RESEARCH & EVIDENCE

In 1996, the World Health Organization published a review and analysis of nearly 300 controlled clinical trials, concluding that acupuncture was an effective treatment for a broad range of conditions, including allergies, arthritis, depression, digestive issues, headache, essential hypertension, nausea/vomiting and various types of musculoskeletal pain. Since then, acupuncture has been the subject of growing interest in the medical and scientific communities with nearly 28,000 articles or studies in the NIH repository for scientific literature, accessible at PubMed.  With increasing evidence and improved patient outcomes, acupuncture is beginning to become integrated with conventional care at some of the country’s most-respected hospitals, particularly in the field of cancer treatment because of its ability to help mitigate the adverse effects of radiation and chemotherapy, enabling patients to more comfortably adhere to their conventional treatment regimens.

Early interest in acupuncture primarily focused on its role in managing localized pain. A number of physiological mechanisms have been identified, including production of endogenous opioids, the modulation of the nociceptive (pain) pathway and the increase in local circulation. With increased awareness of acupuncture’s ability to influence broader physiological processes in the body, research turned to evaluating possible explanations for its systemic effects, producing evidence that needle stimulation affects the limbic system, responsible for regulating autonomic and endocrine function. An emerging area of interest in western medicine is stimulation of the vagus nerve to modulate parasympathetic function of the heart, lungs and digestive tract. The conventional approach involves the surgical implantation of electrical stimulation devices but the neuroanatomy of this procedure suggests that acupuncture may be working in a related manner. Finally, scientists have recognized that the vast network of connective tissue that lies under the skin, surrounds every muscle, blood vessel and connects to every internal organ appears to be of complexity sufficient to account for physiological function and be considered a discrete organ, termed the interstitium. Needling with appropriate stimulation has been shown to transmit a mechanical signal along this connective tissue, suggesting mechanotransduction as another possible mechanism of acupuncture’s non-local effects. The newly discovered extent and function of the interstitium represents a promising area of research on the path to establishing an integrated model of acupuncture’s mechanism.

The growing body of medical and scientific research has produced a patchwork of intriguing mechanisms and possibilities but has yet to offer a comprehensive explanation of acupuncture’s effects.  If there ever is a unified scientific explanation, it will likely be extraordinarily complex. However, as research progresses, we are beginning to see fascinating examples of multiple mechanisms overlapping synergistically to account for positive clinical outcomes. A case in point are two different studies from 2017 examining acupuncture treatment for carpal tunnel syndrome and showing that it both measurably decreased the compression of the inflamed nerve as well as produced neuroplastic changes in the somatosensory cortex of the brain associated with lasting improvement of symptoms. Acupuncture research is still in its infancy but we can expect continuing developments as modern medicine attempts to explain this ancient therapy.  

Disclaimer: Practitioners of Chinese medicine in Pennsylvania are not considered physicians and are prohibited from diagnosing disease.  It is important to review the available evidence for the efficacy of any treatment you choose to pursue. A conventional diagnosis of your condition will allow you to be more fully informed of your medical options and may provide useful information for complementary or alternative practitioners.