acupuncture (acupuncture therapy, Zhenjiu)

The practice of pricking or otherwise puncturing a living organism to relieve or eliminate disease, pain, or lethargy in that organism. Acupuncture typically involves inserting needles of various shapes into the skin with the purported aim of stimulating acupoints, which supposedly enable direct influence of the flow of Qi (chi). Practitioners may be called "acupuncturists" or "acupuncture therapists." Most forms of acupuncture are unnaturalistic. Neuro-electric acupuncture and New Scientific ElectroAcupuncture--and, apparently, osteopuncture--are naturalistic.