Acupuncture remains mired in a communication crisis. Because it has been presented in terms of a traditional conceptual structure – Qi and meridians (energy channels) – it appears at odds with anatomy. Neither Qi nor the meridians are visible under the microscope or other imaging, and so sceptics have castigated acupunctureists for centuries as speakers of an ancient language, full of nonsensical vocabulary that fails to correspond with any plausible physiological reality.
What could justify the sceptics’ resistance to this treatment? Perhaps the answer lies in the very explanations they’ve long resisted: the ones that appear mystical. If we look again, it turns out there is no need for magic or mystery to understand why acupuncture works. Underneath its archaic descriptions, the phenomenon of the treatment corresponds quite neatly with modern notions of what makes our bodies tick, and modern neuroscience can make short work of the ‘mystery’ of acupuncture. For Acupuncture Gloucester, contact //www.purelandsacu.co.uk/acupuncture-gloucester
So, then, what is this practice, really? Simply put, acupuncture takes place not along meridians but within the nervous system. The mechanism of action underlying the acupuncture treatment has nothing to do with channelling some mysterious force to get to acupuncture points, but everything to do with how those acupuncture points relate to the body’s anatomy of the nervous system, especially with high-density areas of nerves and connective tissue that lie at or near the surface of the skin. When an acupuncture needle is inserted at these specific, anatomically defined locations, what happens is not that the Qi begins to flow but rather that sensory nerve fibres become stimulated to produce a series of real, measurable responses.
These measurable responses are real and reproducible, and they have been well-documented. For example, numerous brain imaging studies reveal the specific areas of the brain responding to acupuncture stimulation – and they are different from the areas activated by a placebo.
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