The results from a national Acupuncture survey are in! Over 14 million US citizens use or have tried Acupuncture.  That is a significant jump from the previous survey in 2002 that showed only 8.19 million acupuncture patients in the US.  This most recent tabulation was gathered by the National Health Interview Survey (NHIS) in 2007 and was recently published.  The jump from the approximately 4% of Americans to 6% of Americans from 2002 to 2007 indicates an upward trend for the adoption of acupuncture in the USA.

Investigators included experts from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, University of Maryland School of Medicine, and the University of Maryland School of Dentistry.  The investigators predict a contiuation of the upward trend and that acupuncture patients used it, "as a complementary and alternative approach to conventional  treatment for a specific health condition, but also used it as a preventive means to promote general health." The investigators suggest that insurance coverage for acupuncture services, increased awareness and the lower cost of acupuncture care compared with other modalities may contribute to the populartity and growth of acupuncture use in the USA. 

Submitted by,

Deborah Waddell, Director of Skylands Acupuncture