History

History of Acupuncture

Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine began in China some 3,000 years ago as folk medicine. Most believe that Qi gong and Tai chi practitioners envisioned the meridian pathways through meditation and from this acupuncture points were developed. Chinese medicine was passed down for thousands of years through family lineage. During the Cultural Revolution, Mao brought all of the great Doctor’s of Chinese Medicine together to develop a single system of diagnosis and treatment known as Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) during this symposium standards of education were created and formal schools developed for the standardized teaching of TCM. During this time Western Medical techniques were used to measure the response of acupuncture points objectively and test the active constituents in Chinese Herbs. Acupuncture was introduced in the U.S. in the 1970’s when a reporter traveling with President Nixon staff received acupuncture anesthesia while in China. Since then Master’s level programs have been training Licensed Acupuncturists in the U.S.