It is a branch of alternative medicine that was practiced in ancient China since 1368, brought to the UK in 1810, passed to the US during the period of President Nixon in 1972, and in 1995 it was recognized as a medical device by the food and drug association.
Acupuncture is practiced by inserting special needles at certain points with specific depth in the body. In ancient China, these needles were made of gold, silver, bamboo, bones, and stones. Nowadays, they are made of stainless steel and are small, single used, sterilized, and non-toxic. These needles differ from the ordinary syringe because the latter are hollow and used to inject fluid inside the body or draw blood from it while acupuncture needles are solid and much smaller.