Currency

Research Archive

Welcome to our Chinese medicine and acupuncture research news pages. We add to the content of these pages continuously as more research news comes in. Browse through the complete archive below or use the category links on the right.

Please note that the most twenty recent research archive items are free to view but access to the thousands of items in the archive require a journal subscription.

Acupuncture affects men and women differently

Categories: Acupuncture research

Two new studies suggest that acupuncture may have different effects on men and women.

Needling LIV-3 affects systemic haemodynamics

Categories: Acupuncture research

A team from Japan has investigated the changes of blood flow in the radial and brachial arteries during acupuncture needling. Eighteen healthy volunteers received manual acupuncture bilaterally at Taichong LIV-3. Blood flow volume decreased significantly during acupuncture in both radial and brachial arteries, but was found to be increased at 180 seconds after acupuncture compared with baseline. S ...

Doctors become acupuncture patients rather than acupuncturists

Categories: Acupuncture research

A Norwegian study has investigated changes in the personal and professional use of acupuncture among physicians in Norway between 1994 and 2004. The results showed that the percentage of physicians having used acupuncture for their own complaints had more than doubled (18% in 2004 vs 8% in 1994), while the percentage that intended to use acupuncture for their own complaints remained steady (55% in ...

Reduced electrical impedance of acupuncture meridians associated with subcutaneous collagen bands

Categories: Acupuncture research

A new paper by American authors suggests that the reduced electrical impedances measured at acupuncture meridians are significantly associated with subcutaneous collagenous bands.Previous research has suggested that acupuncture meridians are physiologically characterised by low electrical impedance and anatomically associated with connective tissue planes. The new study assessed the electrical imp ...

Acupuncture analgesia mediated through adenosine

Categories: Acupuncture research

The understanding of how acupuncture's analgesic effects are mediated has been significantly improved, thanks to a paper from American authors. The team has, for the first time, identified the molecule adenosine as being potentially responsible for some of the effects of acupuncture in the body. Adenosine, which is known for its anti-inflammatory properties, its role in regulating sleep and its ef ...

Acupuncture trials get even STRICTA

Categories: Acupuncture research

A new version of the STRICTA (Standards for Reporting Interventions in Clinical Trials of Acupuncture) checklist has been published, setting out revised and expanded reporting guidelines for clinical trials of acupuncture. The new STRICTA checklist includes six items and 17 sub-items, which set out guidelines for the reporting of acupuncture rationale, details of needling, treatment regimen, other ...

Acupuncture increases muscle strength

Categories: Miscellaneous disorders, Acupuncture research

A single acupuncture treatment can increase isometric quadriceps strength, according to German authors. Thirty-three recreational athletes were randomised to receive acupuncture, sham acupuncture (needling at non-acupuncture points) and placebo laser acupuncture (deactivated laser device) in a double-blind crossover fashion, with one week between trials. The difference from baseline of the mean ch ...

Acupuncturists' behaviour affects pain

Categories: Knee, Acupuncture research

The way acupuncturists interact with patients has significant effects on pain reduction. In an American randomised controlled trial, acupuncturists were trained to interact in one of two communication styles that conveyed either 'high' or 'neutral' expectations of treatment outcomes. 455 patients with knee osteoarthritis were assigned to one of three groups over six weeks: waiting list, 'high', or ...

Pre-treatment expectations don't predict outcomes for back pain

Categories: Back, Acupuncture research

The relationship between patients' expectations of acupuncture and their outcomes may be more complex than previously believed. When US investigators analysed data from a randomised trial of acupuncture for chronic back pain, they found that pre-treatment expectations and preferences for acupuncture were not predictive of treatment outcomes. 477 acupuncture-naïve participants with chronic low bac ...