The millennia-old practice of acupuncture is rapidly becoming mainstream medicine in the United States. This time-tested medicine is finally getting its due because it has so much to offer to a health?conscious society. Whether we are talking about public awareness, research funding, insurance coverage, institutional recognition, research breakthroughs or educational standards, acupuncture is on an ever-accelerating upward trajectory. The following examples from professional journals and other sources are proof of the assured success of acupuncture in this country.

Most-referred complementary medicine by physkians A recent academic and clinical review article published in the Annals of Internal Medicine stated that acupuncture holds the most credibility in the medical community amongst all the complementary medicine modalities. When medical practitioners refer patients to a complementary medicine provider, acupuncture is the first choice.

Most-funded complementary medicine research by NIH A consensus conference on acupuncture convened by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) concluded its panel report with the endorsement: "there is sufficient evidence of acupuncture's value to expand its use into conventional medicine and to encourage further studies of its physiology and clinical value." NIH currently sponsors more than fifty research projects on acupuncture.

Increased coverage by insurance companies Several factors are forcing health insurance companies to cover acupuncture, or to seriously consider covering acupuncture: increasing demands for coverage from policy holders, the amazing history of acupuncture's effectiveness and the substantial and mounting clinical evidence of acupuncture's clinical efficacy. Because insurance companies need scientific data to justify their coverage decisions, the NIH Consensus Statement was a significant step and ongoing NCCAM-sponsored research is essential.

Ongoing breakthroughs in scientific research In the wake of discoveries that serotonin and endor?phins are the two main neurochemical substances mediating the acupuncture analgesic effect, that low-frequency electroacupuncture activates the release of B-endorphine and metenkephallin in the central nervous system and that high-frequency electroacupuncture accelerates the release of dynorphine in the spinal cord; clinical research scientists in physiology have been using fMRI technology to correlate acupuncture points with cerebral cortex activity. Clinical research scientists have also found that acupuncture can improve fertility rates and relieve joint pain.

Established educational system in acupuncture In a remarkably short time in the United States, professional education in acupuncture has developed into an instructional system similar to other medical professions. Certification, accreditation and curriculum requirements are structured in a nationally coordinated system. There are currently about fifty accredited programs for acupuncture and Oriental medicine in the United States that meet the national academic and clinical standards. Forty-three states now license the professional practice of acupuncture. And, more of the established acupuncture programs are going beyond their current Master's degree programs and granting doctoral degrees.