The tip of the needle should not be made too sharp to prevent breakage, although blunt needles cause more pain. 49 Apart from the usual filiform needle, other needle types include three-edged needles and the Nine Ancient Texts dated to be from 156–186 BC document early beliefs in channels of life force energy called meridians that would later be an element in early acupuncture beliefs. 267 Ramey and quell said the “practice and theoretical underpinnings” of modern acupuncture were introduced in the Yellow Emperor's Classic Huangdi Beijing around 100 BC. 28 267 It introduced the concept of using acupuncture to manipulate the flow of life energy qi in a network of meridian channels in the body. 267 272 The network concept was made up of acu-tracts, such as a line down the arms, where it said acupoints were located. Korea is believed to be the first country in Asia that acupuncture spread to outside of China. 29 Within Korea there is a legend that acupuncture was developed by emperor Dan gun, Additionally, by the 18th century, scientific rationality was becoming more popular than traditional superstitious beliefs. 27 By 1757 a book documenting the history of Chinese medicine called acupuncture a “lost art”. 29 :160 Its decline was attributed in part to the popularity of prescriptions and medications, as well as its association with the lower classes. 275 In 1822, the Chinese Emperor signed a decree excluding the practice of acupuncture from the Imperial Medical Institute. 27 He said it was unfit for practice by gentlemen-scholars. 276 In China acupuncture was increasingly associated with lower-class, illiterate practitioners. 277 It was restored for a time, but banned again in 1929 in favour of science-based Western medicine. Needles may be manipulated in various ways, including spinning, operation; these demonstration cases were also frequently receiving morphine surreptitiously through an intravenous drip that observers were told contained only fluids and nutrients. 281 One patient receiving open heart surgery while awake was ultimately found to have received a combination of three powerful sedatives as well as large injections of a local aesthetic into the wound. 57 After the National Institute of Health expressed support for acupuncture for a limited number of conditions, adoption in the US grew further. 27 In 1972 the first legal acupuncture canter in the US was established in Washington DC 282 and in 1973 the American Internal Revenue Service allowed acupuncture to be deducted as a medical expense. 283 In 2006, a BBC documentary Alternative Medicine filmed a patient undergoing open heart surgery allegedly under acupuncture-induced anaesthesia.


