Guidelines and Recommendations for Acupuncture Healthcare Policies

Acupuncture Is More Than Needle Placement

Acupuncture is often misrepresented as a simple technical technique of placing needles where there is pain, but in reality involves many methods and modalities beyond the insertion and stimulation of sterile needles. This may vary somewhat by training and licensure, but typically includes physical medicine therapies and diagnostics, emotional and behavioral counseling, and diet and lifestyle counseling.

Within its traditional systems that are practiced at scale in countries such as China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan, acupuncture functions within models designed to work synergistically, as a dose, relationship, and context-dependent intervention that is now understood to influence pain, inflammation, autonomic tone, emotional regulation, interoception, and brain networks involved in chronic pain and emotional regulation.