There are many forms of alternative medicine which are used in the Western world today. One of the most famous of these is acupuncture, which is a very old form of treatment of China. It is still widely used in China today, where it is said to cure many illness, including tonsillitis(扁桃体炎), arthritis(关节炎), bronchitis(支气管炎), rheumatism(风湿病) and flu. The Chinese believe that are special energy lines through the body and that the body's energy runs as well as normal, perhaps becuase it is weaker or it is blocked in some way. The Chinese believe that if you put very fine needles into the energy line, this helps the energy to return to normal. In this way the body can help itself to get better. The acupuncturist puts the needles into special places along the energy line and some of these places can be a long way from the place where the body is ill. For example it is possible to treat a bad headache by putting needles into certain places on the foot. It may surprise you to know that it does not hurt when the acupuncturist puts the needles into your body. People who have had acupuncture say that they felt nothing or hardly anything. Western doctors at first did not believe that acupuncture could work. Now they see that it not only can work but that it does work. How and why does it work? No one has been able to explain this. It is one of nature's mysteries.
