Medical acupuncture is a relatively new form of acupuncture which has been developed using Western discoveries about the brain and the nervous system, which have enabled some of the effects of acupuncture to be explained in scientific terms. Modern research methods have been used over the last thirty years to collect evidence on the effectiveness and safety of different acupuncture techniques. Medical acupuncture in the UK is practised by fully-qualified medical practitioners, registered with the General Medical Council, who have had additional training in these techniques. These doctors are therefore able to use their wider medical knowledge to diagnose and safely treat conditions that are suitable for acupuncture. Acupuncture is already available in most NHS hospital pain clinics, and it is provided by an ever-increasing number of GPs and hospital doctors.
