Avitzenna Health

Acupuncture is the procedure of inserting and manipulating needles into various points on the body to relieve pain or for therapeutic purposes.

The earliest written record of acupuncture is the Chinese text Shiji (史記, English: Records of the Grand Historian) with elaboration of its history in the second century BCE medical text Huangdi Neijing (黃帝內經, English: Yellow Emperor’s Inner Canon.

Different variations of acupuncture are practiced and taught throughout the world. Several interesting points:

• Acupuncture has been the subject of active scientific research since the late 20th century but it remains controversial among medical researchers and clinicians.
• Due to the invasive nature of acupuncture treatments, it is difficult to create studies that use proper scientific controls.
• Two Cochrane Reviews have found acupuncture to reduce the risk of post-operative nausea and provide better relief for chronic low back pain than no treatment or sham treatment.
• In 2007, Edzard Ernst reported that since 2000 the evidence base for acupuncture had improved, favoring acupuncture, for seven conditions, while for six other conditions the evidence base had moved in the opposite direction.
• Three other review articles have been published on the effectiveness of acupuncture and concluded it could likely be explained mainly through the placebo effect.
• The claims that acupuncture can be effective in the treatment of neurological conditions and pain have been criticized by several scientists for bias and a reliance on studies that used poor methodology.
• Reports from the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), the American Medical Association (AMA) and various government reports have studied and commented on the efficacy (or lack thereof) of acupuncture.
• There is general agreement that acupuncture is safe when administered by well-trained practitioners using sterile needles, and that further research is needed. (From Wikipedia)

The following type of Acupuncture are also very popular among therapists:

• Traditional Acupuncture
• Head  Acupuncture
• Tongue  Acupuncture
• Wrist and Ankle  Acupuncture
• Electric Acupuncture
• Acupressure
• Veterinary Acupuncture
• Regulation of Acupuncture