Acupuncture Therapy Sweeps America
In America, acupuncture is no longer a high-end alternative therapy: it has entered ordinary households. Over 700 substance-abuse treatment centers across the country, as well as dental clinics, cancer centers, and obstetrics-gynecology hospitals, have begun using the method. Millions have tried acupuncture for difficult complaints: pain, headache, nausea, and addictive habits such as smoking. Even physicians who oppose alternative drug therapies have begun to learn this ancient Chinese art. The National Institutes of Health estimate that from 1995 to 2000 the membership of the American Academy of Medical Acupuncture more than doubled.
In 1997, over five million sessions of acupuncture treatment were performed, mostly for bone and joint pain. Over a course of weeks to months, the physician typically inserts hair-thin needles into selected acupoints, to a depth of no more than an inch, for about 20 minutes. The needles may be connected to an electric stimulator. Each treatment costs over US$100.
Excerpted from Reference News, p. 7, January 7, 2001