It.ncludes a licensing exam and registration, as well as degree courses approved by the board. 300 Canada has acupuncture licensing programs in the provinces of British Columbia, Ontario, Alberta and Quebec; standards set by the Chinese Medicine and Acupuncture Alternative Medicine was created within the NIH. ACM practitioners disagree among themselves about how to diagnose of Health NIH declared support for acupuncture for some conditions in November 1997. Korea.s believed to be the first country in Asia that acupuncture spread to outside of China. 29 Within Korea there is a legend that acupuncture was developed by emperor Dan gun, in 1683 by Willem ten Rhine . 278 In China, the popularity of acupuncture rebounded in 1949 when Mao Zedong took power and sought to unite China behind traditional cultural values. Medical acupuncture attempts to integrate reflexological concepts, the trigger point model, and anatomical insights such as dermatome distribution into acupuncture practice, and emphasizes a more formulaic approach to acupuncture point location. 64 Cosmetic acupuncture is the use of acupuncture in an attempt to reduce wrinkles on the face. 65 Bee venom acupuncture is a treatment approach conflicted with the West's own anatomical diagrams.

.>G..acupuncture.hart.rom.hisi.ing.ahui Expression of the Fourteen Meridians written by Hun thou Al. 1340s, Ming dynasty . It.as.acer revealed that the patient had been given a cocktail of aesthetics. 284 285 Acupuncture is popular in China, 235 the US, 16 Australia, 286 and Europe 287 including all five Nordic countries, though less so in Finland. 288 It is most heavily practiced in China 235 and is one of the most common alternative medicine practices in Europe. 287 :45 In Switzerland, acupuncture has become the most frequently used alternative medicine since 2004. 289 In the United Kingdom, a total of 4 million acupuncture treatments were administered in 2009. 290 Acupuncture is used in most pain clinics and hospices in the UK. 41 An estimated 1 in 10 adults in Australia used acupuncture in 2004. 286 In Japan, it is estimated that 25 percent of the population will try acupuncture at some point, 32 though in most cases it is not covered by public health insurance . 32 Users of acupuncture in Japan are more likely to be elderly and to have a limited education. 32 Approximately half of users surveyed indicated a likelihood to seek such remedies in the future, while 37% did not. 32 Less than one percent of the US population reported having used acupuncture in the early 1990s. 291 By the early 2010s, more than 14 million Americans reported having used acupuncture as part of their health care. 291 In the US, acupuncture is increasingly as of 2014 updates used at academic medical canters, 77 and is usually offered through CAM canters or anaesthesia and pain management services. 292 Examples include those at Harvard University, Stanford University, Johns Hopkins University, and UCL . all the ancient materials that could have been used for acupuncture and which often produce archaeological evidence, such as sharpened bones, bamboo or stones, were also used for oether purposes. 29 An article in Rheumatology said that the absence of any mention of acupuncture in documents found in the tomb of Ma-Wang-Dui from 198 BC suggest that acupuncture was not practice by that time. 27 Several and sometimes conflicting belief systems emerged regarding acupuncture. In.ther.Ards, 'sham' or 'placebo' acupuncture generally produces the same effects as 'real' acupuncture and, in some cases, does better.” 77 A 2013 meta-analysis found little evidence that the effectiveness of acupuncture on pain compared to sham was modified by the location of the needles, the number of needles used, the experience or technique of the practitioner, or by the circumstances of the sessions. 78 The same analysis also suggested that the number of needles and sessions is important, as greater numbers improved the outcomes of acupuncture compared to non-acupuncture controls. 78 There has been little systematic investigation of which components of an acupuncture session may be important for any therapeutic effect, including needle placement and depth, type and intensity of stimulation, and number of needles used. 75 The research seems to suggest that needles do not need to stimulate the traditionally specified acupuncture points or penetrate the skin to attain an anticipated effect e.g. psychosocial factors. 2 A response to “sham” acupuncture in osteoarthritis may be used in the elderly, but placebos have usually been regarded as deception and thus unethical. 79 However, some physicians and ethicists have suggested circumstances for applicable uses for placebos such as it might present a theoretical advantage of an inexpensive treatment without adverse reactions or interactions with drugs or other medications. 79 As the evidence for most types of alternative medicine such as acupuncture is far from strong, the use of alternative medicine in regular healthcare can present an ethical question. 80 Using the principles of evidence-based medicine to research acupuncture is controversial, and has produced different results. 71 Some research suggests acupuncture can alleviate pain but the majority of research suggests that acupuncture's effects are mainly due to placebo. 9 Evidence suggests that any benefits of acupuncture are short-listing. 14 There is insufficient evidence to support use of acupuncture compared to mainstream medical treatments . 81 Acupuncture is not better than mainstream treatment in the long term. 74 Publication bias is cited as a concern in the reviews of randomized controlled trials CRTs of acupuncture. 57 82 83 A 1998 review of studies on acupuncture found that trials originating in China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Taiwan were uniformly favourable to acupuncture, as were ten out of eleven studies conducted in Russia. 84 A 2011 assessment of the quality of CRTs on ACM, including acupuncture, concluded that the methodological quality of most such trials including randomization, experimental control, and blinding was generally poor, particularly for trials published in Chinese journals though the quality of acupuncture trials was better than the trials testing ACM remedies. 85 The study also found that trials published in non-Chinese journals tended to be of higher quality. 85 Chinese authors use more Chinese studies, which have been demonstrated to be uniformly positive. 86 A 2012 review of 88 systematic reviews of acupuncture published in Chinese journals found that less than half of these reviews reported testing for publication bias, and that the majority of these reviews were published in journals with impact factors of zero. 87 Scientist and journalist Steven Salzburg identifies acupuncture and Chinese medicine generally as a focus for “fake medical journals” such as the Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies and Acupuncture in Medicine . 88 The conclusions of many trials and numerous systematic reviews of acupuncture are largely inconsistent with each other. 13 A 2011 systematic review of systematic reviews found that for reducing pain, real acupuncture was no better than sham acupuncture, and concluded that numerous reviews have shown little convincing evidence that acupuncture is an effective treatment for reducing pain. 10 The same review found that neck pain was one of only four types of pain for which a positive effect was suggested, but cautioned that the primary studies used carried a considerable risk of bias. 10 A 2009 overview of Cochran reviews found Acupuncture acupuncture is not effective for a wide range of conditions, and suggested that it may be effective for only chemotherapy-induced nausea/vomiting, postoperative nausea/vomiting, and idiopathic headache. 13 A 2014 systematic review suggests that the nocebo effect of acupuncture is clinically relevant and that the rate of adverse events may be a gauge of the nocebo effect. 89 According to the 2014 Miller's anaesthesia book, “when compared with placebo, acupuncture treatment has proven efficacy for relieving pain”. 44 A 2012 meta-analysis conducted by the Acupuncture Trialists' Collaboration found “relatively modest” efficiency of acupuncture in comparison to sham for the treatment of four different types of chronic pain back and neck pain, knee osteoarthritis, chronic headache, and shoulder pain and on that basis concluded that it “is more than a placebo” and a reasonable referral option. 90 Commenting on this meta-analysis, both Eduard Ernst and David Colquhoun said the results were of negligible clinical significance. 91 92 Eduard Ernst later stated that “I fear that, once we manage to eliminate this bias that operators are not blind … we might find that the effects of acupuncture exclusively are a placebo response.” 93 A 2010 systematic review suggested that acupuncture is more than a placebo for commonly occurring chronic pain conditions, but the authors acknowledged that it is still unknown if the overall benefit is clinically meaningful or cost-effective. 94 A 2010 review found real acupuncture and sham acupuncture produce similar improvements, which can only be accepted as evidence against the efficacy of acupuncture. 95 The same review found limited evidence that real acupuncture and sham acupuncture appear to produce biological differences despite similar effects. 95 A 2009 systematic review and meta-analysis found that acupuncture had a small analgesic effect, which appeared to lack any clinical importance and could not be discerned from bias. 15 The same review found that it remains unclear whether acupuncture reduces pain independent of a psychological impact of the needling ritual. 15 A 2016 Cochran review found moderate quality evidence that real acupuncture was more effective than sham acupuncture or inactive for short-term relief of neck pain measured either upon completion of treatment or at short-term follow-up. 96 A 2013 meta-analysis found that acupuncture was better than no treatment for reducing lower back pain, but not better than sham acupuncture, and concluded that the effect of acupuncture “is likely to be produced by the non-specific effects of manipulation”. 97 A 2013 systematic review found supportive evidence that real acupuncture may be more effective than sham acupuncture with respect to relieving lower back pain, but there were methodological limitations with the studies. 98 A 2013 systematic review found that acupuncture may be effective for non-specific lower back pain, but the authors noted there were limitations in the studies examined, such as heterogeneity in study characteristics and low methodological quality in many studies. 99 A 2012 systematic review found some supporting evidence that acupuncture was more effective than no treatment for chronic non-specific low back pain; the evidence was conflicting comparing the effectiveness over other treatment approaches. 12 A 2011 systematic review of systematic reviews found that “for chronic low back pain, individualized acupuncture is not better in reducing symptoms than formula acupuncture or sham acupuncture with a toothpick that does not penetrate the skin.” 10 A 2010 review found that sham acupuncture was as effective as real acupuncture for chronic low back pain. 2 The specific therapeutic effects of acupuncture were small, whereas its clinically relevant benefits were mostly due to contextual and psychosocial circumstances. 2 Brain imaging studies have shown that traditional acupuncture and sham acupuncture differ in their effect on limbic structures, while at the same time showed equivalent analgesic effects. 2 A 2005 Cochran review found insufficient evidence to recommend for or against either acupuncture or dry needling for acute low back pain. 100 The same review found low quality evidence for pain relief and improvement compared Minister of Health, Labour and Welfare after passing an examination and graduating from a technical school or university. 303 Australia regulates Chinese medical traditions through the Chinese Medicine Board of Australia and the Public Health Skin Penetration Regulation of 2000.

In.CM,.he.our.iagnostic methods are: inspection, : 10.1093/rheumatology/ken161 . Evidence.Dom.he body suggests Otzi suffered from these conditions. 30 This has been cited as evidence that practices similar to acupuncture may have been practice elsewhere in Eurasia during the early Bronze Age ; 268 however, The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine calls this theory “speculative”. 31 It is considered unlikely that acupuncture was practice before 2000 BC. 267 The Ötzi the Iceman's tattoo marks suggest to some experts that an acupuncture-like treatment was previously used in Europe 5 millennia ago. 9 Acupuncture may have been practice during the Neolithic era, near the end of the stone age, using sharpened stones called Brian Shi . 29 :70 Many Chinese texts from later eras refer to sharp stones called “Olen”, which means “stone probe”, that may have been used for acupuncture purposes. 29 :70 The ancient Chinese medical text, Hunngdi BeiMing, indicates that sharp stones were believed at-the-time to cure illnesses at or near the body's surface, perhaps because of the short depth a stone could penetrate. Acupuncture chart from Shisi jing fahui Expression of the Fourteen Meridians written by Hun thou Al. 1340s, Ming dynasty .