Medical Acupuncture is the synthesis of Western Medical Science with Traditional Chinese Medicine practices.  Traditional Chinese medicine, which developed the practice of acupuncture, was an ancient system that recognized that disease was due to imbalances in the flow of Qi (pronounced “chee”) that moves through everyone.  Disruptions of Qi or “life energy” were recognized to be related to stress, poor diet, fatigue, and excessive heat or cold.  By evaluating the physical appearance of the patient, the symptoms, time of the year, color of the tongue, and quality of the pulse, traditional acupuncturists inserted “hair-thin” needles into acupuncture “points”, located throughout the body, to balance the Qi and restore health. 

Medical Acupuncture, as practiced by M.D. or D.O., has expanded on the traditional system by incorporating modern medical research into acupuncture practice.  The result to date has been the validation of over 40 conditions, now recognized by the World Health

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Watch how easy and painless medical acupuncture is, as Dr. Gallagher demonstrates on a patient.

Organization (WHO), for which acupuncture may be beneficial.

Those conditions include abdominal pain, addiction control, anxiety, arthritis, back pain, chronic fatigue, depression, fibromyalgia, migraine, hypertension, infertility, insomnia, menopausal symptoms, nausea, sciatica, smoking cessation, tinnitus and many others.

The result of this collaboration of East and West has been the development of Laser

Acupuncture, Electro-Acupuncture, Battlefield Acupuncture, Osteo-Puncture, and Acupuncture Energetics (developed by Joseph Helm, M.D., UCLA School of Medicine).  There continues to be ongoing research in Medical Acupuncture (Journal of Medical Acupuncture).

Martin Gallagher, M.D., D.C., is a graduate of the Helms Institute at UCLA Medical School and is a certified Medical Acupuncturist.

For more information, click here to visit the National Institutes of Health website concerning the positive effects of medical acupuncture.

For more information on acupuncture, check out the National Institutes of Health website.