Acupuncture: Effectively reliefs pain

Acupuncture is a medical practice that originated in China over 2,000 years ago. Although acupuncture originated over 2,000 years ago, it did not become well known in the United States until 1971. At this time the general public was introduced to the practice of acupuncture and it was not long until the practice gained a great deal of interest and notoriety and many began experimenting with acupuncture as a form of pain management. Although acupuncture was intriguing to many upon its introduction, there was also a great deal of apprehension on behalf of Americans. Many viewed acupuncture as a potentially painful process that was more likely to cause pain than to effectively relieve pain. It was this fearfulness that led many to avoid acupuncture treatments early on but it wasn't long before reports of the success of the treatments began to emerge and many became more willing to experiment with acupuncture. It was this adventurous attitude that helped acupuncture to gain popularity.



In general the practice of acupuncture involves the stimulation of various points on the body. This stimulation may be through a variety of methods but perhaps the most well known is through penetration of the skin with needles or pins. This method comes from the techniques used in China, Japan and Korea where thin needles comprised of metal were used to penetrate the skin in certain points on the body to provide physical relief from pain. It is believe that carefully and strategically inserting these needles into the skin at specific locations can be used to relieve pain.



Subsequent to its introduction in the United States in the year 1971, acupuncture has gained a steady increase in popularity. After an initial phase of apprehension and resistance, acupuncture increased in popularity when those brave pioneers who underwent the treatments began reporting astounding results. The last two decades in particular experienced a rapid increase in the number of citizens who were undergoing acupuncture treatments for various reasons. In fact millions of Americans have experienced with acupuncture treatments making it a very popular pain management option.



With acupuncture gaining so rapidly in popularity it is only logical that many begin to question the effectiveness of acupuncture. There are many who want to doubt the validity of a treatment that is gaining so much notoriety and write off acupuncture as merely a passing trend. Although the growing number of Americans who are undergoing acupuncture treatments lends well to the theory that the treatments are working effectively, there are also scientific studies available for those skeptics who are not willing to accept anecdotal evidence of the effectiveness of acupuncture.



The studies that have thus far been conducted are somewhat inconclusive regarding the effectiveness of acupuncture. The lack of conclusiveness of these studies stems from a difficulty in isolating the different factors involved. Additionally administering a placebo introduces new difficulties in the testing procedure. Those who are unwilling to believe in the effectiveness in a treatment without scientific documentation testifying to how the procedures work are troubled by the lack of clinical evidence available. However, despite the innate difficulties in conducting scientific experiments to determine the effectiveness of acupuncture, there have been some studies that have indicated that acupuncture is providing a beneficial result to patients. Some areas in which acupuncture has been demonstrated to have a degree of effectiveness includes nausea and vomiting induced by chemotherapy and postoperative pain management. Other areas where there has been some indication of the effectiveness of acupuncture include headache, cramps, fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and carpal tunnel syndrome. Further testing of acupuncture could lead to additional uses for the treatment.

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