Ashi acupuncture, a cornerstone of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), revolves around targeting “Ashi” points—tender spots on the body where pain manifests. The term “Ashi” translates roughly to “Ah, yes!” reflecting the moment of identification when a patient confirms the painful area during palpation. These points are not fixed like traditional acupoints along meridians but are dynamic, located wherever discomfort arises, making them highly practical for personalized treatment.
The history of Ashi acupuncture dates back over 2,500 years to ancient Chinese texts, such as the Huangdi Nei Jing (Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor), a foundational TCM work compiled around the 2nd century BCE. This classic emphasizes needling at sites of pain, describing the method as “untying the nodule” to restore the flow of qi (vital energy) and blood in areas blocked by injury or stagnation. By the Tang Dynasty in the 7th century CE, the concept was formalized by the renowned physician Sun Simiao in his influential text Qian Jin Yao Fang (Essential Formulas for Emergencies Worth a Thousand Pieces of Gold). Sun explicitly defined Ashi points as locations where pressing elicits soreness, numbness, or relief, recommending acupuncture or moxibustion to treat them. This marked a shift toward using tender points as primary therapeutic targets, independent of meridian maps.
From its inception, Ashi acupuncture has been particularly valued for orthopedic and musculoskeletal conditions, such as soft tissue injuries, muscle strains, joint dysfunction, and chronic pain syndromes. Ancient texts describe it addressing “sinew impediment”—disorders caused by wind, cold, dampness, or trauma that lead to nodules, spasms, and restricted movement in muscles and tendons. For millennia, practitioners have palpated these points to diagnose and treat issues like back pain, rheumatism, and sports-related injuries, with needling aimed at releasing blockages and promoting healing. Surveys of modern TCM use show Ashi points employed in about 20% of cases for sports injuries and muscular pain, underscoring their enduring role in orthopedic care.
In the modern era, Ashi acupuncture forms the conceptual basis for Western practices like trigger point needling and dry needling. Trigger points—hyperirritable knots in skeletal muscles that refer pain elsewhere—mirror Ashi points in their tender, variable locations and response to mechanical stimulation. While trigger points emerged in Western medicine during the 19th and 20th centuries through figures like Janet Travell and David Simons, who mapped them in their 1983 manual, studies reveal a 71% overlap in spatial distribution and pain patterns with acupuncture points. Essentially, all trigger points can be considered a subset of Ashi points, as both elicit local twitches or deqi sensations when needled, alleviating myofascial pain syndrome (MPS). Dry needling, popularized in the West as a non-injection therapy using filiform needles to deactivate these knots, is often described as a simplified form of Ashi needling, focusing solely on musculoskeletal relief without TCM’s holistic framework.
Today, Ashi acupuncture bridges ancient wisdom and contemporary therapies, offering a time-tested approach to orthopedic pain that continues to influence global practices in physical therapy and pain management. Its simplicity—treating where it hurts—highlights why it has endured for over two millennia.
Despite its ancient origins and proven efficacy, “Ashi acupuncture” remains largely unknown outside Traditional Chinese Medicine circles. Instead, the technique has been repackaged in the West as “dry needling” a term coined in the late 20th century to allow physical therapists to incorporate the exact same needling of tender points into their scope of practice without invoking the word “acupuncture.” By calling it dry needling, practitioners sidestepped regulatory and licensing restrictions that typically reserve acupuncture for licensed acupuncturists. The result? A lot of poorly trained therapists sticking needles in patients. A time-tested Chinese method was renamed, rebranded, and presented as a modern innovation all while quietly borrowing the very same principles Ashi acupuncture has used for over two millennia to relieve pain. The technique may have changed names, but the truth remains: the West didn’t invent it; it simply borrowed it and forgot to give credit. If you want to get dry needling – find a licensed acupuncturist who provides Ashi Acupuncture (sometimes called Trigger point acupuncture or Orthopedic Acupuncture) for the highest level of both safety and training.
