Acupuncture, or meridian therapy, is the practice of employing needles, cold lasers, electrical stimulation, localized pressure, and other methods to rebalance 'chi' or 'qi', the vital energy of life. Chi travels in the body along predictable pathways called meridians. These 12 meridians are unique and travel in different paths from nerves, blood vessels, or lymphatic vessels. It is when the flow if chi along these meridians gets blocked or becomes stagnant that sickness and bodily dysfunction takes place. The use of acupuncture allows for the restoration of normal chi flow that then brings about the return to good health.

Although the practice of acupuncture has been around in China for well over two thousand years (some scholars site dates well past four thousand years), its popularity in the United States is a much more recent phenomenon. Perhaps the most famous historical introduction of acupuncture to the United State was in 1972 during President Nixon’s trip to China. While over there covering the story for the New York times, journalist James Reston was stuck ill with acute appendicitis. While undergoing surgery, acupuncture was used as the anaesthetic.