Acupuncture came from Chinese treatment tradition and hence it is not a part of the Western tradition. However, the modern time see the Western doctors often refer this treatment method for their patients. Many patients report about the positive effects of this method which makes the method more popular.
Although it had been accepted in the modern Health care practice, acupuncturists and doctors have different views about it. Basically, the acupuncturists see the method from the traditional Chinese point of view while the Western doctors see it from modern, scientific point of view.
According to the traditional view, there are a lot of pathways in the body. The energy of life, or qi, flows through these pathways and distributes the qi throughout the body. The view of the Western tradition is basically similar but the modern doctors believe that the pathways are actually nerves that are the expansion of the central nervous system.
Both views eventually agree that the flow of the qi, or blood elements in the term of Western tradition, greatly affects the Health. When the flow is obscured, the body reacts and the person will feel a pain in the affected pathways. Acupuncture is the effort to correct this obscured flow.