| Acupuncture & Oriental
medicine entered the United States with the first immigrants
from China who came to build the railroad
in the mid-19th century. But this medicine remained
buried in the Chinatowns of America until Richard
Nixon went to China in the early 1970s. On this trip,
noted journalist James Reston of the New York Times
suffered an appendicitis attack and experienced
acupuncture to control post-operative pain and
nausea. Reston was so taken with the results that he
explored the hospital and wrote nationally syndicated
columns introducing acupuncture to the general
community. Meanwhile, some pioneers had already
begun exploring acupuncture and opening clinics,
some even before the Reston articles. By 1981, there
was enough activity for national organizations to begin:
the old AAAOM, the Council of Colleges, and the
Accreditation and Certification Commissions. This is
the history that furnishes the anchor of where we
are now and where we are going in the future. |