Although acupuncture is not as widely used in the United States as some other complementary approaches, such as meditation and yoga, its popularity is growing. The percentage of U.S. adults who use acupuncture more than doubled between 2002 and 2022 (from 1.0 to 2.2 percent). Of the people who used acupuncture in 2022, 72.8 percent used it for pain.
Acupuncture is a technique in which practitioners insert fine needles into the skin to treat health problems. It originated in China but is now used worldwide. Research has shown that acupuncture may be helpful for several pain conditions, including back or neck pain, knee pain associated with osteoarthritis, postoperative pain, and joint pain associated with the use of aromatase inhibitors (a group of drugs used in people with breast cancer).
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