Third, importing Eastern philosophy of the body to explain how acupuncture works has proven counterproductive for the process of explanation. While the treatments can be imported and found to work most of the time for specific diseases and trauma, the philosophy itself is harder for Americans to accept. Fourth, cultural expectations of illness behavior have much to do with resistance to acupuncture as practiced by physicians. On the one hand, many who practice acupunture do so precisely because they are open to other cultural experiences while many of their patients are not. In each instance, there is not only a struggle to accept the treatment itself, but the cultural behaviors of both the physician and the patient must be changed as well.
Acupuncture assumes a different view of the body as a system of energy.
It is not so much that it can be fixed, as it is realigned and re-established. Both metaphysical views have led to major innovations in care and treatment of disease. Much more work needs to be done, however, on the promising view of the body as energy rather than mass. This work is, in large measure, philosophical in nature rather than pure medical research. Unlike the use of medication, acupuncture requires more visits and interactions with the specialist to be effective, yet the number of such visits varies from one doctor to another.