ACUPUNCTURE

 Acupuncture involves stimulating specific anatomic points in the body for therapeutic purposes. Puncturing the skin with a needle is the usual method, but practitioners also use heat, pressure, friction, suction, or impulses of electromagnetic energy to stimulate the points. In the past 40 years, acupuncture has become a well-known, reasonable, available treatment in developed and developing countries. Acupuncture is used to regulate or correct the flow of Qi to restore health. Acupuncture is one of the most thoroughly researched and documented of the so-called alternative medical practices. A series of controlled studies has shown evidence for the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of a variety of conditions. Including osteoarthritis, chemotherapy-induced nausea, asthma, back pain, painful menstrual cycles, bladder instability, and migraine headaches among many. Studies on acupuncture also have shown positive results in the areas of chronic pain management and in the management of drug addiction, two areas where conventional Western medicine has had only a modicum of success.