The Birth of Acupuncture

Discovered by the Chinese more than five thousand years ago, acupuncture is one of the oldest forms of eastern medicine. The unique methodology of acupuncture represents the core paradigm of eastern science. The philosophy of eastern science greatly differs from western science. In the east, holistic patterns, processes, cycles and relationships are the source of diagnosis and medicine. In contrast, the western scientific paradigm utilizes reductionistic explanations, linear thinking, and causality

It wasn't until the 17^th century, however, that Europe and eventually the rest of the western world was introduced to acupuncture. In the beginning, the western scientific community scoffed at the idea of acupuncture, mainly because they simply did not understand the concept. Their linear thinking could not understand how a needle inserted into the hand could cure a toothache! Thus, many scientists, doctors, and practitioners rejected acupuncture. For decades to come, the only evidence that acupuncture really worked was through word of mouth. Very few scientifically controlled experiments were ever conducted. However, during the 1970's, scientists and researchers began conducting experiments to test the effectiveness of acupuncture. Now, there are thousands of journals, articles, and publications of scientifically controlled experiments affirming the benefits and healing power of acupuncture.

Research has shown that "specific", or true acupuncture, actually relieves pain while "sham acupuncture", needles inserted in non-acupuncture points, have no pain relieving effects. There have been numerous controlled clinical trials comparing true acupuncture to sham acupuncture on patients with chronic pain showing that acupuncture truly works better than a placebo. More notable is the fact that when conventional treatments, such as pain relievers and anesthetics, were compared to acupuncture they found acupuncture to be just as effective with fewer side effects.