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 Acupuncture was introduce to the United States by New York Times reporter James Reston who in 1971, wrote about how doctors in China used needles to ease his abdominal pain after surgery. The appearance of James Reston's landmark article describing his experience with successful post appendectomy pain management using acupuncture needles gave a real boost to the growth and recognition of acupuncture in America. Before that time, acupuncture had been practiced only in isolated urban Asian communities, discreetly and primarily by and for Asians. In the early 1970s, widespread enthusiasm and acceptance for acupuncture was fueled by reports from various physician visitors to China, who witnessed surgical analgesia using, only acupuncture needles. Respect for the technique grew in the medical and scientific communities in the late 1970s, with the appearance of articles demonstrating acupuncture analgesia was linked to the central nervous system activities of endogenous opioid peptides and biogenic amines. The acupuncture technique that has been most studied scientifically involves penetrating the skin with thin, solid, metallic needles that are manipulated by the hands or by electrical stimulation. The last three decades since the appearance of this article, acupuncture has grown in popularity from a ancient Chinese occult science to an accepted scientific medical branch in the United States.
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