Why acupuncture? It depends on how you feel about side effects, and risk management. Surgery and medication are last resorts for me, so if I can adopt a practice that keeps me strong without them I will.
For years I have been meditating through various approaches and the results are always life nourishing. However, getting myself into that state of practice is often harder than I can manage on my own. Here are some pretty nifty NCCIH researched benefits of meditation:
Blood pressure reduction!
Weight control/ Eating behavior management
PTSD recovery
Better Sleep!
This is where acupuncture fills a special service for me: it acts as a short cut to a meditative state of relaxation. Yes, the tradeoff is that acupuncture is a paid service, whereas sitting down and breathing is free. Sometimes professional support is a necessity though- we can't do everything ourselves!
If you have ever been on a table with needles inserted, you'd also know how relaxing it is. I lost track of how often I've fallen to sleep when I'm the receiver. It soothes me out of fight or flight alertness, and puts me into rest mode! This is where healing occurs.
The NCCIH recognizes that it effectively address several kinds of pain at a relatively low risk.
Finally, it simulates blood flow into corners that I can't specifically target with simple exercise. This is probably why it's such a great pain relief approach, and really useful if you have an unusually stubborn knot that is cramping your range of motion!