Acupuncture is Not Painful Pt. 3

In the United States, Acupuncture has grown in popularity over the last several decades and has slowly found its way into the mainstream of popular culture. Acupuncture is discussed regularly on different educational television programs, and has been presented in a positive light by many different television personalities such as Dr. Oz and Oprah Winfrey. However, when it comes to big budget Hollywood movies, Acupuncture is often shown in an extremely unrealistic fashion. I am a huge fan of movies in general, so I understand that not all movies claim to be realistic at all and that fictional movies are not responsible for educating people on topics like Acupuncture. Sometimes Acupuncture is shown in futuristic Science Fiction movies like The Matrix, or in G rated cartoons like Fung Fu Panda, even horror movies like Final Destination. As we discussed in earlier installments of this topic, many people (especially here in Oklahoma where Acupuncture is still relatively new) do not have a true concept in their mind of what an Acupuncture treatment actually entails.

The presentation of Acupuncture in the above mentioned movies is very misleading, especially since all three movies are fictional and do not claim to show actual Acupuncture techniques. Yet, I still have patients approach me and ask about those scenes and others, wondering to what extent they are accurate representations. Many people are especially concerned by the horror scene in the most recent Final Destination. The truth is this- I have never seen a movie that accurately portrays the practice of Acupuncture. One of the main issues is that the needles are shown to be MUCH larger than they actually are. A true Acupuncture session is relaxed and uneventful. This is the reason why Hollywood finds different ways to present it in a more dramatic fashion, because authentic Acupuncture would not make for a very exciting scene. Acupuncture is peaceful and calm, the needles are extremely small. To finalize this point and to show how painless Acupuncture is, we will soon be adding a short video to the website demonstrating a typical Acupuncture session. It is our hope that the video will give you an accurate concept of Acupuncture and put to rest any remaining fears you may have.

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