How does Acupuncture work? What is Acupuncture?

If you are interested in Traditional Chinese Medicine you have come across Acupuncture. You see doctors sticking needles in people and then they get better, you wonder how acupuncture works?

Is there a reason for making people look like hedgehogs? Well, you have come to the right place.

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, diseases are caused and are expressed by an impairment in the flow of Chi (Qi) and Blood. Acupuncture regulates the flow of Qi and Blood throughout the body along the meridians. By puncturing certain points, the doctor allows the flow of Qi to be restored, therefore restoring the patient’s health.

This is a very ancient and still controversial method of healing that has gained more and more ground in modern science thanks to emerging evidence for its efficacy.

In this article, I’m going to explain in depth what is acupuncture and how does acupuncture work.

What is Acupuncture?

Acupuncture is an ancient medicinal technique, part of Traditional Chinese Medicine, in which fine needles are inserted in strategic points of the body to treat different ailments. This practice dates back to the early stages of ancient Chinese civilization.

The needles are used to stimulate and regulate the flow of Qi and Blood throughout the body’s energy channels, also known as meridians. The practice of acupuncture in China started around 3000 years ago.

Brief History of Acupuncture

There is no exact record of when Acupuncture began as an established medical technique. Some archaeological findings are speculated to be a rustic and ancient form of needling.

Findings like stones and bones carved and sharpened like arrowheads are theorized to be the precursors of the acupuncture needles.

However, one of the most recent and concrete records of Acupuncture as an established method comes from the Inner Canon of the Yellow Emperor/Huang Di Nei Jing which dates back to around 300 BC. It records a series of dialogues between the Yellow Emperor and one of his physicians Qi Bo.

The traditional story of the discovery of Acupuncture goes like this:

In ancient China, a warrior suffered an arrow injury after a battle. This warrior got injured in an acupuncture point which accidentally relieved his chronic articular pain. Then by way of trial and error and a systematization of the knowledge, they developed acupuncture.

Nowadays Acupuncture is an alternative medical technique that also includes electrical stimulation and also laser stimulation.

How does Acupuncture work?

Although acupuncture is an ancient method, there is still a lot of ground to cover to fully understand its mechanism. This is mainly because of a lack of necessary research into it, sometimes needing to setp outside of pure biology and dabble into other areas like physics.

Another reason lies within Traditional Chinese Medicine itself, concepts like Qi which is more than mere energy, the lack of an anatomical structure that justifies the meridians, and the use of pre-scientific jargon make it difficult to come up with a ‘Westernized’ theory of how acupuncture works.

So we find ourselves with two main schools of thought, an Eastern one and a Western one.

Eastern theory

The Eastern theory doesn’t rely on and doesn’t need modern scientific terms to understand how Acupuncture works.

According to the Traditional Theory of Meridians and Textures, Chi circulates in the body through the channels or meridians nourishing it, protecting it, and making sure every function is carried out properly, disease arises from blockages and impairments in the flow of Chi and Blood. Acupuncture works by regulating such flow. To do this, needles are used to puncture specific points along meridians and at different levels of depth to achieve the desired outcome.

As you can see, this is not something a scientist would take as an accurate description of a mechanism, hence the dispute.

Read also: Basic Theories of Traditional Chinese Medicine – Beginners guide

Western theories

Western scholars and scientists have come up with several theories to try and explain the mechanism of Acupuncture. These theories have helped to understand the underlying mechanisms by which the actions of acupuncture can be explained.

Such theories are:

• The Gate Control Theory: This theory explains that like a highway, the pain signals must go through a series of ‘control gates’ to get from the site of the injury to the brain. Acupuncture creates a cometting stimulus that impedes the pain signal to get to the brain.
• The Augmentation Theory: Acupuncture raises levels of triglycerides, specific hormones, prostaglandins, white blood cells (WBCs), gamma globulins, opsonins, and overall anti-body levels. This allows for an overall improvement in health.
• The Endorphin Theory: Acupuncture stimulates the secretion of endorphins in the body. They are 1000 times stronger than morphine and are made in our bodies.
• The Neurotransmitter Theory: This states that certain neurotransmitter levels (such as Serotonin and Noradrenaline) are affected by Acupuncture. This is why acupuncture is so successful with depression, mood disorders, and weight loss.
• The Circulatory Theory: Acupuncture can modify the diameter of blood vessels, mainly by stimulating the release of vasoactive compounds like Hystamine. In response to acupuncture. Increasing the circulation of fresh red blood cells (RBCs) and WBCs to an injured area helps to create a faster healing process.

Types of Needles

Acupuncture is widely known for its thin needles that are used for treatment. However, there are many more needles that are used in acupuncture for different outcomes.

• Hao Zhen Needles: These are the most common needles used in Acupuncture, made out of stainless steel. They measure 0.4mm to 0.12mm in diameter, and 0.5 to 5 cun in length. (1 cun is roughly 2 cm/0.78 in)

• Sanleng Zhen Needle: This needle has a triangle-shaped end and is used for bloodletting.
• Pifu Zhen: Also called Cherry Blossom Needle, is shaped like a hammer with its end containing seven little needles. This is used for gentle stimulation of the skin and is used in weak patients and children.

• Dian Zhen Needles: A variant of Hao needles adapted to be connected to electrodes for electrical stimulation.
• Er Zhen Needles: A variant of Hao needles for ear therapy.
• Yuan Li Needles: Hao needle variant with a thicker diameter for treating acute pain.
• Zha Dao Zhen Needles: Used in bloodletting and incisions.
• Mailixing Zhen Needles: Used for intradermal constant stimulation. They can be left for hours or days in the acupoint.

What can Acupuncture solve?

This is a very important question many people ask when encountered with Traditional Chinese Medicine, and Acupuncture specifically.

What can Acupuncture solve?

Well, the answer is more than you think.

Acupuncture has been reduced to a mere pain relief method by the mainstream opinion. Many people believe that Acupuncture only works for pain and musculoskeletal diseases. However, pain relief is just a mere fraction of the entire healing power of Acupuncture.

Here is a brief list of the issues Acupuncture can solve:

• Western Medical conditions: Acupuncture can help in treating almost every condition described by Western medicine,i.e. Hypertension, Diabetes, thyroid problems, kidney disease, etc.
• Pain relief: Acupuncture has been shown to ease the pain in musculoskeletal diseases like sciatica and arthritis, and also help relieve the pain in entities like Polycystic Ovaries Syndrome (PCOS), Dysmenorrhea, and fibromyalgia.
• Fertility: This is one of the most astonishing things I have seen in my research on acupuncture. There is emerging evidence that acupuncture helps improve fertility in both males and females, even more so when combined with herbal medicine. While the science is still being researched and discussed, there is a wealth of anecdotal evidence in many TCM clinics.

• Stress reduction and mental health: Acupuncture helps your body relax and reduces stress levels. It has also been shown to have a positive effect in treating depression and even some addictions as a complementary treatment.
• Weight loss: Acupuncture and ear acupuncture have been used to help lose weight with good results. This does not substitute proper nutrition and exercise.
• Women’s health: Acupuncture has a special effect on women helping them with issues like PCOS, menstrual disturbances, menopause, and thyroid function.
• Pregnancy and labor: Acupuncture helps the mother have a good pregnancy and prepares the body and the baby for labor. There are specific points you can stimulate with moxa that allow mothers with babies in breach position. And there are also points the mother can stimulate to help with dilation for better labor.
• Boost of post-surgical pain relief: It has been shown that acupuncture helps tremendously in post-surgical care, especially in aiding pain relief.
• Strengthens immunity: Acupuncture stimulation of specific points such as Stomach 36 has been proven to increment the phagocytic capacities of Natural Killer (NK) making them more effective in fighting infections.

Note: Anecdotal evidence is not considered ‘scientific‘ because of the high likelihood of biases and the incapability of controlling the metrics. However, when many anecdotal evidences point to a specific hypothesis, it is not fair to dismiss it without a diligent study.

When Acupuncture is Useless

This is a hard pill to swallow for us acupuncture nerds but a true one. Just like in Western medicine not everything works all the time, the same goes for acupuncture.

There are moments and patients who no matter how many sessions they receive, it just does not work for them. My Chinese Medicine teacher explained that indeed there are people for whom acupuncture isn’t useful.

So far, Acupuncture is completely useless when the patient has a disturbance in the HPA axis (Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis).

If the patient has an unsolvable disease affecting this axis, neither acupuncture nor moxibustion will be of use. However, you can still use herbal medicine and dietary therapy with immense results.

There are some times when Acupuncture may have suboptimal results if the Kidney Network is deficient. The good news is that once it has been tonified, acupuncture will work as usual as always.

Benefits of Acupuncture

There are a myriad of benefits that come with taking Acupuncture sessions regularly. Here are some of the most remarkable ones:

• Safer than many Western interventions and drugs: Even though they are FDA-approved and tested, many drugs do have deleterious effects on the body over the long haul. Acupuncture is safer. With very little complications to almost no side effects, Acupuncture is the best choice.
• Has a compound effect and an all-around improvement: The effects of acupuncture on your body are not linear. There is not just one solution for that one problem. Acupuncture solves your problem by giving your body the strength and capacity to recover, improves immunity, relieves pain, and reduces stress. Given that the mechanism is the regulation of the flow of Chi, it will get better and better over time.
• Can solve what many Western medicines can’t: Some problems like infertility, chronic pain, and chronic illnesses like hypertension are deemed cureless by the Western medical establishment. However, given that TCM doesn’t follow the same thought it can sometimes ‘cure’ people from their chronic diseases.

Is there evidence for Acupuncture?

Glad you asked. This is one of the most controversial questions in the Traditional Chinese Medicine world.

The answer is more complicated than a yes or no.

In short, yes, there is evidence that proves the efficacy and effectiveness of Acupuncture (and Traditional Chinese Medicine overall). However, many researches have errors in their methodology making them unfit to be solid evidence.

There is also a big elephant in the room: Given that Western institutions are the ones who dictate ‘what is science’; when confronted with concepts like Qi, meridians, and acupuncture, will dismiss it and call it pseudoscience because it doesn’t fit their criteria of ‘ science’.

That’s why you find that it’s more probable that someone will attribute their healing to an Acetaminophem they had 4 days ago than to Acupuncture (even though what was treated didn’t require Acetaminophem ).

But yes, there is evidence.

• When a radioactive isotope is injected into an Acupuncture point, it draws the meridian into which it was injected.
• Structures that share the same qualities and response to acupuncture as the channels have been found in animals and plants.
• There have been several studies conducted to prove that Acupuncture does not rely on the Placebo effect.

Also Read: Is Chinese Medicine Scientific? Providing Evidence and Addressing Common Myths

Final thoughts

Acupuncture is gaining ground in the modern medical landscape by the day. It cannot be asserted that Acupuncture is just a pseudoscientific modality anymore. While further and more studies need to be done, the future looks promising.

It brings solutions to many problems with a high ROI, almost no side effects, and will leave you better than before.

If you are interested in Acupuncture then I hope this article has given you the necessary tools to make you jump right in. I’m convinced you will have great results.

Do you have any questions about Traditional Chinese Medicine or maybe an anecdote you want to share? Leave a comment below!