Acupuncture and alternative medicines flourished as the Chinese Communists firmly seized command of the mainland in the 1950s and 1960s. It remained a rather mysterious part of the national culture during the next three decades because China was largely closed to the West. Then came Richard Nixon’s famous outreach in the 1970s, and diplomatic relations were restored. That led to a renewed interest in Eastern medicine -- particularly acupuncture.
Although many Western medical practitioners were skeptical that acupuncture had any real palliative benefit, subsequent studies confirmed that there was real relief to be found for many ailments. Acupuncture was found to be particularly effective for treatment of pain from chronic sufferers like cancer patients and those with head and neck injuries that resisted more conventional treatments.
The big breakthrough for acupuncture treatments came with a National Institutes of Health study, which detailed findings that acupuncture was a legitimate treatment and not some psychological hocus-pocus with no real scientific basis. Although how it works is still largely a matter of speculation, the fact that it does appear to produce relief for many conditions has now been documented. That has led to government adoption of standards and practices for acupuncture treatments, and many insurance plans now include coverage in some standards of care.
Acupuncture treatments are scheduled much like a traditional doctor’s visit. You are asked to describe your ailment, an examination is conducted, and then the practitioner inserts sterilized thin needles into various pressure points in your body (you have 356 vital areas affecting your body, according to Chinese medicine).