Did you know that acupuncture has been practiced in the United States for less than 50 years? In fact, most Americans had not even heard of acupuncture until the early 1970’s. In 1972, President Nixon traveled to China, accompanied by New York Times reporter James Reston. Mr. Reston developed appendicitis and underwent an emergency appendectomy. After the surgery, Mr. Reston was asked if he would like to receive acupuncture for his post-operative pain. He was so impressed by the pain relief that he experienced without the use of pharmaceuticals, that he wrote an article about it in the New York Times.
Prior to this acupuncture was only practiced by Chinese practitioners on patients of primarily Chinese descent. Mr. Reston’s experience opened the minds of Americans to the great tradition of acupuncture and Traditional Chinese Medicine. Since that time, interest continues to grow and the use of acupuncture has become more mainstream. Today there are well over 20,000 acupuncturists practicing in the United States.
In the 1990’s the U.S. National Institute of Health and World Health Organization recognized acupuncture as a mainstream healing option for a wide variety of health conditions including nicotine addiction, asthma, allergies, sinus pain, bronchitis, carpal tunnel syndrome, constipation, diarrhea, headaches, menstrual irregularities and pain, low back pain, menopausal symptoms, joint pain of any kind, TMJ, IBS, GERD, and urinary and bowel incontinence.
If you are grappling with a health issue and are questioning whether acupuncture might be an appropriate treatment for your condition, please call my office and schedule a free consultation. I would be happy to spend time discussing your case and your treatment options.