Sometimes a significant article is published in an academic journal and never makes it to the headlines. Here are links to some of those and the major resources for finding out more.
Some Significant Resources for Research and Education
Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews: Database of reviews for scientific evidence.
Evidence Based Acupuncture: Website reviewing the scientific evidence for acupuncture.
Acupuncture in Medicine: Quarterly publication of the British Medical Journal on acupuncture.
Brain Science Podcast: Free podcast interviews with many great names in neuroscience.
Hugh MacPherson: Acupuncturist and Senior Research Fellow at the University of York.
Ted Kaptchuk: Harvard medical professor, researcher of placebo effects and medical pluralism.
The Chinese Text Project: Online resource for many classics of philosophy, medicine and literature in both Chinese and English.
Neuroscience News: Online journal publishing summaries of neuroscience research.
Relief: Pain research news from the International Association for the Study of Pain, including the archives of Body In Mind, the former website of Prof. Lorimer Mosely.
Other Articles
9-Jul-2021: Frontiers in Pharmacology:
Glycyrrhizic Acid: A Natural Plant Ingredient as a Drug Candidate to Treat COVID-19
Maybe not of groundbreaking importance generally but it is for me given our current situation and the fact that my PhD is looking into liquorice.
No Date but must be 2020-21: Open Horizons:
Coronavirus Is Not An Enemy Rather A Courier: A Perspective from Chinese Dao thinking
29-Dec-2020: Phytotherapy Research:
Botanical drugs and supplements affecting the immune response in the time of COVID-19: Implications for research and clinical practice
A review of herbal medicines that show promise in modulating the immune system in relation to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Potential candidates include:
Various adaptogens, frankincence (Boswellia spp.), turmeric (Curcuma longa), echinacea (Echinacea spp.), liquorice (Glycyrrhiza spp.), medicinal fungi, geranium (Pelargonium sidoides), salicylate-yielding herbs such as willow, meadow sweet, birch and wintergreen, and elder (Sambucus spp.).
23-Sep-2020: Frontiers in Pharmacology:
COVID-19: Is There Evidence for the Use of Herbal Medicines as Adjuvant Symptomatic Therapy?
A review of the evidence for herbal medicines in the treatment of Covid-19 symptoms.
Benefits/risks assessment was positive in 5 herbs:
Yarrow (Althaea officinalis), myrrh (Commiphora molmol), liquorice (Glycyrrhiza glabra), ivy (Hedera helix), and elder (Sambucus nigra).
12 herbs were assessed as promising:
Garlic (Allium sativum), Green chiretta (Andrographis paniculata), Echinacea (Echinacea angustifolia / purpurea), Eucalyptus (Eucalyptus globulus essential oil), tilo (Justicia pectoralis), Magnolia (Magnolia officinalis), Guaco (Mikania glomerata), Geranium (Pelargonium sidoides), Anise (Pimpinella anisum), Willow (Salix sp.) & Ginger (Zingiber officinale).
Sep-2020: Journal of Integrative Medicine:
Chinese herbal medicine for COVID-19: Current evidence with systematic review and meta-analysis
A review of Chinese herbal medicine find that it may help to improve outcomes. Herbs common to most prescriptions included:
Jin Yin Hua (Flos Lonicerae Japonicae),
Lian Qiao (Fructus Forsythiae),
Huang Qin (Radix Scutellariae) and
Shi Gao (Fibrosum Gypsum, a mineral we cannot use in the UK), which have clear antiviral, antibacterial or anti-inflammatory activities
Ma Huang (Herba Ephedrae, limited use in the UK) and
Xing Ren (Semen Armeniacae Amarum), which can help to relieve respiratory congestion and coughing
Individualised treatments were found to be best.
19-Feb-2020: BMJ:
Clinical findings in a group of patients infected with the 2019 novel coronavirus (SARS-Cov-2) outside of Wuhan, China: retrospective case series
Some arguments for using Chinese medicine in the treatment of Covid-19 and discussion of the reasons why scientific discussions have been stunted in this area.
26-Sept-2018: Live Science:
Otzi the Iceman's Tattoos May Have Been a Primitive Form of Acupuncture
An update to the
1999 article in the Lancet which made the same claim but with further observations on his use of medicinal mushrooms and ferns.
26-Sept-2018: Nature:
Why Chinese medicine is heading for clinics around the world
For the first time, the World Health Organization will recognize traditional medicine in its influential global medical compendium.
27-Mar-2018: Scientific Reports:
Structure and Distribution of an Unrecognized Interstitium in Human Tissues
Echoing the
discovery of lymphatic tissue in the brain that mirrors the Du vessel, anatomists find a network of interstitial fluid shock absorbers that seems to mirror the
San Jiao, an organ system in Chinese medicine that has never had a western equivalent.
22-Mar-2018: The Lancet:
Low back pain
A series of articles on low back pain. The
second section on prevention and treatment mentions acupuncture as an adjunctive option and T'ai Chi as a form of exercise which is recommended as a first line treatment. Cognitive behavioural interventions which arguably also owe a debt to oriental philosophical approaches to pain and suffering are also in the first line treatments.
30-Nov-2017: Journal of Pain:
Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Update of an Individual Patient Data Meta-Analysis
The authors conclude that "acupuncture is effective for the treatment of chronic pain, with treatment effects persisting over time... Decreases in pain following acupuncture cannot be explained solely in terms of placebo effects." DOI:
10.1016/j.jpain.2017.11.005
22-Nov-2017: Dr. Mirkin:
Why Ice Delays Recovery
Dr. Mirkin, who introduced the RICE protocol to sports medicine in 1978, on why he has recanted the Rest and Ice components. Chinese traumatology has always considered these more harmful in the long term by increasing stagnation when the injury itself is a form of Qi and Blood stasis.
24-July-2017: Journal of the American Geriatrics Society:
Tai Chi for Risk of Falls. A Meta-analysis
Found Tai Chi effective for reducing risk of falls in the elderly. DOI:
10.1111/jgs.15008
Feb-2017: The Australia Acupuncture and Chinese Medical Association:
The Acupuncture Evidence Project: A Comparative Literature Review 2017
Macdonald & Janz found evidence for effectiveness in 117 conditions (8 strong, 38 moderate, 71 weak) and addressed the issue of reporting bias against acupuncture when using trial designs aimed at testing pharmaceuticals.
1-Sep-2016: NIH News Releases:
NIH review finds nondrug approaches effective for treatment of common pain conditions
Despite receiving little attention in mainstream press,
this review found acupuncture, tai chi, yoga, massage and relaxation effective for pain conditions.
14-Jul-2016: Nature:
Nature Outlook: Pain
Nature supplement on pain including a few mentions of interest to the historian of medicine and Chinese medical practitioner.
6-Jul-2016: Science Alert:
A bug in fMRI software could invalidate 15 years of brain research
Well, this throws a spanner in the works. Original paper at DOI:
10.1073/pnas.1602413113.
19-Apr-2016: Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews:
Acupuncture for tension-type headache
New review of acupuncture for tension type headaches finds acupuncture superior to sham. DOI:
10.1002/14651858.CD007587.pub2.
17-Sept-2015: British Journal of Sports Medicine:
The effect of Tai Chi on four chronic conditions - cancer, osteoarthritis, heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease: a systematic review and meta-analyses
Found that Tai Chi could be performed by people with those conditions without worsening shortness of breath and pain, and could improve functional exercise capacity. DOI:
10.1136/bjsports-2014-094388
1-Jun-2015: Neuroscience News:
Researchers Find Missing Link Between the Brain and Immune System
A structural link is discovered connecting the lymphatic system and the brain which happens to follow the exact path of the
Du Mai-Governor Vessel, indicated in mental and immune pathologies.
30-Mar-2015: Nature Scientific Reports:
PHY906(KD018), an adjuvant based on a 1800-year-old Chinese medicine, enhanced the anti-tumor activity of Sorafenib by changing the tumor microenvironment
Discovery by a team at Yale that
Huang Qin Tang enhances chemotherapy.
19-Dec-2014 - 13-Nov-2015: Science Magazine:
The Art and Science of Traditional Medicine (3 part supplement):
Part 1: TCM Today - A Case for Integration (12-Dec-2014)
Part 2: Multidisciplinary Approaches for Studying Traditional Medicine (16-Jan-2015)
Part 3: The Global Impact of Traditional Medicine (13-Nov-2015)
1-May-2014: Scientific American:
Can Acupuncture Curb Killer Immune Reactions?
Article mainly on research into the ability of St-36 to dampen immune reactions.
14-Jan-2014: Aeon:
The Geel question
Interesting article about Geel (pronounced 'Hyale'), a town in Belgium, where a 700 year old medieval tradition of welcoming the mentally ill into peoples' homes is being hailed as a progressive model for treatment. It also shows that historical treatments were not all exorcisms and witch hunts, such as Asclepiades of Bithynia who was using music therapy, massage and bathing to treat the mentally ill humanely as far back as 100BC.
24-Sep-2013: PLOS Medicine:
Acupuncture and Counselling for Depression in Primary Care: A Randomised Controlled Trial
10-May-2013: Acupuncture in Medicine (BMJ Group):
Trials of acupuncture for drug dependence: a recommendation for hypotheses based on the literature
10-May-2013: Acupuncture in Medicine (BMJ Group):
Acupuncture in preventing postoperative anaesthesia-related sore throat: a comparison with no acupuncture
3-May-2013: Autonomic Neuroscience:
Site-specific organ-selective effect of epifascial acupuncture on cardiac and gastric autonomic functions
19-Mar-2013: Minerva Anestesiology:
Acupuncture versus valproic acid in the prophylaxis of migraine without aura: a prospective controlled study
31-Jan-2013: Advances in Clinical Neuroscience:
Acupuncture for Headache
17-Dec-2012: PLoS One:
A Meta-Analysis of Core Stability Exercise versus General Exercise for Chronic Low Back Pain
Specific exercises for core strength only helped in short term relief but were no better than general exercise in the long run. An
update to this two years later came to the same conclusion. This is the only time I have seen exercise tested to the same standard that acupuncture is held and the fact that one is accepted while the other is not reveals the bias of the policy makers.
22-Oct-2012: Archives of Internal Medicine:
Acupuncture for Chronic Pain: Individual Patient Data Meta-analysis
9-2012: NICE Clinical Guidelines:
Headaches: Diagnosis and management of headaches in young people and adults
11-Jan-2012: BMJ Open:
Acupuncture in practice: mapping the providers, the patients and the settings in a national cross-sectional survey
24-Nov-2012: BioMed Central:
Using a Delphi consensus process to develop an acupuncture treatment protocol by consensus for women undergoing Assisted Reproductive Technology (ART) treatment
2012: Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine:
Neural Acupuncture Unit: A New Concept for Interpreting Effects and Mechanisms of Acupuncture
22-Dec-2011: Nature:
Traditional Asian Medicine in the supplement to
Nature Vol. 480, No. 7378. It claims free access but is not.
11-Oct-2011: Nature Medicine:
The discovery of artemisinin (qinghaosu) and gifts from Chinese medicine
1-Sep-2011: The Scientist:
Puncturing the Myth: Purinergic signaling, not mystical energy, may explain how acupuncture works.
14-Feb-2011: Journal of Manual and Manipulative Therapy:
Placebo response to manual therapy: something out of nothing?
Game changing article that argued the placebo effect is an active mechanism, shifting manual therapies beyond operating on local structures and towards interacting with the nervous system.
Nov-2010: The Rheumatologist:
Is Acupuncture for Pain a Placebo Treatment? An examination of the evidence
1-Jul-2010: American Journal of Health Promotion:
A Comprehensive Review of Health Benefits of Qigong and Tai Chi
21-Sep-2006: British Medical Journal:
A randomised controlled trial of acupuncture care for persistent low back pain: cost effectiveness analysis
7-Jul-2006: Biomed Central:
How might acupuncture work? A systematic review of physiologic rationales from clinical trials
16-Feb-2006: British Medical Journal:
Sham device v inert pill: randomised controlled trial of two placebo treatments.
Demonstrates some of the methodological problems of testing acupuncture using a sham device.
2005: Sports Medicine (Auk. NZ):
The Mechanisms of Massage and Effects on Performance, Muscle Recovery and Injury Prevention
Important considering the scrutiny acupuncture is placed under compared to the often unquestioned claims made of massage improving circulation and recovery times. If mechanisms are mainly touch based neurological and psychological then acupuncture could produce similar effects without pressure.
No DOI but PMID is
15730338
30-Mar-2005: Journal of Applied Physiology:
Brain stem mechanisms underlying acupuncture modality-related modulation of cardiovascular responses in rats
18-Nov-2004: British Medical Journal:
Acupuncture as a complementary therapy to the pharmacological treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: randomised controlled trial.
A very famous study that convinced many sceptics that acupuncture was effective in this specific condition.
21-Jan-2004: British Medical Journal:
Cost effectiveness analysis of a randomised trial of acupuncture for chronic headache in primary care
25-Jul-2001: Journal of Applied Physiology:
Biomechanical response to acupuncture needling in humans
18-Sep-1999: The Lancet:
A Medical Report from the Stone Age?
A report on the therapeutic implications of tattoos found on 5200 year old mummy Otzi the Iceman.
