Acupuncture and the Endorphins

Abstract

Acupuncture originated in prehistoric China. The first needles were evidently sharp flints (Veith 1949:59). The first textbook on acupuncture was The Yellow Emperor's Classic of Internal Medicine, which was written about the 3rd century B.C., but attributed to Huang Ti, a semimythical emperor said to have ruled China around 2600 B.C. If that be true, then acupuncture was very highly developed 4,600 years ago, since many of the 400 acupuncture points used today were described in the Yellow Emperor's book (Veith 1949). By that time metal needles had replaced stone, and today fine 30-gauge stainless needles are the instruments of choice. This method of treatment was introduced into Europe in the 17th century (Ten Rhijne 1683), but as yet it has not been widely accepted in the West. In China, Japan, Hong Kong, and elsewhere in the Orient it is still widely used, and much modern research is being conducted in these countries to discover how it works (National Symposium of Acupuncture 1979). This paper will review some recent research in the Western world as well as investigations in the Orient.