ACU-Track

22/06/2026

Observational and retrospective studies have great value. This study on postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) (pain following herpes zoster) found that having diabetes mellitus was predictive of worse treatment outcome with acupuncture.

Why is that useful to know?
✅ For practitioners: prospective patients with diabetes can be given a more realistic prognosis. The results may also be true for diabetic patients presenting with other types of neuralgia (side note: there is some evidence supporting the use of acupuncture for diabetic peripheral neuropathy regardless).

✅ For mechanistic researchers: this confirms what we already know about diabetes mellitus regarding it's deleterious physiological affects on the peripheral nervous system. However, it ALSO adds to the mounting evidence that acupuncture's key mechanism of action is signalling via the peripheral to central nervous system. If the peripheral nervous system is damaged; it appears the therapeutic effect may be muted.

Background: Postherpetic neuralgia (PHN) is a prevalent and painful complication following herpes zoster infection, impacting patient quality of life and posing...

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…

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...