For more than 2,500 years, acupuncture has been one of the world's most popular forms of health care. Only in the latter part of this century has the practice of acupuncture gained acceptance in North America, but the profession appears to have earned much respect in that short time.
Numerous theories abound as to what makes acupuncture effective for pain.
Whatever the mechanism may be, there have been few definitive studies relating to the efficacy of acupuncture for pain relief. The studies show objective evidence that acupuncture works as a form of pain relief and that certain types of acupuncture work better than others. The acupuncture group received traditional acupuncture therapy, with needles inserted through a plastic ring affixed with plaster into a combination of 12 acupoints according to the patient's symptoms. The placebo needle had a blunt tip which only touched, but did not penetrate, the subject's skin. Scores from the acupuncture group, meanwhile, improved an average of more than 19.2 points after treatment.