Acupuncture as a medical technique has been around for millennia. The argument a lot of people use in favor of its efficacy often boils down to “people wouldn’t still use it if it didn’t work.” There’s a lot to be said for this straightforward thought, because unlike some ridiculous or harmful ideas that have persisted throughout human history, the very basis of acupuncture is continuous observation and refinement – via traditions and bodies of work that go back centuries. Part of the reason that acupuncture medicine is seen as a superstition by some modern eyes is the current terminology can still reflect thinking from an ancient agrarian society; however what this actually indicates is that the millennia of observation accurately noted the cause and effect without having the modern scientific language to describe what was happening. It’s been known that to poke X point may produce Y result since before the Common Era, but because they didn’t didn’t have modern biological language for the method of action, the effectiveness of the intervention may have been attributed to ghosts, or commonly understood cycles of nature, or an amorphous energy. A gorgeous and very consistent physiology and treatment system was constructed in this way, which exists meaningfully within a larger cosmology of the universe. It is a truly holistic medicine that historically (until the 1950s) resisted the efforts of reductionism that governs modern medicine.

We’re still poking X, seeing Y, and calling it Z today. (The older metaphors are actually more relatable for patients because they are colorful but meaningful abstractions, unlike dry descriptions of reflexes in the muscle fascia or electric frequencies in the nervous system.) But in our Western scientific system, we not only have to quantify results but explain them away according to what is already understood in more obvious contexts. Research is conducted through studies and systematic reviews, and anything that does not fit into these limited contexts is considered anecdotal mumbo jumbo at best.

Luckily, if the claims and context of acupuncture are understood by the researchers, it’s quite simple to generate and document evidence of its efficacy in many conditions. Many thousands of studies have been conducted around the world in recent decades in the areas of bodily pain, functional issues, and mood disorders.

The website of Evidence-Based Acupuncture is tracking these studies and the nearly 1,000 systemic reviews of the literature:

“Fortunately, the entire literature base was summarized in 2010 by the Australian Department of Veteran Affairs. This review was updated in 2014 by the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and then again in 2017 by John McDonald and Stephen Janz, the authors of the Acupuncture Evidence Project.

“The Acupuncture Evidence Project reviewed the effectiveness of acupuncture for 122 treatments over 14 clinical areas. […] ‘Our study found evidence for the effectiveness of acupuncture for 117 conditions, with stronger evidence for acupuncture’s effectiveness for some conditions than others. Acupuncture is considered safe in the hands of a well-trained practitioner and has been found to be cost-effective for some conditions. The quality and quantity of research into acupuncture’s effectiveness is increasing.’ —Acupuncture Evidence Project, p 55.”

A favorite dismissal of these types of results by Serious Scientists is that they are achieved via placebo. Placebo is an intervention that supposedly has no actual therapeutic results, but generates a positive response anyway due to belief or psychological conditions surrounding the administration of the intervention. Placebo is actually a fascinating and well-known (although not well-understood) phenomenon that accounts for a third or more of the results of every medical intervention in the world, which is why it’s used in double-blind studies to demonstrate the efficacy of pharmaceutical medications. (In the future, you may find additional blog entries on that topic on this website.) Rest assured that the studies into acupuncture’s efficacy do also take placebo into account when studying different interventions, as the United States Department of Veterans Affairs and other researchers certainly recognize!

—Copyright 2023 by Dr. David Meredith, D.Ac.

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