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The ancient Chinese art of putting tiny needles into one’s body, also known as “acupuncture”, is beginning to gain traction in the Western world. Acupuncture is now recognized as a potential supplement to chemotherapy, a cure for shoulder pain, stress, and much more.

But now acupuncture is a hotbed for a new social movement involving issues of race, class and healthcare. The Community Acupuncture movement, which began in 2011 with the opening of the first clinic in Portland, Oregon, aims to provide affordable acupuncture to everyone in the world. Community acupuncturists provide their services on a sliding scale of approximately $15-$50 depending on what the client can pay. In exchange for the affordable price, patients get their treatment in a large open space alongside several other people – sometimes 6-11 others at once.

“Healthcare is one of the biggest social issues today,” said Joselo Gutierrez, who opened City Acupuncture Circle in Dupont Circle this July. Gutierrez is originally from Colombia but his interest in Chinese traditional medicine led him to Taiwan and Thailand where he studied to become an acupuncturist. He then opened a clinic in New York City where he was baffled by the exorbitant costs of acupuncture in the city.

“In the United States, acupuncture is so much about pampering,” Gutierrez said. I was hired to give facial rejuvenation acupuncture treatments for rich people who could afford to pay $100 a treatment and those weren't the people I was interested in treating. I wanted to be treating my neighbors, my friends, people like me, but they couldn’t afford the services. I couldn’t even afford my services. Now that’s weird, when you can’t even afford your own services.”

The idea of providing accessible healthcare resonated with Gutierrez the same way it resonated with Farris Johnson, who owns OurSpace Acupuncture in Silver Spring.

Johnson’s revelation came when he was in acupuncture school and was responsible for getting his own clients. When asking around in his friend circle, he realized that many of his friends couldn’t afford acupuncture and he began questioning the logic of it.

“Why are we charging so much for it when my only real expense is the needles and [acupuncture is] such a great medicine?” Johnson asked himself. Johnson sees acupuncture as a cornerstone of modern medicine.

“A lot of our conditions are chronic – stress, anxiety, pain,” said Johnson. “They’re not onetime viruses and acupuncture is really good for the chronic kind of pain.”

Community acupuncturists like Johnson and Gutierrez are very vocal about their beliefs on blogs, Facebook, and in their community. They post artwork, write poetry, and create documentaries about their work (for a sampling, visit www.pocacoop.com). For Gutierrez, the concept of community acupuncture fell in line with his personal philosophies as a holistic healer.

“[Acupuncture] won’t work if a patient pays $100 for one session and never comes back again,” he said. “And most people don’t have $1,000 to $2,000 in disposable income for the sustained treatment they need. But I can tell people to save up $100 and come back for four treatments, and they can do that.”

But does this cheaper price model come at a cost to quality? Some traditional practitioners such as Peter Deadman co-author of A Manual of Acupuncture and a practitioner from Great Britain, argue that group acupuncture doesn’t allow the practitioner enough time to really understand a patient’s needs. Furthermore, since many community acupuncture clinics use chairs instead of beds, most community acupuncturists do not put needles in the stomach or back and instead just work with the face, hands, and feet which is a departure from the traditional Chinese model.

Kim Deane, owner of Revive Acupuncture in Mt. Rainier, Maryland says that this is not a problem. “The main meridians start on the head and end at the feet, so needling the back isn’t necessary,” she said.

As for the amount of time spent on each patient, Johnson feels like the treatment is more important. “At the end of the day, you end up using the same points,” he said. “I try to keep my diagnosis short and to the point.”

Johnson allows people to stay at his clinic for as long as they want. “Last week we had someone stay for 3 hours, and that was great because they wouldn’t be able to do that at a regular place,” he said.

Gutierrez says that traditional acupuncturists may actually not as confident in their skills as community acupuncturists need to be.

“[Group acupuncture] really challenges the practitioner to be sharp in their diagnosis skills, their bedside manner. You have to be sharp and you have to be good. So [other doctors] may not want to develop those skills or may not have those skills.”

While many community acupuncture patients are not Asian, there are still Asian Americans who visit. Take Lidia Kim, for example. The recent college graduate watched her mother get acupuncture from a Korean doctor so when she herself started getting migraines that weren’t curable by medication she found herself at City Acupuncture Circle.

“I have health insurance but not really an income because I just graduated from college,” Kim said. “So community acupuncture was a good alternative.”

“With my experience, Joselo has been really attentive,” Kim said. “I can tell he’s constantly thinking about my needs. He’ll go back and look at my medical history... and think about recurring problems that might be prevented in the future rather than just what’s in the present.”

Now Kim is recommending acupuncture to all her friends, many of whom have had the individualized spa-like acupuncture that Gutierrez pushes against.

“I think the spa environment is more about the ambiance and the environment, and less about the actual treatment,” Kim said. “I think community acupuncture is closer to the traditional way…when my mom did acupuncture, the Korean doctor would just come and do acupuncture on the kitchen table…it wasn’t glamorous at all!”

Indeed, Lisa Rohleder and Skip Van Meter – the couple who started the original community acupuncture clinic in Oregon – received inspiration from the traditional Chinese bed setup when they traveled to the East. Since then, the community acupuncture movement has grown from one clinic to over 300 worldwide. This growth in the community acupuncture movement comes at a time when acupuncture is becoming recognized more and more as a necessary preventative medicine. Acupuncturists all over the country are pushing for acupuncture to be covered under Obama’s new health care plan. By 2014, Section 3502 of President Obama's health care reform could mandate the Bureau of Health Statistics to formally recognize acupuncture as a profession, opening the door to Medicare coverage for acupuncture. However, this future is still fraught with complication and for many with health complications, the wait may be long. With community acupuncture however, the uninsured (and the insured) have more options and may be closer to a healthier life than they suspect.

To find a community acupuncturist in the DC area, go to www.pocacoop.com