What is contemporary medical acupuncture?
Medical acupuncture is performed by a licensed medical practitioner who applies evidence – based
concepts of acupuncture to relieve pain and improve vitality. It is a precise peripheral nerve stimulation
technique, in which fine solid needles are inserted into anatomically defined neurofunction sites, and
stimulated manually or with electricity for the therapeutic purposes of modulating abnormal activity of
the musculoskeletal system, nervous system and/or the endocrine, exocrine and immune systems. The
points needled are chosen based on their specific neuroanatomical and neuromuscular location related
to your specific pain or dysfunction.
In comparison, traditional Chinese acupuncture treats disturbances in the body’s energy(chi). These
imbalances occur when there are excess or deficient elements (earth, fire, water, metal and wood) in the
body, which is believed to be corrected by needling specific points that correspond with one of these
elements.
Both medical acupuncture and traditional Chinese acupuncture have been shown to be clinically
effective in treating various conditions.