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For some, it can mean release from a lifetime of agony.

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Doctors who practice acupuncture do not claim it to be a cure-all, nor that it works for everyone.

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Understandably, the first western-trained doctors to practice acupuncture were Chinese Americans, with an understanding of the medical philosophies of both worlds.

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Dr. William Koh.

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Most of the things I treat is pain, arthritic pain.

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I have most of the patients.

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All have been worked up and treated by other doctors, like in other specialties, orthopedic neurologists, and they have worked them out before they don't get help.

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With pills, they may have temporary, and that's why many of them sick and tired of using pills, and they come to acupuncture.

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Patient Carl Fleck.

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Over the years, most of my major joints have been getting stiffer and giving me more and more pain.

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About nine months ago, it finally got to the point where I was having difficulty walking two blocks.

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My left hip was giving me quite a bit of pain.

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It wasn't so bad when I was calm and relaxed, but with any exercise, when things hurt, I came in to see the doctor, and in six weeks,

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almost all pain was gone, and I was back walking, hiking.

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Like everyone else, I was quite apprehensive about the needles being applied.

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It was quite a pleasant surprise to find that it's a little more than a feeling of a pinch.

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Linda Brown has had severe migraine headaches most of her life.

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How are you doing?

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Pretty good.

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Often, she would be forced to go to bed for days at a time, unable to stand the pain.

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I understand your headache since age 14.

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Yes.

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My condition.

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The discomfort of the needles is nothing compared to her previous suffering.

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Yeah, I'm glad you're all right now.

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You've been doing pretty good lately after the treatment.

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Your headache is pretty good.

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Yeah, just the sinus.

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Just the sinus.

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You had a lot of pills before, didn't you?

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Oh yes, every doctor gave me pills.

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I was ready for something else.

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Yeah, you have a second time with pills.

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I don't blame you for that.

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This has been the help.

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I'm glad that you're response so well.

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Yeah, does it hurt?

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No.

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No, I'm glad, yeah, yeah.

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And it has worked, yes.

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I've been in bed for 24 to 48 hours.

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I'm out.

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I got a job.

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Before, I just didn't think I would ever be able to hold a job down.

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When acupuncture was first introduced to this country in the early 1970s,

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some doctors got very excited.

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And of course, the majority of the doctors, they were very skeptical.

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Dr. Henry Chan has been in the forefront of the struggle to legalize acupuncture.

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I'm sure the official body of the medical doctors

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used a statement that, well, acupuncture this time is still experimental.

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In 1975, acupuncture has been legalized now in California.

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Since then, for those who have been doing acupuncture,

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if they are qualified, they can get a license from the state board

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for medical quality assurance.

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Now, this is a very fragile area.

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And this is the area most patients are having the problem.

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I would say that the majority of a patient

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belongs to this type, low back pain.

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In addition to the low back area,

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we have also to put some needle in the lower extremity.

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In this case, it will be right behind the D.

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Many of Dr. Chan's patients come to acupuncture as a last resort.

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The reason I put the needle here,

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is that this is to enhance the therapeutic action of the needle

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over the local area.

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In this case, it's the low back.

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In addition to the needle, add the heat to the needle.

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I don't mean to burn the needle or burn the patient,

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but to use the heat to warm up that area,

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as long as some moxibuction.

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Now, here I have a moxistic here.

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It's just like a regular cigar.

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I light it on one end and put it about one inch away from the point

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to warm up the acupuncture point.

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This kind of heat is penetrating,

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and the patient can experience more relaxation

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and sometimes pain relief immediately after the treatment.

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I'd say that the most intriguing modern theory

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of how acupuncture works involves a discovery that was made

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just a few years ago.

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The discovery is that the nervous system makes its own pain-relieving substances,

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called endorphins, or inner morphines,

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that are hundreds of times more powerful than our most powerful pain-relieving drugs.

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It looks now that acupuncture,

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rather than having a direct effect on pain

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by blocking a nerve or stopping nerve transmission,

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that acupuncture stimulates the nervous system

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with more of its own pain-relieving substances,

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and therefore has an indirect effect on blocking pain,

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that it turns on the body's natural pain-relieving mechanisms.

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It does help explain why acupuncture can be effective in controlling pain.

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It doesn't help us very much in explaining why it's also effective

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in the treatment of bronchial asthma,

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why many diabetics who get acupuncture often

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are able to reduce the amount of insulin they require,

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why people with gastrointestinal complaints,

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why people with a variety of other kinds of problems also respond to acupuncture.

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A test is being conducted at the California Acupuncture College

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to attempt to verify the existence of acupuncture points.

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As this electronic device passes certain areas,

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the light indicates these precise points have some special chemical,

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electrical, or thermal characteristics.

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Is it mere coincidence that they are exactly the same

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as the acupuncture points discovered thousands of years ago by the Chinese?

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It is really the first holistic medicine,

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realizing that you treat people, not diseases.

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And the bottom line for me is I'm interested in things that work.

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I'll figure out how they work later.

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Even though acupuncture is being used more and more in the United States,

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exactly how it works is still a mystery.

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Most historians agree that China has the oldest civilization in the world.

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Is it possible that her doctors have known for centuries

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what we, in an age of medical specialization, are just now learning?

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Yes, but I don't know how to say it.

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Coming up next, a mountain man kills two Idaho game wardens,

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but the locals refuse to help bring him to justice on FBI The Untold Stories.

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And later tonight, history's mysteries turns to sports

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for a look at the violent evolution of games of combat.

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At 8 Eastern, 9 Pacific, here on the History Channel, where the past comes alive.