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Acupuncture
Intervention
Needles being inserted into a patient's ear

Acupuncture (Chinese: 针灸; pinyin: zhēnjiǔ) is a medicical methodology originating in ancient China that treats patients by manipulating thin, solid needles which have been inserted into acupuncture points in the skin.

According to Traditional Chinese medicine, stimulating these points can correct imbalances in the flow of qi through channels known as meridians.[1] However, scientific research has not found any histological or physiological correlates for qi, meridians and acupuncture points,[2][3][4] and some contemporary practitioners needle the body without using the traditional theoretical framework.[5][6]

Current scientific research supports acupuncture's efficacy in the relief of certain types of pain and post-operative nausea.[7][8] Other reviews have concluded that positive results reported for acupuncture are too small to be of clinical relevance and may be the result of inadequate experimental blinding,[9] or can be explained by placebo effects[10][11] and publication bias.[12][13] Other researchers have pointed out the difficulty in designing an adequate scientific control for any placebo effect acupuncture might have due to its invasiveness.[14][15][16]

There is general agreement that acupuncture is safe when administered by well-trained practitioners using sterile needles[17][18][19][20] but does carry small but serious risks and adverse effects including death.[8]

The use of acupuncture for certain conditions has been tentatively endorsed by the United States National Institutes of Health, the National Health Service of the United Kingdom, the World Health Organization,[1][21] and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine,[17][22][23][24] though most of these endorsements have been criticized.[25][26][27]

notes

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  2. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 17: bad argument #1 to 'old_pairs' (table expected, got nil).
  3. Bauer, M (2006). "The Final Days of Traditional Beliefs? – Part One". Chinese Medicine Times. 1 (4): 31.
  4. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Ahn2008
  5. Mann, F (2000). Reinventing acupuncture: a new concept of ancient medicine. Elsevier. ISBN 0-7506-4857-0.
  6. de las Peñas, César Fernández; Arendt-Nielsen, Lars; Gerwin, Robert D (2010). Tension-type and cervicogenic headache: pathophysiology, diagnosis, and management. Jones & Bartlett Learning. pp. 251–4. ISBN 978-0-7637-5283-5.
  7. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named pmid15266478
  8. 8.0 8.1 PMID 21440191 (PubMed)
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  9. Madsen, M. V.; Gotzsche, P. C; Hrobjartsson, A. (2009). "Acupuncture treatment for pain: systematic review of randomised clinical trials with acupuncture, placebo acupuncture, and no acupuncture groups". BMJ. 338: a3115. doi:10.1136/bmj.a3115. PMC 2769056. PMID 19174438.
  10. PMID 16420542 (PubMed)
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  11. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 17: bad argument #1 to 'old_pairs' (table expected, got nil).
  12. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Lee2006
  13. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Tang1999
  14. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named pmid17265547
  15. White, A.R.; Filshie, J.; Cummings, T.M.; International Acupuncture Research Forum (2001). "Clinical trials of acupuncture: consensus recommendations for optimal treatment, sham controls and blinding". Complementary Therapies in Medicine. 9 (4): 237–245. doi:10.1054/ctim.2001.0489. PMID 12184353.
  16. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named pmid16783282
  17. 17.0 17.1 Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 17: bad argument #1 to 'old_pairs' (table expected, got nil).
  18. Ernst, G; Strzyz, H; Hagmeister, H (2003). "Incidence of adverse effects during acupuncture therapy—a multicentre survey". Complementary Therapies in Medicine. 11 (2): 93–7. doi:10.1016/S0965-2299(03)00004-9. PMID 12801494.
  19. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named pmid12564354
  20. PMID 22106073 (PubMed)
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  21. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named WHO 2003.3
  22. Lua error in ...ribunto/includes/engines/LuaCommon/lualib/mwInit.lua at line 17: bad argument #1 to 'old_pairs' (table expected, got nil).
  23. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named NHS_ev
  24. "NHS Acupuncture intro". NHS. 2009. Retrieved 2012-02-25. zero width space character in |url= at position 30 (help)
  25. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named QuackwatchSampson
  26. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Lancet_WHO_2005
  27. Singh S, Ernst E (2008). "2. The Truth about Acupuncture". Trick or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine. ISBN 978-0-393-33778-5. Retrieved 2011-06-15.