Green Point Acupuncture L.L.C.

Acupuncture is a traditional medical therapy that originated in China. The history of acupuncture can be tracked back 2000 years. Chinese people believe that the practice of acupuncture started in the Stone Age when “stone knives or sharp edged tools, described by the character 'Bian', were used to puncture and drain abscesses” (Lewith).

Chinese believe that human organs are connected by some specific points on our bodies. Qi, energy flows through in our bodies, could be restored balanced by stimulating these points with needles. People will be sick if the movement of Qi became unbalanced, so acupuncture could help people remain healthy.

The idea of acupuncture spread to western countries by priests and missionaries who came to China with the interest of discovering the big continent around 1504 (Lewith). Until July 2007, acupuncture treatments were accepted and used in more than 140 countries and regions. (World’s largest conference on acupuncture to convene in China, 2007). In 2001, more than 1000 acupuncture professionals coming from over 40 countries participated in The International Council of Acupuncture and Related Techniques (ICMART) to “discuss the growing worldwide interest in the traditional Chinese therapy” and to “exchange their latest findings in acupuncture therapy and research”. Now acupuncture is an indispensable part of the medical system in the worldwide.

Acupuncture became better known in the United States in 1971, when New York Times reporter James Reston wrote about how doctors in China used needles to ease his pain after surgery. in 1996, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the use of acupuncture needles by licensed practitioners in the United States.

There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofacial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma where acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program (1997 National Institute of Health Consensus Statement on Acupuncture).