What Acupuncture Research Community Has Achieved

What Acupuncture Research 
Community Has Achieved

Clinical research: (i) There is mounting evidence from large-scale effectiveness trials that acupuncture treatments are superior to usual care for some chronic pain conditions. (ii) However, overall, acupuncture treatments are, at most, only marginally more effective than sham acupuncture. (iii) Sham acupuncture treatment, when compared to no treatment, is associated with larger effect sizes than when conventional placebos are compared to no treatment. (iv) There is no conclusive evidence as to which individual components of acupuncture treatment are directly associated with therapeutic benefit.

Basic research: (i) Basic science experiments, mostly in animals and healthy human subjects, show that acupuncture needling has demonstrable physiological effects that are dependent on needling parameters, including needle insertion depth, type, amplitude and frequency of needle stimulation. (ii) In animal models, needling parameters appear related to therapeutically relevant outcomes, for example, analgesia, antihyperalgesia, decreased tissue inflammation, decreased elevated blood pressure, and altered gastrointestinal motility. (iii) The extent to which the precise needling location (e.g., acupuncture point versus nearby nonacupuncture point) influences physiological responses remains unclear, although, in animal models, different effects have been demonstrated when needles are inserted in different body regions (e.g., abdomen versus limb).

To read the research report, click here.