Mary, a 10-year-old girl, came to the Continuum Center forHealth and Healing with her mother, hoping for relief fromMary’s asthma and allergy symptoms. She received seven acu-puncture treatments between October 2003 and January 2004,with significant improvement in her condition. Although theresultsinMary’scasearelessdramaticthanthosewehaveseeninsome other children whose families were more rigorous in theiradherencetothetreatmentrecommendations,thiscasepresentsa typical process of a compromise between what a practitionerconsidersthebestcourseofactionandwhatchangesthepatient/parents are actually willing to implement. In this sense, Mary’scaseshowstheessenceofintegrativemedicine,inwhichitisthepatient/parents who integrate providers into the treatment planthat most suits their belief system.As discussed below, the clinical research on the efficacy ofacupuncture for asthma is mixed. There is clearly a major riftbetween the efficacy of acupuncture in the treatment of asthmaand accompanying symptoms as shown in controlled studies—which typically test a specific set of points in all patients and donotincorporatetheotherdimensionsofChinesemedicinetreat-ment into the protocol—and as experienced by acupuncturistsand patients in clinical practice. Many researchers have arguedfor a new type of study that would more effectively capture thespritoftheactualclinicalpracticeofacupunctureandEastAsianmedicine.