Recently, in the United States and other western countries an intense debate around whether or not the nonacupuncturists including the physiotherapists and the chiropractors could use dry-needling technique to treat myofascial pain syndrome. The debate is not only a controversy around the business interest and legal right, but also an academic dispute on the acupuncture theory in some extent. Both the tendency for dry-needling to be independent from traditional acupuncture and the initiation of western medical acupuncture strongly challenge the theoretical system of traditional acupuncture originated from China. Via reviewing the fact of the debate, the different points of view from two sides and the potential academic challenge occurred in the internationalization of acupuncture, a new reconsideration on the definition of acupuncture and an idea to reconstruct a new science-based theory of acupuncture were discussed.

dry-needling  /  acupuncture  /  theoretical system of acupuncture