The simplest is a local treatment, needles to a painful area. This isn't much different from the trigger point injections used in anesthesia pain management and other specialties. Point formula treatments use one or more points historically known to be effective for a certain condition. The ancient Chinese physicians were excellent observers and record keepers, and noticed things like how a point between the thumb and index finger is good for headache. An acupuncture point is found within muscle, using anatomical landmarks.
Most points are close to nerves.
A more advanced method of acupuncture is meridian-based, where pain is evaluated with attention to what meridian it's associated with. Meridians are lines drawn on the body, connecting points associated by location on particular muscle planes. Using meridians, patients show evidence that they experience more widespread physiologic effects than with local treatments. Using meridians in different ways you can move into progressively higher levels of complexity. Meridian activation can be the key to helping local treatments last.