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People suffering with migraines may do just about anything to be rid of them. What about bloodletting? While bloodletting sounds straight out of the middle ages, it is actually a fairly mild technique used within acupuncture for a range of conditions. Our theory site has a general introduction to b…

A recent study from the journal Frontiers in Human Neuroscience looked at the effect of acupuncture and the functional connectivity of the bilateral primary motor cortices in individuals that had ischemic stroke.  A group of normal (i.e. no stroke) subjects was used as a control.  Both groups had …

Parkinson's Disease (PD) is a common condition to be seen by an acupuncturist and there is much that can be done to limit the affects of the condition and slow the progress. I have written previously about some of the basics of our particular approach to Parkinson's. That article also includes s…

There are literally volumes of acupuncture studies.  Many use fairly standard research procedures including trying to have a reasonable number of men and women in studies where this is possible.  While the vast majority of those studies look at the general overall outcome, which is largely of prim…

For practitioners who are interested in the scientific analysis of "how" acupuncture works there are a number of interesting avenues to pursue. From a multitude of studies we know that acupuncture modulates areas in the brain which then over hours and days serve to initiate balancing changes in bo…

Acupuncture and associated techniques such as moxibustion, cupping, electroacupuncture and tuina medical massage is often used for a range of pain related conditions.  While clinically results have been easy to observe for generations, the understanding of the underlying mechanisms for how it help…

Acupuncture and associated techniques are regularly used for a broad range of pain, neurological and psychological conditions.  The broad systemic affects of acupuncture appear to make it a valid treatment for a wide range of complex systematic conditions such fibromyalgia and other related auto-im…

Moxibustion is an externally applied herbal technique commonly used within Chinese Medicine (see What Is Moxibustion? for more information).  Moxibustion has a wide range of uses and is often recommended by acupuncturists as a home/self treatment and used in many clinics during patient visits as we…

Acupuncture has long been used and studied clinically for stroke recovery.  Within the field there are many differing methods many of which are effective.  Researchers from Hunan University in Changsha China recently conducted a study comparing the effects of electroacupuncture (acupuncture with el…

Glucosamine Hydrochloride (HCL) is often recommended for the management of joint pain by many western and alternative practitioners from various disciplines.  Glucosamine has shown somewhat mixed results clinically and within studies but is generally considered safe and at least somewhat effective.…

ALS or "Lou Gehrig's Disease" is a quickly debilitating and near exclusively fatal neuro-degenerative disease with no known cure.  Chinese Medicine including herbal medicine, acupuncture, Tong Ren Therapy, Tuina and other aspects has been used to help slow the progression of the disease, but has of…

Researchers for the University of Colorado recently conducted a study looking at the beneficial effects of acupressure (technically Jin Shin Do) on patients with mild traumatic brain injuries.   Researchers used a system called Jin Shin Do (one of many systems of acupressure) for treatment.  Th…

Animal studies of acupuncture are always interesting as they are a reasonable way of removing the placebo effect (to some degree) out of the healing equation.  In the American Jounral of Chinese Medicine researchers recently conducted a study to look at acupuncture for pain from a disc hernation.…

While not very common in the US, China and other countries who have better integration of acupuncture into their hospital systems use acupuncture to limit the drugs required for anesthesia.  It is well known that this works but what points to use specifically and how much western medication can b…