The art and science of acupuncture is rapidly gaining more acceptance in the West. ~Photo by Harry Kane

By Chris Leo Palermino

Tucked away in the corner of a hair salon in Ball Square is an alternative to the Western medicine that the U.S. has come to know and trust.

Begun by two graduates of the New England School of Acupuncture in Newton, the Amal Niccoli Salon recently converted one of their beauty rooms into an acupuncture treatment room.

Acupuncture, a type of alternative medicine that treats patients by insertion and manipulation of needles, is a traditional Chinese medicine that has spread westward in the last 40 years.

Geoffrey Visgilio and Lori Pino, who is the owner of the Amal Niccoli Salon and a co-owner of this acupuncture practice, hope to encourage others to take advantage of the benefits of acupuncture.

“We’re trying to push this [type of] medicine and trying to help people include it as part of a preventative package,” co-founder Visgilio said.

Visgilio and Pino stress the widespread usefulness of acupuncture.

“The NIH has a list of things it’s used for — aside from surgery, it’s good for anything,” Visgilio said.

Unlike other types of medicine, acupuncture emphasizes both prevention of medical problems as well as treatment.

“In these days, we equate wellness with absence of disease,” Visgilio said. “Acupuncture empowers people, doesn’t make them feel like they’re under pressure and need to take a pill to ‘get better,’” according to Visgilio.

Visgilio found out about acupuncture through a related interest, Tai Chi, while Pino became interested in acupuncture after realizing that she wanted to take control of her health.

“I don’t want to be elderly and pumped up on meds. I wanted to be proactive,” Pino said.

Visgilio and Pino emphasized the high medical standard of this medicine, which requires a strenuous Master of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine from an accredited school.

“We keep health histories and keep them locked in a cabinet by law. Through an intake, we form the base diagnosis. The diagnosis is dependent upon the person. One of the big appeals is that this is a tailored system that can grow as people age,” Visgilio said.

Similar to other types of alternative medicine, acupuncture emphasizes the synthesis of mind and body. In this vein, they combine acupuncture with talk therapy.

“We tell people to slow down, focus on your sleep and make sure that you take time for yourself. People take themselves so seriously. Half the trick is to get people to get over this.”

Visgilio and Pino hope to change people’s perception of medicine through this traditional Eastern medicine.

“We’re so confident that people will love it as much as we do that the first treatment is free. We want people to experience acupuncture and we don’t want people to have barriers,” Pino said.