ACU-Track

07/08/2025

Phenomenal new research by a well established group formerly based at Harvard. They used a series of experiments in mice and humans to carefully map out key neural anatomical regions and processes involved in the somatosensory-vagal reflex for the acupoint St36.
Stimulation of TRPV1+ nociceptors located exclusively in deep fascial tissues was essential to trigger this reflex. The clinical relevance is that deep needling is required at St36 to trigger gastric motility and improve symptoms of functional dyspepsia/indigestion.
Key takeaways: the point location matters, the depth matters, the stimulation intensity matters.

https://www.cell.com/neuron/fulltext/S0896-6273(25)00504-5

The British Medical Acupuncture Society blog gives a great plain language summary and interpretation for clinicians: https://bmas.blog/2025/08/05/ea-and-gi-function-2025/

Stimulated by D**g et al 2025.[1] Graphical abstract from D**g et al 2025.[1] EA – electroacupunctureGI – gastrointestinal function (but mainly gastric here)IF – impact factorDMV – dorsal motor nuc…

10/07/2025

Routine integration of acupuncture into healthcare services in most countries is very limited despite the significant growing evidence base. It will be interesting to see how the Singapore Ministry of Health goes about the integration process which could represent a workable model for other countries.

https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/health/moh-studying-18-proposals-to-integrate-tcm-into-public-healthcare?fbclid=IwY2xjawLbPgBleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHsii5hPZOdxzhMWodOIv-eivLC4S73gkD9-xO8QVP_cn3OwnBYsvp-QyxkO6_aem_sgARAWAQEzskQVRmdNrqgA

The ministry will also jointly launch an award for exemplary TCM practitioners. Read more at straitstimes.com. Read more at straitstimes.com.

24/06/2025

Interesting article on the two important issues:

1) placebo treatment for osteoarthritis and musculoskeletal (MSK) pain in general. Good placebo responses are certainly not unique to acupuncture and are frequently seen with MSK surgeries: “The more invasive the placebo, the higher the placebo response: The sham surgeries and the joint injections, or if there must be an injection to the bottom versus a tablet”.

2) overly mechanical diagnostic criteria for osteoarthritis and MSK issues. “You’ve got people who are running around with just self-described bone-on-bone knees, and they’re still managing to be out and about and active, and there are people with less severe structural changes who are less active and in more pain,” said rheumatologist Anita Wluka, MBBS, PhD, a consultant rheumatologist at The Alfred Hospital and professor of rheumatology at the University of Melbourne, both in Melbourne, Australia. “There are other factors that contribute to the pain that are not necessarily related to the structural damage...”

Increasingly research is pointing to neurogenic inflammation & sensitised nociceptors as the primary pain mechanism for a wide range of MSK pain.

Some take aways for acupuncturists and researchers:
1) diagnosis (i.e. of osteoarthritis) based solely on imagining/scans and mechanical structural elements can be unreliable and are not the sole reason most people are in pain.
2) addressing a broad range of contextual aspects is more useful including: reducing local neurogenic inflammation (of which acupuncture is likely a useful therapy), associated muscular imbalances and a fostering good therapeutic relationship.
3) patients with diagnostic labels of osteoarthritis or other MSK issues such as shoulder impingement syndrome display a wide range of differences in terms of pain, physical function, structural damage and muscular function. It may be defining more specific sub-groups are essential in regards to determining more effective treatments and better identifying placebo responders.

For decades, researchers and clinicians have struggled with high placebo responses in osteoarthritis, and now they are working to understand what’s behind them.

21/05/2025

Another trial showing significant improvements for true acupuncture vs sham for shoulder impingement syndrome.
This was a clever study design combining both the acupuncture and sham acupuncture with the same exercises to control for the specific effects of acupuncture. Sham type non-insertion at same points.

07/04/2025

A great case series indicating very good results for costochondritis (rib inflammation) using acupuncture. 85% mean improvement in a short time after relatively few treatments. Published in Acupuncture in Medicine

Free accessLetterFirst published online July 7, 2021Acupuncture appears to be a rapidly effective treatment for costochondritisRosemary Alexander https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0457-033X [email protected]View all authors and affiliationsVolume 40, Issue 1https://doi.org/10.1177/09645284211027582Conten...

19/02/2025

We are delighted to see the first paper in this project published using data from the ACU-Track Clinical Registry. This is an international collaboration looking at analysing the complexity involved in real-world acupuncture clinical practice. There are so many variables involved in treatment and patient progress, it's essentially we employ a range of methodologies to more fully explore these variables:

✅ Patient outcomes
✅ Clinical reasoning & diagnosis
✅ Dose & modalities
✅ Response types to treatment
✅ Chronicity
✅ Lifestyle advice
✅ Life events and patient behavioural change

Research from clinical practice, for clinical practice.

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eujim.2025.102437

This project aims to address research gaps in modelling case data analysis methodologies for TEAM, potentially enhancing the rigor, validity, and applicability of practice-based research, informing clinical trial design, and contributing to better patient-centered care.

13/02/2025

Comparative effectiveness trials are useful for informing clinical practice. This trial looked at lower back pain and sciatica due to confirmed disc herniation.

Here there was a small but statistically significant difference seen here between the patients who had acupuncture + tui na massage and manual traction vs acupuncture alone. Both groups had large differences in pain scores from 3 weeks sustained at 3 month follow-up.

https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/medicine/articles/10.3389/fmed.2024.1507115/full

29/01/2025

Acupuncture is increasingly looking like a very promising treatment option for peripheral neuropathy.

Conclusions from a recent systematic review and meta analysis; "Compared with drug, usual care, and sham acupuncture, acupuncture has a better response rate and a more favorable effect in improving nerve conduction velocity. The combination of acupuncture and drug demonstrates a more significant improvement compared to drug alone. The combination of AT and usual care improves DPN symptoms more effectively than usual care."

The quality of the research still needs improving: https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/neurology/articles/10.3389/fneur.2024.1500709/full

We had a great podcast discussing peripheral neuropathy with Matthew Bauer: https://acu-trackpodcast.buzzsprout.com/1831153/episodes/13807323-acupuncture-for-peripheral-neuropathy-matthew-bauer

We were delighted to welcome Matthew Bauer on the podcast to discuss the evidence base of acupuncture for peripheral neuropathy. Also don't miss Matthew's summary of the most important research ever done on acupuncture!Matthew Bauer became interes...

17/10/2024

Acupuncture was found to be significantly more effective than placebo acupuncture for sciatica in patients with herniated lumbar discs. A large effect size was found in this trial with acupuncture giving a lasting reduction in pain levels by over 60% at a years follow up. The acupuncture approach was semi-standardised but flexible based on traditional channel pattern differentiation for each patient.

Results from a recent high quality trial published in JAMA. Yet another trial this year confirming acupuncture is not just a placebo.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2825064?guestAccessKey=6288cecb-4296-4e9c-8d42-8960ced5e0fd&utm_source=For_The_Media&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=ftm_links&utm_content=tfl&utm_term=101424https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/

01/10/2024

Acupuncture was found significantly more effective than placebo for treating chronic IBS. This was a relatively short-term trial using a standardised treatment protocol, meaning that results in the real-world using individualised treatment and a longer course of treatments could well yield even better results.

Yet another high quality trial in the books showing acupuncture is efficacious and NOT a placebo.

Previous studies have confirmed that acupuncture for irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) provided an additional benefit over usual care alone. Therefore, we performed a multicenter, randomized, sham-controlled trial to assess the efficacy and safety of acupuncture versus sham acupuncture for refractory I...

12/09/2024

An interesting British Medical Acupuncture Society webinar last night breaking down a recent large RCT using acupuncture for chronic neck pain.

Clinical relevance.

The trial attempted to compare needling the least sensitive points with the most sensitive points to ascertain the clinical difference. A really useful clinical question to ask. Whilst they had the numbers necessary to do this the methods unfortunately seem to limit the usefulness of the results which showed a very slight benefit to using sensitive points but not a very significant one.

1. The device used to measure sensitive points did not appear to be appropriate and the points identified as among the least sensitive (GB 20 and 21 😱) are not consistent with that commonly seen in clinic using palpation. It's likely therefore that the use of 'sensitive' points in this trial doesn't really reflect the same type of treatment as using sensitive vs non-sensitive points based on palpation in a clinical setting.

2. The sham control of shallow needling was not that shallow! 1-2cm. Whilst it used non-points these could have had a relevant physiological segmental affect on the neck region. Both true needling groups (sensitive and non-sensitive points) were statistically (and probably IMO clinically) better than the sham, the journal prevented them from stating this due to a preset definition of reaching clinically important difference on a pain scale. The effect would likely have been larger and showed true clinical significance if the sham group used non-insertion (or even actual shallow insertion!) based on the differences seen between different sham needling in the Vickers 2018 meta analysis.

3. no real difference in AEs between using sensitive and non-sensitive points could be used as evidence that needling sensitive points doesn't risk any increase in AEs or nocebo. However methods used for identifying sensitive points probably make this point mute.

Summary: overall a large positive trial of acupuncture for chronic neck pain with medium-long outcomes! This paper shouldn't be used to justify that needling sensitive points is clinically better than non-sensitive points.

Summary on Mike's excellent blog: https://bmas.blog/2024/09/09/acupuncture-for-chronic-neck-pain-2024/

PDF: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/383694576_Long-Term_Effects_of_Individualized_Acupuncture_for_Chronic_Neck_Pain_A_Randomized_Controlled_Trial

PDF | On Sep 3, 2024, Ling Zhao and others published Long-Term Effects of Individualized Acupuncture for Chronic Neck Pain : A Randomized Controlled Trial | Find, read and cite all the research you need on ResearchGate

11/09/2024

We love real-world acupuncture studies! This paper shows the clinical outcomes from the Alberta Complementary Health Integration Project (ABCHIP), which delivered acupuncture to address pain and mental health issues in the youth and elderly. The outcomes are quite impressive for pain, mental health and QoL and suggest a higher dose of treatment was associated with better outcomes. They also used a lot of PROMIS measures which we are big fans of at ACU-Track. An example of how quality data can be collected with some organisational support and funding.

BackgroundThis study presents real-world evidence on the clinical outcomes of the Alberta Complementary Health Integration Project (ABCHIP), which utilized a...