Acupuncture

Medicine Chinese medical practice for curing disease or relieving pain by inserting fine needles along specific pathways or meridians. According to traditional Chinese medicine, these meridians are channels along which the energy or qi flows.

Origin
This term literally means 'pricking with a needle' and comes from Latin "acus", 'needle', and English "puncture".

The Chinese text Shiji (Records of the Grand Historian) is the earliest written record of acupuncture. And the earliest Chinese medical text that describes it is the Huangdi Neijing, which was compiled around 305-204 B.C.

Image
This is a model depicting the meridians and acupuncture points in use.


(Source, 2010-01-17)

Comment
Mainstream medicine has not completely accepted acupuncture as a medical treatment. One of the main reasons is that it is difficult to scientifically measure the mechanism of acupuncture and its benefits.

Despite the lack of a scientific basis in acupuncture, more and more MDs are using it and Western medicine admits that it works in many cases (such as reducing pain or alleviating the symptoms of chronic illnesses) and its research is growing.