A variation of acupuncture, auriculotherapy is the stimulation of the auricle part of the external ear for the diagnosis and treatment of health conditions in other parts of the body. The stimulation can be done with acupuncture needles, often referred to as ear acupuncture. The stimulation can also be done by manual pressure, referred to as auricular acupressure (ear reflexology).  These points on the ear can also be stimulated with lasers, magnets, and ear pellets. 

Like acupuncture, and acupressure, the earliest use of ear acupuncture dates back to ancient China. However, auriculotherapy as we know it today is largely the result of the work of Dr. Paul Nogier of France. In the 1950s, Dr. Nogier noticed a strange scar on the upper ear of some of his patients. He found all them had one thing in common, namely that they had been treated for sciatica pain by a local lay practitioner. The woman practitioner had cauterized a specific part of the external ear in order to alleviate their low back pain. The Doctor, conducting similar procedures on his own sciatica patients, found that their back pain was also reduced. He then tried other means of stimulating this point including the use of acupuncture needles and found that they also were very effective in alleviating sciatica pain. The doctor then theorized that other parts of the ear could treat other parts of the body. His theory is that the year represents the body but in an upside down fetal orientation, with the head represented by the lower ear lobe, the feet at the top of the year and the rest of the body in between.

While auriculotherapy can effectively relieve pain, stress and tension when used alone, is often used in conjunction with many of the other methods of alternative medicine. The practice is conducted by a variety of practitioners including acupuncturists, biofeedback therapists, chiropractic doctors, dentists, medical doctors, naturopathic doctors, nurses, osteopathic doctors, physical therapists, and reflexology therapists.

In November of 1997, a consensus panel of the U.S. National Institutes of Health gave conditional approval of the practice of acupuncture.