cups of varying size. The cups are warmed and
placed top-down on an acupoint or any flat area
such as the back, abdomen, or legs. The vacuum
created by the cups “sucks” the skin so that blood
rushes to the point and rebalances the flow of
energy. Cupping is said to be most effective for
treating bronchitis, colds, and arthritis.
Moxibustion, a term derived from the Japanese
word mokusa, or “burning herb,” is a technique of
acupuncture that employs needles to which the
heat of a dried herb (moxa) is attached. A tiny
stick, roll, or cone-shaped amount of moxa, from
the herb mugwort, burns on the head of the nee-
dle to send warmth to the acupoint. The moxa,
which may also be used without needles but with
a small tip, does not touch the skin directly and is
reported to be aromatic and a pleasant treatment.
Auricular therapy, revived and improved in the
1960s by the French acupuncturist Dr. Paul Nogier,
is a type of acupuncture that focuses exclusively on
the ear for pain management and the treatment of
migraines, arthritis, and stomach ailments. When
Nogier treated patients with sciatica by cauterizing
part of their earlobes, he discovered after they
reported relief that the technique dated back to
ancient Egypt. He also developed an electrical
device called a Punctoscope so needles were not
required. Also, while small acupuncture needles
may be used in the ear, electrotherapy, light ther-
apy, and small, magnetically charged ball bearings
(which can be taped over acupoints for long-term,
or semipermanent, therapy) may be preferred
methods. Auricular therapists, popular in France,
say this type of acupuncture helps provide diagnos-
tic information; is less invasive than regular
acupuncture, particularly for anxious patients; and
is calming and effective against pain.
The theory is that the ear, with its approxi-
mately 200–300 acupoints, has the shape of a fetus
in the womb and therefore relates to the acupoints
in the adult body. The measurable electrical prop-
erties of acupuncture points allow practitioners to
diagnose problems, and auricular therapy is said to
relieve addictions, certain respiratory disorders,
labor pains, and pain related to terminal illnesses.
To date, approximately 10,000 acupuncturists in
the United States are licensed, registered, or certi-
fied, and approximately 3000 medical doctors, both
M.D.s and D.O.s, who practice acupuncture. Orga-
nizations that set standards and certify practitioners
include the Accreditation Commission for
Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine and the
National Certification Commission for Acupunc-
ture and Oriental Medicine (NCCAOM). (See
Appendix I.) Every practitioner has an individual
approach, and it is possible that one practitioner, as
with any health care provider, may be more suited
to a particular patient than another. The NIH sug-
gests that the typical gauge for effectiveness is 10
sessions, and chronic pain relief should be experi-
enced from acupuncture after six treatments. Some
conditions such as asthma may require months of
acupuncture before a patient perceives relief.
Acupuncture may be combined with other conven-
tional or alternative treatments.
“Many unconventional treatments have been
around for a very long time,” writes Dr. Herbert
Benson in Timeless Healing(Scribner, New York,
1996), “but their positive effects, if present and
above those of remembered wellness, are still ques-
tionable. Acupuncture is a case in point. If its inher-
ent healing effects were equivalent to those of
proven scientific remedies, they would already have
been recognized by Western scientific medicine.”
The licensed acupuncturist and author Harriet
Beinfield, and her coauthor Efrem Korngold, also a
licensed acupuncturist and practitioner of osteo-
pathic manipulative medicine, wrote in Between
Heaven and Earth: A Guide to Chinese Medicine (Bal-
lantine Books, New York, 1991): “While neurolog-
ical and hormonal hypotheses describe how
acupuncture alleviates pain, they do not accurately
explain its diverse therapeutic effects.... [E]xper-
iments, including the study of acupuncture-
assisted surgery, have shown that acupuncture not
only inhibits pain, but also directly affects periph-
eral microcirculation, rhythm and stroke volume of
the heart, blood pressure, levels of circulating
immunoglobulins, gastrointestinal peristalsis,
secretion of hydrochloric acid, and the production
of red and white blood cells. Acupuncture seems to
adjust all the physiological processes of the organ-
ism, possibly through activation of the homeostatic
function of the autonomic nervous system.... The
central issue from the classical Chinese medical
point of view is not why acupuncture works, but4 acupuncture