Biophysical Modeling of the Physiology of Acupuncture

Abstract: It has been more than two decades since reports of acupuncture anesthesia used during surgery in China captured the Western imagination. Since then, some 4000 publications on the topic of acupuncture have been listed in the MEDLINE database. Basic research indicates that acupuncture stimulates neural pathways, and ultimately modulares a variety of neurotransmitter systems, particularly the opioid (endorphin) systems. Clinical research has produced more ambiguous results, suggesting that while acupuncture may have useful effects, they are generally mild. Taken as a whole, this body of work has failed to convince the general mainstream Western medical community that acupuncture is clinically useful. This situation is partly the product of differences between Eastern (prescientific philosophy-based) and Western (nonholistic mechanistic-based) understandings of acupuncture, which on careful examination, are largely illusory. More promising clinical applications may lie in areas that Western medicine does not currently address well, such as long-term health maintenance, treating slowly developing diseases, or treating chronic conditions. lf acupuncture is to assume a role in Western medicine, it is important to identify one or more specific conditions to which it is suited, and establish treatment efficacy using properly designed multisite clinical studies.

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