Acupuncture: A different way to deal with pain

Acupuncture: A different way to deal with pain

Some insurance companies may cover the costs of acupuncture

ATLANTA — (GHN) In 1996, the FDA approved the acupuncture needle as a medical device.

Sara Hewitt Kupelian is not your typical medical-surgical nurse. What makes her stand out is that she is also a licensed acupuncturist.

“Learning Chinese medicine and acupuncture takes real dedication and devotion,” says Kupelian, a registered nurse for 23 years. She estimates that she logged about 10,000 hours in class and studied for more than four years to prepare for the national certification exam.

Kupelian, who practices in Atlanta, started her training in Georgia, but later moved to Colorado to complete her master’s degree from the Colorado School of Traditional Chinese Medicine in Denver.

She decided to study acupuncture after her mother, who later died from complications of cancer, found relief from pain and nausea through acupuncture.

“In my mother’s case,” Kupelian says, “she was able to tolerate the side effects of medications better with acupuncture. It enabled her to reduce the amount of medications needed and to offset side effects with far more relief than anticipated.”

Kupelian comes from a family of RNs, including her mother.

The National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health defines acupuncture as “a technique in which practitioners stimulate specific points on the body — most often by inserting thin needles through the skin.”

According to experts in Chinese medicine, acupuncture can be traced back about 2,500 years. It has been practiced in the United States for perhaps 200 years. But not until the 1970s — when U.S. interest in China increased and Asian immigration surged — did acupuncture become widely known to the average American.

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