History of Acupuncture

The earliest recorded use of acupuncture dates from 200 BCE. Knowledge of acupuncture spread from China along Arab trade routes towards the West.

Up until the early 1970s, however, most Americans had never heard of acupuncture. Acupuncture was formally recognized as part of mainstream medicine’s range of healing options in 1997, when the National Institutes of Health issued a statement documenting its safety and efficacy for a range of health conditions.

The use of acupuncture is on the rise in the United States. Between 1997 and 2007 the number of visits among adults nearly tripled, rising from 27.2 to 79.2 per 1,000 adults. According to the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), approximately 3.1 million adults in the United States used acupuncture in 2006, a 47-percent increase from the 2002 estimate.

Acupuncture Overview

Acupuncture involves the insertion of very thin needles through your skin at strategic points on your body. A key component of traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture is most commonly used to treat pain. Increasingly, it is being used for overall wellness, including stress management.

Traditional Chinese medicine explains acupuncture as a technique for balancing the flow of energy or life force — known as chi or qi (chee) — believed to flow through pathways (meridians) in your body. By inserting needles into specific points along these meridians, acupuncture practitioners believe that your energy flow will re-balance.

Many Western practitioners view the acupuncture points as places to stimulate nerves, muscles and connective tissue. Some believe that this stimulation boosts your body’s natural painkillers.

Why Acupuncture Is Performed

Acupuncture is used mainly to relieve discomfort associated with a variety of diseases and conditions, including:

• Chemotherapy-induced and postoperative nausea and vomiting
• Dental pain
• Headaches, including tension headaches and migraines
• Labor pain
• Low back pain
• Neck pain
• Osteoarthritis
• Menstrual cramps
• Respiratory disorders, such as allergic rhinitis
• Click here for additional uses for acupuncture