Acupuncture has become increasingly popular and widespread across mainstream medicine. It has now been more accepted across insurance companies, hospitals, and people over the last two decades. It’s definitely not slowing down anytime soon.

A research letter by the Journal of the American Medical Association showed that in 2002, 2012, and 2022, the complementary health approaches (CHA) conducted interviews by phone and in person to find out how much acupuncture and other modalities have really grown throughout the years. The results came back and the use of acupuncture increased from 1% of adults in 2002 to 1.5% in 2012 to 2.2% in 2022. For those who need a number to visualize, that’s over 7.3 million adult patients!

For those of you who want to relieve pain: CHA has reported that the use of acupuncture for pain management increased from 55% in 2002 to 72% in 2022. So, if you aren’t already using acupuncture, this is your sign to begin your journey!

With acupuncture doubling in twenty years, it's clear that it's becoming more normalized and people are more comfortable with the thought of using Traditional Chinese Medicine as a form of healing. Since these results have come out, the acupuncture profession will want to continue to see it expand and educate more people about the benefits of acupuncture and how they can use it in their daily lives.

If you’re interested in receiving an acupuncture treatment and want to learn more you can book a session here.

Reference

1. Nahin RL, Rhee A, Stussman B. Use of complementary health approaches overall and for pain management by US adults. JAMA; published online Jan. 25, 2024.