Definition of Acupuncture
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Our Acupuncture Main Article provides a comprehensive look at the
who, what, when and how of Acupuncture
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< b>Acupuncture: The practice of inserting needles into the body to reduce
pain or induce anesthesia. More broadly, acupuncture is a family of procedures involving
the stimulation of anatomical locations on or in the skin by a variety of techniques.
There are a number of different approaches to diagnosis and treatment in American
acupuncture that incorporate medical traditions from China, Japan, Korea, and other
countries. The most thoroughly studied mechanism of stimulation of acupuncture points
employs penetration of the skin by thin, solid, metallic needles, which are manipulated
manually or by electrical stimulation.
Among the conditions for which acupuncture has been found to be useful is headache.
Acupuncture reportedly leads to persisting, clinically relevant benefits for patients
with chronic headache, particularly migraine.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has issued a consensus statement on acupuncture.
The statement indicated that "There is sufficient evidence of acupuncture's value
to expand its use into conventional medicine...." The full text of the conclusions
of the NIH consensus statement on acupuncture is as follows:
"Acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention is widely practiced in the United
States. There have been many studies of its potential usefulness. However, many
of these studies provide equivocal results because of design, sample size, and other
factors. The issue is further complicated by inherent difficulties in the use of
appropriate controls, such as placebo and sham acupuncture groups."
"However, promising results have emerged, for example, efficacy of acupuncture
in adult post-operative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in postoperative
dental pain. There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation,
headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis,
low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma for which acupuncture may be useful
as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive
management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where
acupuncture interventions will be useful."
"Findings from basic research have begun to elucidate the mechanisms of action
of acupuncture, including the release of opioids and other peptides in the central
nervous system and the periphery and changes in neuroendocrine function. Although
much needs to be accomplished, the emergence of plausible mechanisms for the therapeutic
effects of acupuncture is encouraging."
"The introduction of acupuncture into the choice of treatment modalities readily
available to the public is in its early stages. Issues of training, licensure, and
reimbursement remain to be clarified. There is sufficient evidence, however, of
its potential value to conventional medicine to encourage further studies."
"There is sufficient evidence of acupuncture's value to expand its use into conventional
medicine and to encourage further studies of its physiology and clinical value."
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