Really, Oriental medicine is what informs acupuncture. You can't do acupuncture without a thorough understanding of Oriental medicine. Although Tully insists that there's more to acupuncture than the insertion of needles, that's actually all that acupuncturists are licensed to do in Rhode Island. Nothing prohibits them from practicing other aspects of Oriental medicine, but those practices are not regulated. Seeking both to stake out their territory and to win official legitimacy, the state's acupuncturists for several years have been trying to convince the General Assembly to define their profession more broadly.
Acupuncture needles are federally approved medical devices.
Dr. Mervyn H. Woolf, a Rhode Island Hospital anesthesiologist who recently obtained certification to practice acupuncture, said that some 3,500 studies have been done on acupuncture, and most are not scientifically valid. Even those who, like Woolf, believe acupuncture works can't fully explain how it works. Each point corresponds to a different aspect of the body or the spirit. A needle inserted in the point can adjust the flow of Qi to the affected system, restoring balance and thus health. But nowhere in any Western anatomy text will you find a meridian, or any structure remotely corresponding to it.