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Acupuncture chart from the Ming dynasty. Acupuncture (from Lat. acus, ‘a needle’, and pungere, ‘to prick’) is the practice of inserting very thin needles in particular acupuncture points on the body to improve health and well-being, and is one component of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). It has been practiced for centuries in Asia, and though its use has not gained general acceptance in the Western medical community, many medical practitioners in the West now recognize it as being effective for certain ailments, especially for the relief of pain. The traditional theory of acupuncture has not been reconciled with Western medical knowledge, however, and the question of whether acupuncture is more effective than a placebo remains a subject of ongoing research.
| Acupuncture | |
| This article is part of the branches of CAM series. | |
| CAM Classifications | |
| NCCAM: | Component of Traditional Chinese medicine that uses a form of body manipulation. |
| Modality: | Professionalized |
| Culture: | Eastern Chinese |
Acupuncture has long been used by the Chinese for a wide variety of health complaints. This practice spread throughout Asia and eventually the world. The Chinese practice of acupuncture is at least 2,000 years old, with physical evidence having been found dating to the Han dynasty. Forms of acupuncture are also described in the literature of the traditional medicine of India. Possibly the earliest evidence for the practice of puncturing specific points for health purposes has been found in Europe, of all places. Ötzi the Iceman, a 5,000 year old mummyMusee du Louvre, Paris A mummy is a preserved corpse. The best-known mummies are those that have been embalmed with the specific purpose of preservation, particularly in ancient Egypt. In China, preserved corpses have been recovered from submerged cedar c found preserved in an Alpine glacierA glacier is a large, long-lasting river of ice that is formed on land and moves in response to gravity. Equivalently, it is a multi-year ice accretion in mountainous terrain. The glacier fringe is the area where the glacier has recently melted. There are, has tattoos on points which correspond to points that a modern acupuncturist or tui naTui na (, tui na, literally: push and grab) is a form of Chinese manipulative therapy that is often used in conjunction with acupuncture, moxibustion, Chinese herbalism and qigong. Tui na uses massage and manipulation in conjunction with acupressure and i (Chinese acupressure) specialist would use to treat symptoms of diseases that Ötzi seems to have suffered from, including digestive parasites and degenerative bone disease. One theory being that Ötzi's points were routinely “needled” using thorns from various plants, the vegetable residue left in the insertion sites eventually building up to produce tattoos. More recently in the West acupuncture is usually considered a form of complementary and alternative medicine.
In China, acupuncture is known as zhen jǐu (針灸). Zhen means needle, jiu means moxibustion. Historically, it was generally understood that to warm an acupuncture point (moxibustion) was a stronger treatment than to needle the point. Moxibustion is still used today in varying degrees by different schools of TCM thought. Nowadays, acupuncture needling of points is performed with a very fine gauge of disposable stainless steel needles which are sterilized with ethylene oxide or by autoclave.