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Acupuncture is a popular alternative medical treatment for pain. It involves inserting thin, metallic needles into strategic points on your body. Acupuncture was first used in China more than 2,000 years ago. It first gained attention in the United States in 1971, when New York Times reporter James Reston wrote about how impressed he was with the postoperative pain relief he got from acupuncture.

The Chinese and Western theories on how acupuncture heals the human body are very different. According to traditional Chinese medicine, everything in nature, including the human body, has two opposing forces: yin and yang. The yin force is very passive and the yang force is very active. There is also the notion that there is a flow of energy, known as Qi, which flows through pathways, known as meridians, in the body. Each meridian corresponds to one or more organs. As long as the Qi is flowing properly, there is a balance between yin and yang and your body will remain healthy. If the flow of Qi is disrupted, this will cause an imbalance between yin and yang, which will cause illness. Qi is accessible through approximately 400 acupuncture points on the human body that are connected with the meridians. These acupuncture points are places near the surface of the skin. To restore the proper flow of Qi, an acupuncturist will insert thin, metallic needles into the acupuncture points in various combinations.

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Research at the Johns Hopkins Medical Center casts serious doubts about the prevailing medical view of the cause of asthma and suggests an entirely new way of thinking about a disease that affects a growing number of people today, particularly children.

Until now, doctors assumed that asthmatics were hypersensitive to irritants like dust, pollen or pollutants. This hypersensitivity was thought to cause the airways in the lungs to contract, blocking the flow of air and leaving the patients gasping for breath. This lung airway constriction process was assumed to be absent in nonasthamatics.

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