Modern Studies of Acupuncture

This chapter presents some examples of modern research on acupuncture. They include studies on the physiological nature of acupuncture points and of acupuncture’s impact on the functions of the immune, endocrine, nerve, cardiovascular, digestive, respiratory, and reproductive systems. It also includes examples of clinical studies on the safety and efficacy of acupuncture on various clinical medical and psychiatric conditions such as asthma, infertility, gastroesophageal reflux disorder (GERD), endometriosis, chronic pain, depression, anxiety, and insomnia. It discusses the confusion in research conclusions caused by methodological deficits in study designs and interventions, and it initiates a discussion on the future direction of studies that benefit advances in modern medicine rather than judging acupuncture using pharmaceutical models of research that are unable to visualize and measure human energy.