There was a flurry of paranoia last week after the UK's Daily Mail newspaper published an item on the 'hidden dangers of acupuncture'. Even the British Medical Journal (BMJ) news reported, 'Risks of acupuncture range from stray needles to pneumothorax, finds study'. To counter … [Read more...]

A discussion paper by a team of American authors argues that the ability of acupuncture to affect heart rate variability (HRV) might explain how it is able to regulate complex physiological systems. Heart rate variability (HRV), the beat-to-beat fluctuation in cardiac rhythm, … [Read more...]

A review article from American authors focuses on clinical and laboratory studies supporting the existence of point specificity in acupuncture, but also addresses studies that do not support this concept. Recent evidence, which shows that stimulation of different points on the … [Read more...]

The concept of the ‘neural acupuncture unit’ (NAU) has been put forward by an international team of authors as a new way of interpreting the effects and mechanisms of acupuncture. The NAU is a hypothetical concept that represents the collection of local neural and neuroactive … [Read more...]

Gordon Welters for The New York Times Acupuncture may be helpful in treating migraines, arthritis and chronic pain. A new study of acupuncture — the most rigorous and detailed analysis of the treatment to date — found that it can ease migraines and arthritis and other forms of … [Read more...]