Different Styles of Acupuncture

There are many different styles of Acupuncture that are practiced today.

While Acupuncture originated in China approximately 3,000 years ago, the practice spread over the Asian continent and developed its own regional adaptations.

Each of these Acupuncture styles differs in their theory and practice.

While they mostly share the same fundamentals of Oriental Medicine, their interpretation of classical texts, such as the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine (Huang Di Nei Jing), can alter their diagnosis and treatment techniques.

Several modern styles of acupuncture have been developed, incorporating Western medical knowledge, to form hybrid systems of acupuncture. These modern systems of Acupuncture commonly focus on biomedical explanations of how acupuncture works and distill many of the more esoteric aspects of practice.

While all of the classical styles of acupuncture are in agreement on the pathways of the Acupuncture meridians, the exact location of the Acupuncture points does vary.

Each style may utilize the acupuncture points with different therapeutic goals in mind, and include a variety of extra points that many not exist in other styles of Acupuncture.

Styles can also vary in the needle size, insertion depth and needling technique.

Summaries of each major style and high-lights of their differences are shown.