Acupuncture is has been used for thousands of years and is beginning to be understood from a biomedical lens

Journal of Pain Research, 2024: The State of 21st Century Acupuncture in the United States

Acupuncture is increasingly offered within conventional healthcare settings — including hospitals, medical school clinics, VA centers, oncology facilities, and rehabilitation centers — reflecting its growing integration alongside conventional medical care, and highlights its excellent overall safety profile as a key reason it fits well as a complementary therapy within a coordinated treatment team. 

Oxford Academic, 2022: Acupuncture Therapy as an Evidence-Based Nonpharmacologic Strategy for Comprehensive Acute Pain Care: The Academic Consortium Pain Task Force White Paper Update

Acupuncture is effective for acute, post-surgical, and trauma pain, with potential to reduce opioid reliance and a strong safety profile supporting its role in collaborative pain care.

Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, 2022: The impact of acupuncture on neuroplasticity after ischemic stroke: a literature review and perspectives

Acupuncture produces measurable local and systemic physiological effects, including modulation of neuroplasticity — involving neurogenesis, synaptic remodeling, and neurotrophic factor release — that contribute to its therapeutic effects.

Current Rhumatology Reports, 2020: Acupuncture and Chronic Musculoskeletal Pain

A large-scale meta-analysis of 39 trials and over 20,800 patients found that acupuncture has a clinically relevant, lasting effect on chronic musculoskeletal pain, headache, and osteoarthritis — with benefits that persist over time and cannot be explained by placebo alone.