These questions are valid and can get quite technical. There are a number of research articles that discuss the potential mechanisms of action so I will do my best to summarize here. At the end of the day, there are many things that we don’t see but assume are true. This belief and trust should also be placed in something like Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), as it makes you feel how you feel, regardless of how it’s going about that.
In my opinion, TCM, one of the oldest systems of medicine, has never been more fitting for a moment than right now. This is the medicine of the future. Not because it can cure everything or out do a brilliant surgeon, but because it focuses on relieving the root cause of our problems today - stress. Stress, not just how we normally think of it, but stress deep within the body from food that we eat, OTC medications that we take, and traumas that are continually embedded in us. Stress at the cellular level. This cellular stress should be met with a distant friend (the chemicals that our body makes naturally) rather than silenced by an unknown person in the friend group (medications aimed at symptom management, exclusively). Now, I love research and science and everything cool that our medical system has evolved into. It’s actually remarkable. There are incredible doctors out there. My point here is that the simplest, most beautiful, kindred form of healing should be thought of first. Our medical system should prioritize the lowest stakes option for healing before bringing in any ‘unknown person in the friend group’. For that reason, I believe TCM and its many modalities are the future. It should take up space in the system we currently have, as it can so perfectly flood into the gaps and patch them right up.
Okay now onto the bullet points and references. These are some of the current mechanisms of action that are discussed for acupuncture. I’ll do one of these for some popular herbs as well.
Release of endogenous opioids (endorphins) that ease pain & stress throughout the body, and improve one’s mood. Some of the receptors for these endorphins are located in the parts of your brain that control reward, motivation, and stress responses. It’s thought that acupuncture accomplishes this through the stimulation of nerves in the muscle which send signals through the spinal cord to the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis.
Local and distal regulation of blood flow. The insertion of an acupuncture needle has an effect on blood flow at the site of insertion, and therefore, blood flow throughout the entire body. This effect may come from the above mechanism, as well as, the release of local, naturally-occuring chemicals in the skin and muscles.
Calcitonin gene-regulated peptide and substance P release, locally, causing vasodilation. This then causes a reflexive anti-inflammatory response by the central nervous system and leads to the release of anti-inflammatory cytokines.
Immunomodulation through inhibition of pro-inflammatory cytokine (proteins that relay messages between cells) release.
Regulation of the vagus nerve, which has an effect on a multitude of bodily processes but more specifically regulates gut motility, microbiome structure, as well as the body’s stress response through the regulation of heart rate and breathing.
Connective tissue responses and changes in extracellular matrix composition as a result of acupuncture stimulation are also an interesting area of study as connective tissue dis-ease can be associated with perplexing conditions such as chronic pain and mast cell activation syndrome.
Giving you fully-dedicated and distraction-free time to connect your outward and inward self. This time is crucial to any healing process as it plays a major role in nervous system regulation and letting go of thought patterns that keep you sick.
From a traditional perspective, the mechanism of acupuncture is even more complicated. There are many theories and schools of thought woven through its existence. They can be distilled down to the following:
Learning how to listen to your own body’s needs and using these needs as a blueprint for your daily routine is key. Acupuncture can give you the space, time, and tools to hear those needs.
IG: kieradlayne
Website: theidiosyncraticneedle.com
Resources:
PDQ® Integrative, Alternative, and Complementary Therapies Editorial Board. PDQ Acupuncture. Bethesda, MD: National Cancer Institute. Updated <MM/DD/YYYY>. Available at: https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/acupuncture-pdq. Accessed <MM/DD/YYYY>. [PMID: 26389159]
Bonnie Xia Jin, Louis Lei Jin, Guan-Yuan Jin, The anti-inflammatory effect of acupuncture and its significance in analgesia, World Journal of Acupuncture - Moxibustion, Volume 29, Issue 1, 2019, Pages 1-6, ISSN 1003-5257, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wjam.2019.03.003.(https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1003525719300194)
Li, N., Guo, Y., Gong, Y., Zhang, Y., Fan, W., Yao, K., Chen, Z., Dou, B., Lin, X., Chen, B., Chen, Z., Xu, Z., & Lyu, Z. (2021). The Anti-Inflammatory Actions and Mechanisms of Acupuncture from Acupoint to Target Organs via Neuro-Immune Regulation. Journal of inflammation research, 14, 7191–7224. https://doi.org/10.2147/JIR.S341581
Wen, G., Yang, Y., Lu, Y., Xia, Y. (2010). Acupuncture-Induced Activation of Endogenous Opioid System. In: Xia, Y., Cao, X., Wu, G., Cheng, J. (eds) Acupuncture Therapy for Neurological Diseases. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-10857-0_4
