Medical acupuncture is the kind of acupuncture performed by a physician trained and licensed in conventional Western medicine who has also had extensive training in acupuncture as a medical specialty. Such a doctor can employ one approach or the other, or may use a combination of the two in the treatment of an illness.

Medical acupuncture is used to promote the patient's health and well-being, to prevent a specific illness, and to treat a wide range of medical conditions. The technique is most often used to treat musculoskeletal problems.

While acupuncture had long been used in America by Chinese doctors treating patients of Chinese extraction, the technique was not accepted by the medical establishment in the United States until the 1970s. An article by New York Times columnist James Reston in 1971 opened the way. In it, he described how he was successfully able to deal with the pain after an appendectomy by using acupuncture needles. Around the same time, as the result of a thawing of relations between the American and Chinese governments, American physicians began to visit China. They saw surgical procedures using only acupuncture needles and became interested in the technique. Research in the late 1970s indicated that acupuncture analgesia was linked to certain actions within the central nervous system. Eventually, state, regional, national, and international societies were organized, and guidelines were set up for the education, practice, and regulation of acupuncture.

The physician's choice to use specific needle patterns in the treatment can be based on traditional Chinese principles which encourage the flow of energy through the body, or it may be based on modern concepts such as directing neuroanatomical activities in segmental distributions. The practitioner may also use a combination of the two schools. The adaptability of traditional and conventional acupuncture approaches in a Western medical environment is the basis of acupuncture's clinical success and its popular appeal.

Visiting an Acupuncturist's Office

A visit to an acupuncturist's office is similar to a visit with a conventional physician. The patient is asked to talk about their medical problems and history. In addition to making a conventional diagnosis, the physician also looks into the characteristics and behaviors of the problem so that they can be linked to the spheres of influence of one or more of the internal organs. The practitioner may also ask about any cycles in the appearance of the symptoms, and whether they are affected by changes in the seasons. The patient may also be asked whether the symptoms are affected by pressure, movement, cold, or heat. This may be followed by a conventional physical examination which includes an acupuncture inspection of specific reflex points on the body.