The History of Acupuncture in the United States

The history of acupuncture in the United States is long and storied. Acupuncture has attained higher states in the field of good health and fitness. It is widely recognized by most people, physicians and medical field experts across the globe. The art has been accepted as a medical practice all across Asia for more than thousands of years now. Here, we will emphasize on how this medical practice reached and gained immense popularity in the United States.

Chinese immigrants brought acupuncture into the United States. Large Chinese enclaves that grew up in New York City, Lost Angeles and San Francisco facilitated the expansion of this medical practice. Back in china, acupuncture was a standard type of treatments. The Chinese have been using the treatment option for more than centuries. However, this was not trusted in western medical treatments.

There were only a few westerns that involved with the study of this medical practice. However, it was still not widely accepted. In fact, it was considered as a superstition. This was because the experts felt the practice unscientific and never made an attempt to understand what lies underneath.

With the initiative taken by the communist government to get rid of the Chinese and all traces of classical Chinese medicine via a campaign, most acupuncturists went abroad. Some of the acupuncturists also made their way to the United States.

The history of acupuncture in the United States took a turn for the better in the 1970’s during a visit to China by Richard Nixon. An emergency appendectomy was provided to a member of the United States during the visit. The anesthesia used here was acupuncture. This impressed the president largely. Once he returned to the US, he had a curiosity to study the procedure further. This was just the beginning of acupuncture. Thereafter, it was highly respected and accepted as an alternative medical treatment procedure.

In the year 1994, the Washington post reported in an astonishing new that almost 15 million people in the United States actually tried acupuncture. Now, this accounted to 6 percent of the total population. The following year, the United States Federal Drug Administration categorized acupuncture needles as medical instruments.

The biggest turn that took place in this regard was in the year 1997. During the period, the National Institute of Health came out with an issue that reported acupuncture as a under treatment option in several conditions. It also mentioned that the side effects coming from acupuncture were far less severe than those occurring from surgery or drug were. The report was titled as ‘Acupuncture: The NIH Consensus Statement’.

Another thing that increased the awareness and popularity of acupuncture is the NIH report that encouraged many Insurance Companies to provide full coverage on all acupuncture treatment conditions. This was a fabulous and effective advertisement of the medical treatment option.

These days, acupuncture has become more accepted in the United State as an alternative treatment for many conditions.

There are also some medical schools that started to provide acupuncture as an integral part of the curriculum.

The history of acupuncture in the United States is as glorious as the treatment option itself.