Acupuncture is a medical treatment that has emerged from the naturalist school of thought in China over 2,000 years ago. It has been modified and perfected over the course of its existence and has been adapted by other cultures. Acupuncture is one part of a Chinese medical system based on the production and flow of Qi (pronounced “chi”), which may be described loosely as vital energy. Qi circulates through meridians and organs in an orderly fashion and it is the disruption in the production and flow of Qi that results in disease and pain. As a system of medicine quite different than the Western system, acupuncture has its own language and references to organs may be thought of as metaphorical when compared to the Western definition of organ function. Traditional acupuncture treatments consist of insertion of thin sterile needles at specific locations along the meridians. The exact locations used are determined by a careful assessment by the acupuncturist or the patient and the problem...
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Suggested Reading
Acupuncture. NIH Consensus Statement Online 1997 Nov 3–5; 15, 1–34.
Helms, J. (1995). Acupuncture energetics: A clinical approach for physicians. Berkeley, CA: Medical Acupuncture Publishers.
Kaptchuk, T. J. (2000). The web that has no weaver: Understanding Chinese medicine (2nd ed.). Chicago: Contemporary Books.
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2004 Kluwer Academic/Plenum Publishers
About this entry
Cite this entry
Flagg, D. (2004). Acupuncture. In: Encyclopedia of Women’s Health. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48113-0_13
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-306-48113-0_13
Publisher Name: Springer, Boston, MA
Print ISBN: 978-0-306-48073-7
Online ISBN: 978-0-306-48113-0
eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive