The practice of Acupuncture is still in it’s relative infancy here in the United States.  Acupuncture therapy has been used in asia for over 5,000 years but has been used for roughly 200 years here in america.    Acupuncture has only been “legitimately” practiced here for 35 years.   A metaphorically tiny bamboo shoot of time compared to the mighty redwood that is the history of Acupuncture.

One incident more than all the other exposures piqued America’s curiosity with the practice of inserting needles into the body’s surface.   The year was 1972 and “Tricky Dick” Nixon and his entourage had just crossed the “Bamboo Curtain” into mainland communist China.    A New York Times reporter traveling with Nixon, one James Reston, suddenly fell ill with acute appendicitis.  He was rushed to the hospital and received an emergency operation there.   Acupuncture was used to treat the pain and the effectiveness of the treatment astounded this reporter.   Subsequently word traveled back to the states and immediately an interest in this mysterious type of medical modality was born.

The  first acupuncture treatments administered in America were done by immigrant chinese doctors perhaps as early as the 1800′s.   This was a time of  a large migration of Chinese to the west coast and there is recorded history of the use of acupuncture in early west coast settlements.  The use of acupuncture in those early days was mostly limited to within the Chinese community.   It was not until 1975 that the practice of acupuncture was regulated here in the united states. Before that time the act of sticking needles into a person to heal them was considered illegal.   Those who knew this skill had to practice it in secrecy, lest face prosecution from the law for practicing medicine without a license.

The practice of Acupuncture has grown strongly in American soil in the years following President Nixons visit to China.   Over the course of that time tens of millions of americans have tried and found relief using acupuncture therapy for a variety of health conditions.   In 1997 professional credibility was received from National Institute of Health when they declared acupuncture relieves the condition of nausea and that it can be a good adjunctive treatment in dozens of other conditions.  (Hey we will take what we can get!) More on that study here

Call it Irony or call it the Yin to the Yang(More on that here)….. but to think that most of us acupuncturists, in some round about way, have Richard Nixon to thank for our occupation makes me smile in a wry sort of fashion.