Editing Acupuncture (section)

=== Origins ===
[[File:Acupuncture chart 300px.jpg|thumb|right|Acupuncture chart from the [[Ming dynasty]] ({{circa|1368|1644}})]]

Acupuncture, along with [[moxibustion]], is one of the oldest practices of traditional Chinese medicine.<ref name="abc">{{cite book| first1 = Gwei-Djen | last1 = Lu | first2 = Joseph | last2 = Needham | name-list-style = vanc |title=Celestial Lancets: A History and Rationale of Acupuncture and Moxa|isbn=978-0700714582 |date=2002| publisher = Psychology Press }}</ref> Most historians believe the practice began in China, though there are some conflicting narratives on when it originated.<ref name=White-Ernst>{{cite journal | vauthors = White A, Ernst E | title = A brief history of acupuncture | journal = Rheumatology | volume = 43 | issue = 5 | pages = 662–63 | date = May 2004 | pmid = 15103027 | doi = 10.1093/rheumatology/keg005 | doi-access = free }}</ref><ref name="Porter 2013 p. 403">{{cite book |editor=Porter, Stuart B|chapter=18:Acupuncture in Physiotherapy|last=Bannan| first=Andrew | title=Tidy's Physiotherapy15: Tidy's Physiotherapy | publisher=Elsevier | series=Churchill Livingstone | year=2013 | isbn=978-0-7020-4344-4 | chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=RUlRPxA6O9YC&pg=PA403| page=403}}</ref> Academics David Ramey and Paul Buell said the exact date acupuncture was founded depends on the extent to which dating of ancient texts can be trusted and the interpretation of what constitutes acupuncture.<ref name=Ramey/>

Acupressure therapy was prevalent in India. Once [[Chinese Buddhism#Han Dynasty (206 BCE–220 CE)|Buddhism spread to China]], the acupressure therapy was also integrated into common medical practice in China and it came to be known as acupuncture. The major points of Indian acupressure and Chinese acupuncture are similar to each other.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wGQUBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|page=27|author=Joseph S. Alter|title=Asian Medicine and Globalization|publisher=[[University of Pennsylvania Press]]|year=2013|isbn=9780812205251|access-date=13 February 2022|archive-date=15 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415012411/https://books.google.com/books?id=wGQUBAAAQBAJ&pg=PA27|url-status=live}}</ref>

According to an article in ''Rheumatology'', the first documentation of an "organized system of diagnosis and treatment" for acupuncture was in ''Inner Classic of Huang Di'' ([[Huangdi Neijing]]) from about 100&nbsp;BC.<ref name=White-Ernst/> Gold and silver needles found in the tomb of [[Liu Sheng, Prince of Zhongshan|Liu Sheng]] from around 100&nbsp;BC are believed to be the earliest archaeological evidence of acupuncture, though it is unclear if that was their purpose.<ref name=Ramey>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ramey D, Buell D | year = 2004 | title = A true history of acupuncture | url = http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1211/fact.2004.00244/full | doi = 10.1211/fact.2004.00244 | volume = 9 | issue = 4 | journal = Focus on Alternative and Complementary Therapies | pages = 269–73 | s2cid = 71106490 | trans-title = 2017-01-01 | access-date = 21 March 2014 | archive-date = 24 May 2014 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140524190347/http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1211/fact.2004.00244/full | url-status = live }}</ref> According to Plinio Prioreschi, the earliest known historical record of acupuncture is the [[Shiji]] ("Records of the Grand Historian"), written by a historian around 100&nbsp;BC.<ref name="Prioreschi2004"/> It is believed that this text was documenting what was established practice at that time.<ref name=White-Ernst/>

====Alternative theories====

The 5,000-year-old mummified body of [[Ötzi the Iceman]] was found with 15 groups of tattoos,<ref name=Dorfer-1999/> many of which were located at points on the body where acupuncture needles are used for abdominal or lower back problems. Evidence from the body suggests Ötzi had these conditions.<ref name="Porter 2013 p. 403"/> This has been cited as evidence that practices similar to acupuncture may have been practised elsewhere in [[Eurasia]] during the early [[Bronze Age]];<ref name=Dorfer-1999>{{cite journal | vauthors = Dorfer L, Moser M, Bahr F, Spindler K, Egarter-Vigl E, Giullén S, Dohr G, Kenner T | title = A medical report from the Stone Age? | journal = Lancet | volume = 354 | issue = 9183 | pages = 1023–25 | date = September 1999 | pmid = 10501382 | doi = 10.1016/S0140-6736(98)12242-0 | s2cid = 29084491 | url = http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classicalarch/readings/Iceman_Tattoos.pdf | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100922184626/http://www.utexas.edu/courses/classicalarch/readings/Iceman_Tattoos.pdf | url-status = dead | archive-date = 22 September 2010 }}</ref> however, ''The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine'' calls this theory "speculative".<ref name="Jackson 2011 p. 610">{{cite book | last=Jackson | first=M. | title=The Oxford Handbook of the History of Medicine | publisher=OUP Oxford | series=Oxford Handbooks in History | year=2011 | isbn=978-0-19-954649-7 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cpjgoazGIC4C&pg=PT610| page=610}}</ref> It is considered unlikely that acupuncture was practised before 2000&nbsp;BC.<ref name=Ramey/>

Acupuncture may have been practised during the [[Neolithic]] era, near the end of the [[Stone Age]], using sharpened stones called [[Bian Stones|Bian shi]].<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|70}} Many Chinese texts from later eras refer to sharp stones called "plen", which means "stone probe", that may have been used for acupuncture purposes.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|70}} The ancient Chinese medical text, Huangdi Neijing, indicates that sharp stones were believed at-the-time to cure illnesses at or near the body's surface, perhaps because of the short depth a stone could penetrate.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|71}} However, it is more likely that stones were used for other medical purposes, such as puncturing a growth to drain its [[pus]].<ref name=White-Ernst/><ref name="Porter 2013 p. 403"/> The ''[[Mawangdui]]'' texts, which are believed to be from the 2nd century BC, mention the use of pointed stones to open [[abscess]]es, and moxibustion, but not for acupuncture.<ref name="Prioreschi2004"/> It is also speculated that these stones may have been used for bloodletting, due to the ancient Chinese belief that illnesses were caused by demons within the body that could be killed or released.<ref name="Singh Ernst 2008 p. 42">{{cite book | vauthors=Singh S, Ernst E | title=Trick Or Treatment: The Undeniable Facts about Alternative Medicine | publisher=W. W. Norton | series=Norton paperback | year=2008 | isbn=978-0-393-06661-6 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5m6CKTEr3I0C&pg=PA42 | page=42 | access-date=27 January 2016 | archive-date=4 February 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230204181954/https://books.google.com/books?id=5m6CKTEr3I0C&pg=PA42 | url-status=live }}</ref> It is likely bloodletting was an antecedent to acupuncture.<ref name="Porter 2013 p. 403"/>

According to historians [[Lu Gwei-djen]] and [[Joseph Needham]], there is substantial evidence that acupuncture may have begun around 600&nbsp;BC.<ref name="abc"/> Some hieroglyphs and [[Pictogram|pictographs]] from that era suggests acupuncture and moxibustion were practised.<ref name="Robson">{{cite book | last = Robson | first = T | title = An Introduction to Complementary Medicine | isbn = 978-1741140545 | year = 2004 | publisher = [[Allen & Unwin]] | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=E6oa37ZyTxEC&pg=PA90 | page = 90 }}</ref> However, historians Lu and Needham said it was unlikely a needle could be made out of the materials available in China during this time period.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|71–72}} It is possible that [[bronze]] was used for early acupuncture needles. Tin, copper, gold and silver are also possibilities, though they are considered less likely, or to have been used in fewer cases.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|69}} If acupuncture was practised during the [[Shang dynasty]] (1766 to 1122&nbsp;BC), organic materials like thorns, sharpened bones, or bamboo may have been used.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|70}} Once methods for producing steel were discovered, it would replace all other materials, since it could be used to create a very fine, but sturdy needle.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|74}} Lu and Needham noted that all the ancient materials that could have been used for acupuncture and which often produce archaeological evidence, such as sharpened bones, bamboo or stones, were also used for other purposes.<ref name="abc"/> An article in ''Rheumatology'' said that the absence of any mention of acupuncture in documents found in the tomb of [[Mawangdui]] from 198&nbsp;BC suggest that acupuncture was not practised by that time.<ref name=White-Ernst/>

====Belief systems====
Several different and sometimes conflicting belief systems emerged regarding acupuncture. This may have been the result of competing schools of thought.<ref name=White-Ernst/> Some ancient texts referred to using acupuncture to cause bleeding, while others mixed the ideas of blood-letting and spiritual ch'i energy. Over time, the focus shifted from blood to the concept of puncturing specific points on the body, and eventually to balancing Yin and Yang energies as well.<ref name="Prioreschi2004"/> According to David Ramey, no single "method or theory" was ever predominantly adopted as the standard.<ref>{{cite journal | vauthors = Ramey DW | title = Inaccurate acupuncture history | journal = Rheumatology | volume = 43 | issue = 12 | pages = 1593; author reply 1593–94 | date = December 2004 | pmid = 15564643 | doi = 10.1093/rheumatology/keh363 | doi-access = free }}</ref> At the time, scientific knowledge of medicine was not yet developed, especially because in China dissection of the deceased was forbidden, preventing the development of basic anatomical knowledge.<ref name=White-Ernst/>

It is not certain when specific acupuncture points were introduced, but the autobiography of [[Bian Que]] from around 400–500&nbsp;BC references inserting needles at designated areas.<ref name="abc"/> Bian Que believed there was a single acupuncture point at the top of one's skull that he called the point "of the hundred meetings."<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|83}} Texts dated to be from 156 to 186&nbsp;BC document early beliefs in channels of life force energy called meridians that would later be an element in early acupuncture beliefs.<ref name=Ramey/>

Ramey and Buell said the "practice and theoretical underpinnings" of modern acupuncture were introduced in ''The Yellow Emperor's Classic'' (Huangdi Neijing) around 100&nbsp;BC.<ref name=Prioreschi2004>{{cite book | last = Prioreschi | first = P | pages = [https://books.google.com/books?id=MJUMhEYGOKsC&pg=PA147 147–48] | year = 2004 | isbn = 978-1888456011 | publisher = Horatius Press | title = A history of Medicine, Volume 2 }}</ref><ref name=Ramey/> It introduced the concept of using acupuncture to manipulate the flow of life energy (''qi'') in a network of meridian (channels) in the body.<ref name=Ramey/><ref name="Epler">{{cite journal | vauthors = Epler DC | title = Bloodletting in early Chinese medicine and its relation to the origin of acupuncture | journal = Bulletin of the History of Medicine | volume = 54 | issue = 3 | pages = 337–67 | year = 1980 | pmid = 6998524 }}</ref> The network concept was made up of acu-tracts, such as a line down the arms, where it said acupoints were located. Some of the sites acupuncturists use needles at today still have the same names as those given to them by the ''Yellow Emperor's Classic''.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|93}} Numerous additional documents were published over the centuries introducing new acupoints.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|101}} By the 4th century AD, most of the acupuncture sites in use today had been named and identified.<ref name="abc"/>{{RP|101}}