New York - Henry Pamboukian, a resident of Rockville in the US state of Maryland, went to a local acupuncture workshop on a rainy afternoon.

He had been suffering chronic pain in his back for three years and had visited many physical therapists. Having tried almost every treatment possible, he then decided to take his wife's advice and give abdominal acupuncture a try.

A few minutes after the acupuncturist, Bo Zhiyun, inserted several 75-millimeter needles into his belly, Pamboukian said the pain was gone.