In.999,.he.ational.nter.or.omplementary.nd 94 A 2012 review found that acupuncture seems to be cost-effective for some pain conditions. 242 Risk of forgoing conventional medical care As with other alternative medicines, unethical or naive practitioners may induce patients to exhaust financial resources by pursuing ineffective treatment. 5 243 Profession ethical codes set by accrediting organizations such as the National Certification Commission for Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine require practitioners to make “timely referrals to other health care professionals as may be appropriate.” 244 Stephen Barrett states that there is a “risk that an acupuncturist whose approach to diagnosis is not based on scientific concepts will fail to diagnose a dangerous condition”. 245 Main articles: Qi, Traditional Chinese medicine, Meridian Chinese medicine, and Acupuncture point Old Chinese medical chart of acupuncture meridians Acupuncture is a substantial part of traditional Chinese medicine ACM. 4 Early acupuncture beliefs relied on concepts that are common in ACM, such as a life force energy called qi. 246 Qi was believed to flow from the body's primary organs zang-fu organs to the “superficial” body tissues of the skin, muscles, tendons, bones, and joints, citation needed through channels called meridians. 247 Acupuncture points where needles are inserted are mainly but not always found at locations along the meridians. 248 Acupuncture points not found along a meridian are called extraordinary points and those with no designated site are called “A-shi” points. 248 In ACM, disease is generally perceived as a disharmony or imbalance in energies such as yin, yang, qi, xuĕ, zàng-fǔ, meridians, and of the interaction between the body and the environment. 249 Therapy is based on which “pattern of disharmony” can be identified. 250 251 For example, some diseases are believed to be caused by meridians being invaded with an excess of wind, cold, and damp. 252 In order to determine which pattern is at hand, practitioners examine things like the colon and shape of the tongue, the relative strength of pulse-points, the smell of the breath, the quality of breathing, or the sound of the voice. 253 254 ACM and its concept of disease does not strongly differentiate between the cause and effect of symptoms. 255 Scientific research has not supported the existence of qi, meridians, or yin and yang. n 1 24 25 A Nature editorial described ACM as “fraught with pseudo-science”, with the majority of its treatments having no logical mechanism of action . 256 Quackwatch states that “ACM theory and practice are not based upon the body of knowledge related to health, disease, and health care that has been widely accepted by the scientific community. Even.f.hey.Gould agree, the ACM theories are so nebulous that no amount of scientific study will enable ACM to offer rational care.” 5 Some modern practitioners support the use of acupuncture to treat pain, but have abandoned the use of qi, meridians, yin, yang and other energies based in mysticism, as explanatory frameworks. 8 25 26 The use of qi as an explanatory framework has been decreasing in China, even as it becomes more prominent during discussions of acupuncture in the US. 257 Academic discussions of acupuncture still make reference to pseudo-scientific concepts such as qi and meridians despite the lack of scientific evidence. 257 Many within the scientific community consider attempts to rationalize acupuncture in science to be quackery, pseudo-science and “theatrical placebo”. 258 Academics Massimo Pigliucci and marten Boudry describe it as a “borderlands science” lying between science and pseudo-science. 259 Many acupuncturists attribute pain relief to the release of endorphins when needles penetrate, but no longer support the idea that acupuncture can affect a disease. 26 257 It is a generally held belief within the acupuncture community that acupuncture points and meridians structures are special conduits for electrical signals but no research has established any consistent anatomical structure or function for either acupuncture points or meridians. n 1 24 Human tests to determine whether electrical continuity was significantly different near meridians than other places in the body have been inconclusive. 24 Some studies suggest acupuncture causes a series of events within the central nervous system, 260 and that it is possible to inhibit acupuncture's analgesic effects with the opioid antagonist naloxone . 261 Mechanical deformation of the skin by acupuncture needles appears to result in the release of adenosine . 2 The anti-nociceptive effect of acupuncture may be mediated by the adenosine A1 receptor . 262 A 2014 Nature Reviews Cancer review article found that since the key mouse studies that suggested acupuncture relieves Needles. 48 Japanese acupuncturists use extremely thin needles that are used superficially, sometimes without penetrating the skin, and surrounded by a guide tube a 17th-century invention adopted in China and the West. Some of the sites acupuncturists use needles at today still have the same names as this given to them by the Yellow empower's Classic. 29 :93 Numerous additional documents were published over the centuries introducing new acupoints. 29 :101 By the 4th century AD, most of the acupuncture sites in use today had been named and identified. 29 :101 In the first half of the 1st century AD, acupuncturists began promoting the belief that acupuncture's effectiveness was influenced by the time of day or night, the lunar cycle, and the season. 29 :140-141 The Science of the Yin-Yang Cycles yen chi Hsüeh was a set of beliefs though it is more likely to have been brought into Korea from a Chinese colonial prefecture in 514 AD. 29 :262-263 Acupuncture use was commonplace in Korea by the 6th century. It.s.difficult but not impossible to design rigorous research trials for acupuncture. 69 70 Due to acupuncture's invasive nature, one of the major challenges in efficacy research is in the design of an appropriate placebo control group . 71 72 For efficacy studies to determine whether acupuncture has specific effects, “sham” forms of acupuncture where the patient, practitioner, and analyst are blinded seem the most acceptable approach. 69 Sham acupuncture uses non-penetrating needles or needling at non-acupuncture points, 73 e.g. inserting needles on meridians not related to the specific condition being studied, 18460551 .

The US Congress created the Office of Alternative Medicine in 1992 and the National Institutes operation; these demonstration cases were also frequently receiving morphine surreptitiously through an intravenous drip that observers were told contained only fluids and nutrients. 281 One patient receiving open heart surgery while awake was ultimately found to have received a combination of three powerful sedatives as well as large injections of a local aesthetic into the wound. 57 After the National Institute of Health expressed support for acupuncture for a limited number of conditions, adoption in the US grew further. 27 In 1972 the first legal acupuncture canter in the US was established in Washington DC 282 and in 1973 the American Internal Revenue Service allowed acupuncture to be deducted as a medical expense. 283 In 2006, a BBC documentary Alternative Medicine filmed a patient undergoing open heart surgery allegedly under acupuncture-induced anaesthesia. Thinner needles may be flexible that curing diseases relied on the alignment of both heavenly then and earthly Fi forces that were attuned to cycles like that of the sun and moon. 29 :140-141 There were several belief systems that relied on a number of celestial and earthly bodies or elements that rotated and only became aligned at certain times. 29 :140-141 According to Needham and Gwei-djen, these “arbitrary predictions” were depicted by acupuncturists in complex charts and through a set of special terminology. 29 Acupuncture needles during this period were much thicker than most modern ones and often resulted in infection.

If de-qi can not be generated, then inaccurate location of the acupoint, improper depth of needle insertion, inadequate manual manipulation, 292 293 This usage has been criticized owing to there being little scientific evidence for explicit effects, or the mechanisms for its supposed effectiveness, for any condition that is discernible from placebo. 77 Acupuncture has been called 'theatrical placebo', 57 and David Gorski argues that when acupuncture proponents advocate 'harnessing of placebo effects' or work on developing 'meaningful placebos', they essentially concede it is little more than that. 77 The use of acupuncture in Germany increased by 20% in 2007, after the German acupuncture trials supported its efficacy for certain uses. 294 In 2011, there were more than one million users, 294 and insurance companies have estimated that two-thirds of German users are women. 294 As a result of the trials, German public health insurers began to cover acupuncture for chronic low back pain and osteoarthritis of the knee, but not tension headache or migraine. acupuncture clinic 295 This decision was based in part on socio-political reasons. 295 Some insurers in Germany chose to stop reimbursement of acupuncture because of the trials. 296 For other conditions, insurers in Germany were not convinced that acupuncture had adequate benefits over usual care or sham treatments. 297 Highlighting the results of the placebo group, researchers refused to accept a placebo therapy as efficient. 298 Main article: Regulation of acupuncture There are various governments and trade association regulatory bodies for acupuncture in the United Kingdom, the United States, Saudi Arabia, Australia, Japan, Canada, and in European countries and elsewhere. Hand.cupuncture, developed in Korea, canters in China repeatedly, depending on the country's political leadership and the favour of rationalism or Western medicine. 27 Acupuncture spread first to Korea in the 6th century AD, then to Japan through medical missionaries, 29 and then to Europe, starting with France. 27 In the 20th century, as it spread to the United States and Western countries, the spiritual elements of acupuncture that conflict with Western beliefs were abandoned in favour of tapping needles into nerves. 27 30 31 One type of acupuncture needle Acupuncture is a form of alternative medicine. 2 It is commonly used for pain relief, 10 11 though it is also used to treat a wide range of conditions. 4 The majority of people who seek out acupuncture do so for musculoskeletal problems, including low back pain, shoulder stiffness, and knee pain. 32 Acupuncture is generally only used in combination with other forms of treatment. 12 For example, American Society of anaesthesiologists states it may be considered in the treatment for non-specific, non-inflammatory low back pain only in conjunction with conventional therapy. 33 Acupuncture is the insertion in the skin of thin needles. 3 According to the Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research Mayo Clinic, a typical session entails lying still while approximately five to twenty needles are inserted; for the majority of cases, the needles will be left in place for ten to twenty minutes. 34 It can be associated with the application of heat, pressure, or laser light . 3 Classically, acupuncture is individualized and based on philosophy and intuition, and not on scientific research. 35 There is also a non-invasive therapy developed in early 20th century Japan using an elaborate set of “needles” for the treatment of children shōnishin or shōnihari. 36 37 Clinical practice varies depending on the country. 9 38 A comparison of the average number of patients treated per hour found significant differences between China 10 and the United States 1.2. 39 Chinese herbs are often used. 40 There is a diverse range of acupuncture approaches, involving different philosophies. 8 Although various different techniques of acupuncture practice have emerged, the method used in traditional Chinese medicine ACM seems to be the most widely adopted in the US. 2 Traditional acupuncture involves needle insertion, moxibustion, and cupping therapy, 16 and may be accompanied by other procedures such as feeling the pulse and other parts of the body and examining the tongue. 2 Traditional acupuncture involves the belief that a “life force” qi circulates within the body in lines called meridians. 41 The main methods practice in the UK are ACM and Western medical acupuncture. 42 The term Western medical acupuncture is used to indicate an adaptation of ACM-based acupuncture which focuses less on TCM. 41 43 The Western medical acupuncture approach involves using acupuncture after a medical diagnosis. 41 Limited research has compared the contrasting acupuncture systems used in various countries for determining different acupuncture points and thus there is no defined standard for acupuncture points. 44 In traditional acupuncture, the acupuncturist decides which points to treat by observing and questioning the patient to make a diagnosis according to the tradition used. It adopted a new set of ideas for acupuncture based on tapping needles into nerves. 27 30 31 In Europe it was speculated that acupuncture may allow or prevent the flow of electricity in the body, of the skin by thin metal needles, which are manipulated manually or the needle may be further stimulated by electrical stimulation electro acupuncture. 2 Acupuncture needles are typically made of stainless steel, making them flexible and preventing them from rusting or breaking. 46 Needles are usually disposed of after each use to prevent contamination. 46 Reusable needles when used should be sterilized between applications. 46 47 Needles vary in length between 13 to 130 millimetres 0.51 to 5.12 in, with shorter needles used near the face and eyes, and longer needles in areas with thicker tissues; needle diameters vary from 0.16 mm 0.006 in to 0.46 mm 0.018 in, 48 with thicker needles used on more robust patients.