Acupuncture

Acupuncture, a practice with roots going back thousands of years in Chinese medicine, has gradually moved from the margins of Western medicine toward a more accepted, if still debated, place within it.

The traditional framework behind acupuncture describes energy, or qi, flowing through pathways in the body called meridians, with acupuncture points along those pathways used to influence that flow. Western medical explanations tend to focus instead on measurable effects — acupuncture has been shown in various studies to influence nerve signaling, blood flow, and the release of certain natural pain-relieving chemicals in the body.

Regardless of which framework you find more persuasive, acupuncture has accumulated a reasonable body of clinical evidence supporting its use for specific conditions, particularly chronic pain, certain types of headache, and nausea, including nausea related to chemotherapy. It tends to be viewed most credibly by conventional medicine as a complementary treatment rather than a stand-alone cure for serious disease.

As with any practice involving needles, safety depends heavily on the practitioner. A licensed, well-trained acupuncturist using sterile, single-use needles carries minimal risk, which makes credentials and licensing worth checking before choosing a provider.

NEMA continues to track evidence-based complementary therapies like acupuncture as part of a broader, integrative approach to patient care.