Acupuncture refers to the insertion and stimulation of needles at specific points on the body to facilitate recovery of health.
Approximately 3,000,000 patients are treated each year in United States.
Chronic pain is the most common reason for treatment with acupuncture.
Acupuncture has physiological effects relative to analgesia, but no accepted mechanism of action explains effects on chronic pain.
Meta-analysis indicates all studies show acupuncture was superior to sham and no-acupuncture control for chronic painful conditions(Vickers AJ et al.).