The History of Acupuncture: A Centuries-Old Chinese Medicine
”That may help in your fight against inflammation.”
The history of acupuncture is traced to China however there are conflicting schools of thought on exactly how long acupuncture has been practiced. As with most of the Chinese medicines, it dates back many centuries and may go 3,000 to 5,000 years, or even farther.
Although it is unclear how long acupuncture has been practiced, it is equally unclear how it originated. One potential explanation is that some soldiers had been wounded in a battle by arrows and they were cured of chronic afflictions that were otherwise untreated. As with any information that is passed through generations, there are numerous variations on this story.
There is also some evidence that sharpened stones were used prior to needles to open abscesses. This practice may have been the origins of what later became acupuncture.
After stones came needles from bone which was finally replaced by metal needles in the 2nd century BC.
The earliest Chinese medical text to document the the history of acupuncture is the Classic of Internal Medicine which was compiled around 305-204 BC.
The practice of acupuncture spread throughout Asia and in 1023 a bronze statue was produced that depicted the meridians and acupuncture points that were in use at the time.
Clearly the Asian population of the time thought highly of this procedure to have a statue produced.
After the end of the Song Dynasty however, acupuncture became less prestigious and became to be associated with the practices of shamanism and midwifery.
The first reports of acupuncture in the west came in the 16th century with Portuguese missionaries although by this time it was increasingly associated with the lower classes in China itself.
A Dutch physician by the name of Willem ten Rhijne studied the practice of acupuncture in Japan for two years before writing the first European text on the subject in 1683.
Custom Search
By 1757 the physician Xu Daqun wrote that acupuncture had become a lost art with few experts left to instruct. He attributed its decline in part to the popularity of medications and prescriptions as well as its association with the lower classes.
In 1822 the Chinese Emperor announced that the practice and teaching of acupuncture be banned within the Imperial Academy of Medicine. It had been declared as being unfit for gentlemen-scholars to practice. The ban was lifted in 1950 when acupuncture began being practiced in Chinese hospitals.
The practice of acupuncture gained the attention of the North American population when US President Richard Nixon visited China in 1972. The delegation were witness to a patient receiving acupuncture treatments.
Find books about acupuncture and other alternative treatments to help fight inflammation at Amazon.com.
A New York Times reporter who had accompanied Nixon on his trip to China underwent acupuncture himself for post-operative pain. He was so impressed with the relief from pain that he experienced that he wrote about it in the paper. And in 1973, the American Internal Revenue Service began to allow acupuncture to be deducted as a medical expense.
With its lengthy history combined with modern medicine knowledge, acupuncture just might be the pain relief treatment you are looking for. We recommend From Fatigued to Fantastic to learn more about how acupuncture and other alternative therapies may help in the treatment of chronic conditions.
The practice of acupuncture spread throughout Asia and in 1023 a bronze statue was produced that depicted the meridians and acupuncture points that were in use at the time. 
to learn more about how acupuncture and other alternative therapies may help in the treatment of chronic conditions.