The Science of Acupuncture
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Better Than Pain Drugs, But Your Doctor Would Probably Laugh at It
By Dr. Mercola
Acupuncture is an ancient holistic health care system still widely
practiced in China. It falls under the wider umbrella, known in the West
as Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), which also includes the use of
herbs and other therapies. Diagnostic systems also include tongue and
pulse diagnosis.
Contrary to allopathic, symptom-based medicine, TCM and acupuncture
aims to eliminate the root cause of your problem, which is said to
originate in a dysfunction in your body’s energetic meridian system.
Western vs. Eastern Mindset
Meridian-based energy therapies like acupuncture are quite useful for
treating a number of health problems; pain in particular. In China,
acupuncture may even be used in lieu of anesthetic drugs during surgery,
as demonstrated in the BBC documentary above.
As unbelievable as it seems, a young woman actually undergoes open
heart surgery with acupuncture instead of general anesthesia.
There are several advantages to using acupuncture during surgical
procedures, the Chinese surgeon explains. For starters, it doesn’t have
the health risks of general anesthesia. Recovery is also much quicker,
and the cost is about one-third.
While most westerners would balk at undergoing invasive surgery with
nothing but a few needles keeping pain at bay, each year, millions of
Americans do turn to acupuncture to relieve chronic pain, high blood
pressure, nausea, and much more.
Acupuncture is considered an alternative to conventional forms of
medicine in the West and is actually one of the oldest healing practices
in the world. In China, Japan, Korea, and other Asian countries, acupuncture has been used for thousands of years, and its staying power isn’t merely a matter of superstition or coincidence.
In modern-day China, some hospitals offer acupuncture and allopathic
medicine side-by-side, allowing patients to choose. They can also opt
for a combination of both. For example, if an adverse drug effect
occurs, the patient can opt for a reduced dose in combination with
acupuncture.
Basic Principles of Acupuncture
TCM views the body as a cohesive one—a complex system where everything
within it is inter-connected—where each part affects all other parts.
They teach that lack of balance within this biological system is the
precursor to all illness. The body exhibits symptoms when suffering from
inner disease, and if it’s not re-balanced these symptoms may lead to
acute or chronic illnesses of all kinds.
There are 14 major energy channels called meridians that flow through
your body. An energy called chi circulates along the meridians to all
parts of your body, including the internal organs and every cell. This
chi is the vital force that literally keeps us alive. Vibrant health is a
result of balanced, unimpeded flow of energy through the body.
According to TCM, illness and pain is the byproduct of energy
blockages somewhere along one or more meridians. Each acupuncture point
along the meridian acts like a pass-through or gate. Energy can get
“bottle-necked” in these points, slowing down the flow; sometimes to the
point of standstill. This is the precursor to pain and illness.
By inserting a thin needle into the congested or “clogged” area, it
opens the gate and allows the energy to flow again. With the life-energy
flowing smoothly, the body can now re-regulate the flow of energy,
repair itself, and maintain its own optimal level of health.
Herbs and other therapies such as guacha, cupping, and
moxibustion—the burning of herbs on or over the skin—can be used to
support the healing.
History of Acupuncture
The science and art of acupuncture is well documented and spans across
centuries, all the way back to the Stone Age. Records of its use have
been found in many parts of the world, not just the Orient, as most
commonly thought.
The Chinese medical compendium, the Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine, is the oldest written
record about acupuncture. It is thought to be the oldest medical book
in the world, heralding from Emperor Huang Di who reigned between
2,696—2,598 B.C.
However, signs of acupuncture being used are found all over the ancient
world. There’s evidence of its practice in ancient Egypt, Persia,
India, Sri Lanka, parts of Europe, and South America. Even our North
American Indians have used it.
The Eskimos, for example, are said to still use sharpened stones for
treating illness. Written evidence of the use of acupuncture in Egypt
and Saudi Arabia also exists. The Ebers papyrus of 1,550 B.C. describes a physical system of channels and vessels that is closely matched to the Chinese system of meridians.
Even older evidence than the examples above exist. In 1991, a
5,000-year-old mummified man was found along the Otz valley between
Austria and Italy. Remarkably well preserved, a complex system of
tattoos were discovered on his body, and verified to be directly on, or
within six millimeters of, traditional acupuncture points and meridians.
Evidence Showing What Acupuncture ‘Does’
Some research suggests that acupuncture stimulates your central nervous
system to release natural chemicals that alter bodily systems, pain,
and other biological processes. In 2003, the World Health Organization
(WHO) conducted an extensive review and analysis of clinical trials
involving acupuncture. According to this report,1 acupuncture impacts the body on multiple levels, including:
- Stimulating the conduction of electromagnetic signals, which may release immune system cells or pain-killing chemicals
- Activation of your body’s natural opioid system, which may help reduce pain or induce sleep
- Stimulation of your hypothalamus and pituitary gland, which modulate numerous body systems
- Change in the secretion of neurotransmitters and neurohormones, which may positively influence brain chemistry
In the featured video, a team of researchers, along with an
acupuncturist, conduct an experiment that has never been done before.
Using high tech MRI imaging, they were able to visually demonstrate that acupuncture has a very real effect on the brain.
Acupuncture, it turns out, does something completely unexpected—it deactivates certain parts of the brain, particularly in the limbic system, decreasing
neuronal activity, opposed to having an activating impact. Their
experiment also clearly showed that superficial sham needling did NOT
have this effect. The limbic system is associated with our experience of
pain, adding further evidence that something very unique happens during
acupuncture—it quite literally alters your experience of pain by
shutting down these deeper brain regions.
Acupuncture Proven Effective for Pain and Osteoarthritis
One of the most common uses of acupuncture is for the treatment of chronic pain. One analysis2
of the most robust studies available concluded that acupuncture has a
clear effect in reducing chronic pain, more so than standard drug-based
pain treatment. Study participants receiving acupuncture reported an
average 50 percent reduction in pain, compared to a 28 percent pain
reduction for standard pain treatment without acupuncture. Another
large, well-designed study3, 4
assessing whether acupuncture might work for osteoarthritis—a
debilitating condition affecting more than 20 million Americans—also
produced remarkably positive results.
This landmark study is also discussed in the video above. A total of
570 patients diagnosed with osteoarthritis of the knee were enrolled
for this 26-week long trial. It was the longest and largest randomized,
controlled phase III clinical trial of acupuncture ever conducted. None
of the participants had tried acupuncture before, and none had had knee
surgery in the previous six months. Nor had they used steroid
injections. The participants were randomly assigned to receive one of
three treatments: acupuncture, sham acupuncture, or self-help strategies
recommended by the Arthritis Foundation (the latter served as a control
group).
Significant differences in response was seen by week eight and 14,
and at the end of the trial, the group receiving real acupuncture had a
40 percent decrease in pain and a nearly 40 percent improvement in
function compared to baseline assessments—a 33 percent difference in
improvement over the sham group. According to Stephen E. Straus, M.D.,
Director of National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine
(NCCAM), which is a component of the National Institutes of Health
(NIH):5
"For the first time, a clinical trial with sufficient rigor, size,
and duration has shown that acupuncture reduces the pain and functional
impairment of osteoarthritis of the knee. These results also indicate
that acupuncture can serve as an effective addition to a standard
regimen of care and improve quality of life for knee osteoarthritis
sufferers. NCCAM has been building a portfolio of basic and clinical
research that is now revealing the power and promise of applying
stringent research methods to ancient practices like acupuncture."
Other Science-Backed Uses for Acupuncture
However, chronic pain is only one of 30+ proven uses for this
natural treatment. Chinese doctors assert that acupuncture can be used
to treat virtually ANY illness, but for those looking for scientific
validation, the World Health Organization’s analysis concluded that
acupuncture is an effective treatment for the following diseases and
conditions.
According to the WHO’s analysis: “Some of these studies have
provided incontrovertible scientific evidence that acupuncture is more
successful than placebo treatments in certain conditions.” The report again confirmed its benefits for pain, saying: “The
proportion of chronic pain relieved by acupuncture is generally in the
range 55–85 percent, which compares favorably with that of potent drugs
(morphine helps in 70 percent of cases) and far outweighs the placebo
effect (30–35 percent).”
| Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy | Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever) | Biliary colic |
| Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following stroke) | Dysentery, acute bacillary | Dysmenorrhoea, primary |
| Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and gastrospasm) | Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders) | Headache |
| Hypertension, essential | Hypotension, primary | Induction of labor |
| Knee pain | Leukopenia | Low back pain |
| Malposition of fetus | Morning sickness | Nausea and vomiting |
| Neck pain | Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporomandibular dysfunction) | Periarthritis of shoulder |
| Postoperative pain | Renal colic | Rheumatoid arthritis |
| Sciatica | Sprain | Stroke |
| Tennis elbow |
|
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More Potential Uses for Acupuncture
While further research is needed, acupuncture has also demonstrated
therapeutic effects in the treatment of the following health problems,
according to the WHO’s report.
| Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm) | Acne vulgaris | Alcohol dependence and detoxification |
Bell’s palsy |
| Bronchial asthma | Cancer pain | Cardiac neurosis |
Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation |
| Cholelithiasis | Competition stress syndrome | Craniocerebral injury, closed |
Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent |
| Earache | Epidemic haemorrhagic fever | Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease) |
Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection |
| Female infertility | Facial spasm | Female urethral syndrome |
Fibromyalgia and fasciitis |
| Gastrokinetic disturbance | Gouty arthritis | Hepatitis B virus carrier status |
Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3) |
| Hyperlipaemia | Hypo-ovarianism | Insomnia |
Labor pain |
| Lactation, deficiency | Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic | Ménière disease |
Neuralgia, post-herpetic |
| Neurodermatitis | Obesity | Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence |
Osteoarthritis |
| Pain due to endoscopic examination | Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans | Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein-Leventhal syndrome) |
Postextubation in children |
| Postoperative convalescence | Premenstrual syndrome | Prostatitis, chronic |
Pruritus |
| Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome | Raynaud syndrome, primary | Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection |
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy |
| Retention of urine, traumatic | Schizophrenia | Sialism, drug-induced |
Sjögren syndrome |
| Sore throat (including tonsillitis) | Spine pain, acute | Stiff neck |
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction |
| Tietze syndrome | Tobacco dependence | Tourette syndrome |
Ulcerative colitis, chronic |
| Urolithiasis | Vascular dementia | Whooping cough (pertussis) |
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