This ancient Chinese practice of acupuncture is fast gaining acceptance among aging patients and the mainstream western medical community. Understand about Tim Clark: He's not a New Ager. You will not find crystals dangling from his rearview mirror, nor Enya in his CD deck. This 49-year-old from Minneapolis is a traditional, show-me sort of guy. So, when Clark's wife suggested he see an acupuncturist to treat his tennis elbow, he considered the idea hokey.

Even though acupuncture treatment relived his wife's diarrhea an abdominal pain caused by Crohn's disease, Clark was not about to pay somebody to poke him like a voodoo doll. But the anti-inflammatory drugs and muscle relaxers his doctor had prescribed were not working either. Wary of the prescription medication's side effects, his doctor suggested a different medication, or surgery, to relieve his persistent pain in his elbow.

After three different sessions keith, a licensed acupuncturist, Clark could pick up a coffee cup and calculator without dropping them, and his skepticism started to wear thin. After five sessions, the pain in his elbow was gone, and he was sold. He asked the acupuncturist to treat the arthritis in his neck as well. The skeptic turned believer. "When I first went in, I said 'Ah hooey!' thinking I was sure to keep peeling money off to give to her," Clark said. "After it worked, I said, 'Give 15 of your business cards because I'm going to hand them out to the baby boomers I know who sit around bitching about where it hurts and what doesn't work.'"

Gaining acceptance, Clark is one of the rapidly growing number of patients extolling the benefits of acupuncture. Once seen as a fringe therapy, the ancient Chinese practice is fast gaining acceptance among the mainstream western medical community and third-party payers as legitimate treatment for a variety of ailments. Acupuncture's appeal is due to it's success in treating difficult conditions such as pain, headaches, nausea and addiction that conventional methods have failed to relief. Although skepticism lingers on how acupuncture works remains a mystery, those who have found relive care only that acupuncture works.

Patient demographics have also played a significant role in acupuncture's increasing popularity. Aging baby boomers, like Clark, whose bodies are no longer booming but starting to creak and ache, are seeking alternative therapies to prescription medications. Since acupunture has proven to be an effective treatment for their primary symptom (i.e., pain), without harmful side effects, it has become the treatment of choice for many.

Acupuncture philosophy in a typical acupuncture treatment, several hair-thin needles are inserted at specific body points and twisted and otherwise manipulated to restore the balance of energy flowing through the body. Chinese theory holds that Qi (pronounced "chee"), the essential life force, flows through special pathways, or "meridians." When the pathways become obstructed, deficient or excessive, the universal forces of yin and yang are thrown out of balance, causing illness or pain. Stimulating various points along the meridians clears the blockage and returns the body to its natural state of health.

"The chinese idea of medicine is different from ours explains Beverly Shapiro, M.D., a trained acupunturist who practices in her Philadelphia office. "Think of a tree. In western medicine, if we see problems with a branch, we cut it off or wrap it up. The Chinese see a problem with the branch and treat the root, so that the tree will be healthy."

Acupressure has the same principles of treating specific points along the meridians, but it is a non- evasive treatment it uses pressure with fingers or an instrument with a ball-shaped head, rather than needles, to stimulate the points. Moxibustion, another complimentary form of accupuncture, applies heat to the points, often in conjunction with needles. It is commonly used to treat bronchial asthma, bronchitis and arthritic disorders.

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