Medical Acupuncture

The term “Western medical acupuncture” is used to distinguish it from acupuncture used as part of Chinese traditional medicine.

What is western medical acupuncture? Is it different from ordinary acupuncture?

Acupuncture is a very old medical art, and there are many approaches to learning and practicing it. Two important distinctions between Western Medical Acupuncture (WMA) and Chinese acupuncture are that WMA is not defined by traditional concepts such as Yin/Yang and circulation of “qi”, and that WMA does not claim to be an “alternative” medical system. WMA is an adaptation of Chinese acupuncture using current knowledge of anatomy, physiology and pathology, and the principles of evidence based medicine.

Medical acupuncture is the term used to describe acupuncture performed by a doctor trained and licensed in Western medicine who has also had thorough training in acupuncture as a specialty practice. Such a doctor can use one or the other approach, or a combination of both as the need arises, to treat an illness. For example such a practitioner would diagnose an underlying cause of back pain to exclude conditions such as cancer. Once the diagnosis is confirmed they can treat accordingly, or refer to another medical specialist as required.

Medical acupuncture is not dry needling.

Medical acupuncture treatments are performed in this medical practice by a specialist physician who has completed additional specialist training in Medical Acupuncture, giving patients the benefit of both diagnosis and appropriate treatment.

Acupuncture is generally very safe. All acupuncture treatments use sterile disposable needles.

The clinical effects on musculoskeletal pain are best explained by inhibition of the nociceptive pathway at the dorsal horn (segmental effects) by activation of the descending inhibitory pathways, and possibly by local or segmental effects on myofascial trigger points.

There are clearly other actions of acupuncture on the central nervous system that remain to be fully explored, including its effect on nausea. Imaging studies with functional MRI and positron emission tomography have provided good evidence of effects on various brain centres involved in pain control, notably the limbic structures,¹⁸¹⁹ including the insula.²⁰ (For full article refer to BMJ)