Acupuncture has recently become wildly popular in Western medicine as an alternative medical treatment, but many people are still very hesitant about it. Have a stranger stick needles into my skin? Um, no thank you. But here are a few reasons why there is no reason to fear acupuncture therapy
Acupuncture has been around for thousands of years. Ancient Chinese cultures — as far back as the 900s B.C. — practiced acupuncture therapy with needles made out of wood, bamboo, and bone. Despite a lack of scientific data regarding acupuncture, acupuncture remained a popular medical practice among Chinese cultures for many centuries. Why should this make you feel better? Because if this practice wasn’t effective, it would have died out a long time ago.
The U.S. FDA classifies acupuncture needles as legitimate medical instruments. This means that acupuncture needles have been extensively tested and are guaranteed to be completely safe. They aren’t so much like traditional “needles” you might use for sewing; instead, they’re a bit more like stiff, yet very thin, stainless steel wires that are lightly pressed into specific pressure points in the skin. These “pressure points” have already been researched and carefully mapped out on the human body (pressure point locations are all the same in human bodies), and an acupuncturist will focus on certain points for certain types of treatment.
For example, acupuncture therapy for chronic back pain focuses on points on the back, while cosmetic acupuncture for all-natural “face lifts” focus on points on the face that stimulate collagen production. One acupuncturist even discovered that, when using acupuncture for depression or acupuncture for anxiety, stimulating only a few points in and around the ear could be very effective. Why should this make you feel better? Because the art of acupuncture is perhaps better described as “a science” rather than “an art.” Nothing about it is random.
Acupuncturists are highly trained technicians. Just because acupuncture therapy tends to be classified as an “alternative” medical practice, that doesn’t mean that acupuncturists can bypass training. While they do not have to attend medical school like other doctors, acupuncturists have to undergo a rigorous course load and collect over 1,000 hours in a clinical internship before they certified to practice on patients. Why should this make you feel better? Because acupuncturists definitely know what they’re doing when it comes to using alternative medical treatments to help their patients feel better.
Feeling a little more convinced now? Thought so. But even if you aren’t 100% ready to make an appointment yet, know that it’s okay to feel hesitant about it — but don’t let your hesitation keep you from finding relief. If you, like so many others around the world, are suffering from any type of physical ailment or chronic pain, then acupuncture is definitely worth a try.