What is Acupuncture'?
As stated on the website of Wikipedia.com - Acupuncture (from Lat. acus, "needle" and pungere, "pricktt") or in Standard Mandarin, zhen hian (a related word zhenjiu refers to acupuncture together with moxib~stion)ill is a technique of inserting and manipulating filiform needles into points on the body with the aim of restoring health and well-being, and particularly treating pain. Acupuncture is thought to have originated in China and is most commonly associated with Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Different types of acupuncture (Classical Chinese, Japanese, Tibetan, and Korean acupuncture) are practiced and taught throughout the world.
 
The classical Chinese explanation is that channels of energy run in regular patterns through the body and over its surface. These energy channels, called meridians, are like rivers flowing through the body to irrigate and nourish the tissues. An obstruction in the movement of these energy rivers is like a dam that backs up in others.
The meridians can be influenced by needling the acupuncture points; the acupuncture needles unblock the obstructions at the dams, and reestablish the regular flow through the meridians. Acupuncture treatments can therefore help the body's internal organs to correct imbalances in their digestion, absorption and energy production activities and in the circulation of their energy through the meridians.
 
What conditions does Acupuncture treat?
Acupuncture is an effective treatment for more than 800 disease processes in the body. It can be used for pain control to smoking addiction. The World Health Organization recognizes the use of acupuncture in the treatment of a wide range of medical problems, including: 
Digestive disorders: gastritis and hyperacidity, spastic colon, constipation, diarrhea. *Respiratory disorders: sinusitis, sore throat, bronchitis, asthma, recurrent chest infections.
*Neurological and muscular disorders: headaches, facial tics, neck pain, rib neuritis, frozen shoulder, tennis elbow, Vcuious tonns of tendonitis, low back pain, sciatica, osteoarthritis, Urinary menstrual, and reproductive disorders.
Acupuncture is particularly useful in resolving physical problems related to tension and stress and emotional conditions.
 
DOES ACUPUNCTURE REALLY WORK?
Yes. In the past 4,000 years, more people have been successfully treated with acupuncture than with all other health modalities combined. Today acupuncture is practiced widely in Asia, the Soviet Union, and in Europe. For many years, main stream medicine here in the United States would not recognize acupuncture as a viable health care treatment, probably due to the fact that acupuncture reduces revenue for pharmaceutical companies and the medical office. However  with the high success rate the alternative health care providers have had using acupuncture it was inevitable that main steam medicine would eventually recognize this valuable form of treatment.