Abstract
Acupuncture is an ancient medical technique of traditional Chinese medicine practiced for more than 2,500 years. The World Health Organization (WHO) committee recommends 43 disorders that can be effectively treated by acupuncture. Among three major indications (pain relief, functional adjustment, and immune modulation) of acupuncture treatment, acupuncture analgesia is the most widely used for treatment of human disorders. The origin of acupuncture instruments is postulated as sharpened stone named “bian stone.” The characteristics of meridians are as follows: (1) a meridian is a space containing those structures essential for qi transportation and (2) qi is a vital energy. In traditional Chinese medicine pain is interpreted as a symptom whenever the corresponding meridians are blocked (i.e., so-called “meridian blocked theory”). Accordingly, when the flow of qi is blocked, pain and illness occur. By acupuncture treatment, one can unblock the meridian, thereby reestablishing the flow of qi and relieving the pain. Nowadays, it is well known that the mechanism of acupuncture analgesia is through peripheral stimulation on acupoints and mediated by mobilization of central neuropeptides. Furthermore, stimulation by different frequencies (2, 15, 100 Hz) on acupoints would mobilize different neuropeptides (β-endorphin, enkephalin, dynorphin), bind to the corresponding receptors (μ-opioid receptor, δ-opioid receptor, κ-opioid receptor), and hence induce analgesic effects, respectively. Thanks to the advances of biochemical and biophysical technology, the mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia are elucidated as a consequence of peripheral acupoint stimulation, mobilization of central neural peptides, and triggering of the central inhibitory pathway for modulation of pain sensation. A comprehensive understanding of the origin and history of acupuncture will help Western scientists to integrate this ancient technique as a complementary practice into modern medicine.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
The Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. An outline of Chinese acupuncture. Peking: Foreign Languages Press; 1975.
Cheng XN, editor. Chinese acupuncture and moxibustion. Beijing: Foreign Languages Press; 1987.
Dorfer L, Moser M, Bahr F, et al. A medical report from the stone age? Lancet. 1999;354(9183):1023–5.
Chen Y. Silk scrolls: earliest literature of meridian doctrine in ancient China. Acupunct Electrother Res. 1997;22(3–4):175–89.
Melzack R, Wall PD. Pain mechanisms: a new theory. Science. 1965;150(699):971–9.
Le Bars D, Dickenson AH, Besson JM. Diffuse noxious inhibitory controls (DNIC). I. Effects on dorsal horn convergent neurones in the rat. Pain 1979;6(3):283–304.
Li CH, Chung D. Isolation and structure of an untriakontapeptide with opiate activity from camel pituitary glands. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976;73(4):1145–8.
Loh HH, Tseng LF, Wei E, et al. β-Endorphin is a potent analgesic agent. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1976;73(8):2895–8.
Han JS. Acupuncture and endorphins. Neurosci Lett. 2004;361(1–3):258–61.
Zadina JE, Hackler L, Ge LJ, et al. A potent and selective endogenous agonist for the m-opiate receptor. Nature. 1997;386(6624):499–502.
Chen XH, Han JS. Analgesia induced by electroacupuncture of different frequencies is mediated by different types of opioid receptors: another cross-tolerance study. Behav Brain Res. 1992;47(2):143–9.
Han JS. Acupuncture analgesia: areas of consensus and controversy. Pain. 2011;152(3 Suppl):S41–8.
Taguchi R, Taguchi T, Kitakoji H. Involvement of peripheral opioid receptors in electroacupuncture analgesia for carrageenan-induced hyperalgesia. Brain Res. 2010;1355:97–103.
Cheng RS, Pomeranz B. Electroacupuncture analgesia could be mediated by at least two pain-relieving mechanisms; endorphin and non-endorphin systems. Life Sci. 1979;25(23):1957–62.
Tsai HY, Lin JG, Inoki R. Further evidence for possible analgesic mechanism of electroacupuncture: effects on neuropeptides and serotonergic neurons in rat spinal cord. Jpn J Pharmacol. 1989;49(2):181–5.
Baek YH, Choi DY, Yang HI, et al. Analgesic effect of electroacupuncture on inflammatory pain in the rat model of collagen-induced arthritis: mediation by cholinergic and serotonergic receptors. Brain Res. 2005;1057(1–2):181–5.
Lin JG, Chen WL. Acupuncture analgesia: a review of its mechanisms of actions. Am J Chin Med. 2008;36(4):635–45.
Han JS, Ding XZ, Fan SG. Cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8): antagonism to electroacupuncture analgesia and a possible role in electroacupuncture tolerance. Pain. 1986;27(1):101–15.
Han JS. Cholecystokinin octapeptide (CCK-8): a negative feedback control mechanism for opioid analgesia. Prog Brain Res. 1995;105:263–71.
Tian JH, Xu W, Fang Y, et al. Antagonistic effect of orphanin FQ on morphine analgesia in rat brain. Sheng Li Xue Bao. 1997;49(3):333–8.
Wu GC. Acupuncture anesthesia in China: retrospect and prospect. Chin J Integr Med. 2007;13(3):163–5.
Reston J. Now, about my operation in Peking; now, let me tell you about my appendectomy in Peking. The New York Times. 26 July 1971.
Han JS, Ho YS. Global trends and performances of acupuncture research. Neurosci Biobehav Rev. 2011;35(3):680–7.
Skrabanek P. Acupuncture and the age of unreason. Lancet. 1984;1(8387):1169–71.
Sampson WI. Acupuncture: the position paper of the National Council Against Health Fraud. Clin J Pain. 1991;7:162–6.
Ernst E. The recent history of acupuncture. Am J Med. 2008;121(12):1027–8.
NIH Consensus Conference. Acupuncture. JAMA. 1998;280:1518–24.
Napadow V, Ahn A, Longhurst J, et al. The status and future of acupuncture mechanism research. J Altern Complement Med. 2008;14(7):861–9.
Lee MS, Ernst E. Acupuncture for pain: an overview of Cochrane reviews. Chin J Integr Med. 2011;17(3):187–9.
Mann F. Reinventing acupuncture. Oxford: Butterworth Heinemann; 1992.
Ulett G. Beyond Yin and Yang: how acupuncture really works. St. Louis: Warren H Green; 1992.
Cho ZH, Chung SC, Lee HJ, et al. Retraction. New findings of the correlation between acupoints and corresponding brain cortices using functional MRI. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2006;103(27):10527.
Wu MT, Hsieh JC, Xiong J, et al. Central nervous pathway for acupuncture stimulation: localization of processing with functional MR imaging of the brain—preliminary experience. Radiology. 1999;212(1):133–41.
Hsieh JC, Tu CH, Chen FP, et al. Activation of the hypothalamus characterizes the acupuncture stimulation at the analgesic point in human: a positron emission tomography study. Neurosci Lett. 2001;307(2):105–8.
Hui KK, Marina O, Liu J, et al. Acupuncture, the limbic system, and the anticorrelated networks of the brain. Auton Neurosci. 2010;157(1–2):81–90.
Napadow V, Dhond R, Park K, et al. Time-variant fMRI activity in the brainstem and higher structures in response to acupuncture. Neuroimage. 2009;47(1):289–301.
Fang J, Jin Z, Wang Y, et al. The salient characteristics of the central effects of acupuncture needling: limbic-paralimbic-neocortical network modulation. Hum Brain Mapp. 2009;30(4):1196–206.
Fields HL, Basbaum AI. Central nervous system mechanisms of pain modulation. In: Wall PD, Melzack R, editors. Textbook of pain. Edinburgh: Churchill Livingstone; 1999. pp. 309–29.
Peets JM, Pomeranz B. CXBK mice deficient in opiate receptors show poor electroacupuncture analgesia. Nature. 1978;273(5664):675–6.
Chiu JH, Chung MS, Cheng HC, et al. Different central manifestations in response to electroacupuncture at analgesic and nonanalgesic acupoints in rats: a manganese-enhanced functional magnetic resonance imaging study. Can J Vet Res. 2003;67(2):94–101.
Chiu JH, Cheng HC, Tai CH, et al. Electroacupuncture-induced neural activation detected by use of manganese-enhanced functional magnetic resonance imaging in rabbits. Am J Vet Res. 2001;62(2):178–82.
Wu MT, Sheen JM, Chuang KH, et al. Neuronal specificity of acupuncture response: a fMRI study with electroacupuncture. Neuroimage. 2002;16(4):1028–37.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer Science+Business Media New York
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Chiu, JH. (2014). History of Acupuncture. In: Lin, YC., Hsu, EZ. (eds) Acupuncture for Pain Management. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5275-1_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-5275-1_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-5274-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-5275-1
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)