Acupuncture practitioners have long touted the ancient approach as the answer to dozens of maladies like headaches, allergies, arthritis and anxiety. Today, some health care providers see it as a possible tool to stem the growing U.S. opioid problem. The American College of Physicians has gone so far as to recommend acupuncture as a first treatment for low back pain, and the Joint Commission’s “Pain Management Standards” now includes acupuncture as a non-pharmacological strategy for managing pain. Eastern medicine defines ailments in terms of an excess of or deficiency in yin or yang, forces that are connected and interdependent.