Acupuncture as a therapeutic intervention is now widely practiced in the United States, and has been for centuries in the Orient. While there have been many studies of its potential usefulness, many of these studies provided mixed results because of design, sample size, and other factors. The issue is further complicated by inherent difficulties in the use of appropriate controls, such as placebos and sham acupuncture groups.

However, promising results have emerged, for example, showing efficacy of acupuncture in adult post-operative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting and in post-operative dental pain. There are other situations such as addiction, stroke rehabilitation, headache, menstrual cramps, tennis elbow, fibromyalgia, myofascial pain, osteoarthritis, low back pain, carpal tunnel syndrome, and asthma where acupuncture may be useful as an adjunct treatment or an acceptable alternative or be included in a comprehensive management program. Further research is likely to uncover additional areas where acupuncture interventions will be useful.

There are many websites dedicated to the topic of acupuncture likeAcupuncture.com and AcupunctureToday.com which will help give you an idea if this form of treatment is for you.