The scientific basis of acupuncture meridians

We speak with Dr. Alejandro Elorriaga Claraco [MD (Spain), Sports Medicine Specialist (Spain), Director of McMaster University Contemporary Medical Acupuncture Program] about the science behind both traditional and neurofunctional acupuncture. Traditional Chinese Medicine practitioners discovered favourable access points to the nervous system that they labelled as meridians. Anatomy and physiology explains how these meridians follow peripheral nerve and arterial pathways as well as myofascial pain patterns.

[michaelkoffski]

Was a skeptic until I did a free session to see for myself. It relaxed me to the point that it put me to sleep. I now do it regularly for stress and anxiety.

[jordanlazaro]

It's so enjoyable to see how many people who have no medical degree talking down on people who use acupuncture and Chinese medicine when many board-certified neurologists promote the use of acupuncture and TCM. Furthermore, Harvard, Yale, John Hopkins, and other major research institutions have published papers that give strong evidence to the efficacy of Traditional Chinese Medicine. Just because something can't be explained, it doesn't mean that it is not science.

[jaredjones]

I think the fascial system is a huge factor in how acupuncture works as well. Check out the Fascia lines and the acupuncture meridian maps side by side . Pretty cool that modern science is starting to catch up to ancient medicine!

[starwizardmanonthestarwiza]

After a few sessions of acupuncture I propose to the lady because I couldn't believe what a difference it made me feel. If you can find a person that knows acupuncture and they were taught the right way it's the most wonderful thing you can ever experience especially if you're in a lot of pain.

[andyokus]

Acupuncture totally transformed my life! Physically, spiritually and morally. After my first acupuncture treatment in China my pain in my leg was all gone. Then I had a spiritual balancing in Florida. I stopped having sex with girls. It felt dirty. Next I was having sharp pains in my heart. My therapist put the needles in my heart meridian. I began convulsing and actually bouncing up and down on the table involuntarily and screaming and crying. It was unbelievably traumatic. Afterwards I felt like I was on a heavy LSD trip. Something from my past that I had forgotten came up to the surface of my Conscious. I had been part of something that was illegal and some people were ripped off. I tracked them down and got their things that had been stolen from them. I returned their valuables and then my heart never hurt anymore. Disease isn't just chemical, it's Spiritual because after all we are nothing but energy made in the image of God.

[paperbag]

Im doing acupuncture therapy for paralyzed legs and reduce pain bc of spinal tb. Literally works like magic 🥺

Edit : my feet fingers began to move only after 5 months doing acupunture and fully works after 8 months 😁 i never feel any pain again regarding my spinal tb :')

Oh yea mind u, my spinal tb immediately get treated which is after im paralyzed i immediately doing this theraphy, so if any of you having the same sickness like mine and only doing the theraphy after some time, the effect might take some time to workss 🤧

[empoweredwithfee]

I just did my very first session today. And it feels so good. It put me to sleep and I haven’t felt so relaxed in a while

[KanyonSD]

I was 13 yrs old when I first tried acupuncture. I had slid into homebase and my knee was fried. It worked for a month. The pain started to come back but did it again and mostly healed. I have ran 8 full marathons now. My knee is still weak but I have been able to continue to run.

[catherinespark]

So, I have a 2.1 honours pharmacology from the University of Edinburgh. I don’t believe in qi energy lines theories or any scientific mechanisms or legitimacy to acupressure.

But when, on a whim and with nothing to lose, I did the points for muting the common cold symptoms I’m currently experiencing, as and where directed, whenever they got bad, it still cleared my sinuses invariably, within ten minutes, for whatever reason. Didn’t cure the virus - I never expected it to - and the benefits were temporary. Both could be said for paracetamol too.

So it may be placebo or psychosomatic - but worth noting that essential oils and herbal remedies have never been effective in those ways for me, and I don’t believe in them as scientific remedies any more than I believed in acupressure.

I don’t really care anymore about whether acupressure is scientifically bogus or verifiable. I don’t care if this can’t count as evidence, being anecdotal and totally uncontrolled for. It’s free, it’s low risk, and when practiced using the information already out there and following instructions exactly, it does what I need it to do for me in, for whatever reason and by whatever mechanisms.

If when you try it - no matter your level of scepticism - it does that for you, or if it allows things like reducing nausea so you can eat properly, or lets you get a better night’s sleep, then it has true physiological value for you at least.

Western science may not accept objective claims about such therapies, but Western medicine DOES recognise this type of value to said therapies on a patient-to-patient basis, even without that.

Think of it this way: some people calm down by punching by a punch bag. Others calm down by pacing around. Still others calm down by taking deep breaths. Being calm is good. All these things help people calm down, not like pushing a switch or activating a hard and fast mechanism in a hard and fast way, but they still do. These aren’t the kinds of practices that people can objectively compare and proclaim one the most scientifically consistent for all individuals. They are beneficial in a different way. But the benefits to the individual in that respect can be recognised and even characterised in specific physiological terms such as lowered stress hormones or fewer GI episodes.

The best and wisest Western medics don’t deride patients for feeling benefits or for using them if they’re helpful for that patient. Those who deride patients for practicing these things and feeling benefits from them betray their lack of Western medical training. They betray themselves as armchair scientists, capable of understanding science but incapable of wielding it usefully and compassionately. The BEST and most highly trained Western medics know how to usefully wield Western science with this type of wisdom, openness and compassion to the individual, when it comes to recognising the individual benefits of such alternative therapies. :)

[lindayhuang]

I suggest switching your paradigm when you explore the traditions underpinning TCM, esp. acupressure. You need to read the explanations as the metaphors (the soul of which are the *relationships* not the things) that they actually are.

IOW, if one is yet unable to define the forces at work in the body, one can still conduct scientific inquiries by defining the relationships between the *actions* and their *effects* Hope that helps….

[sirmrdresqmd]

I'm here cuz I got a stomach bug, and i read somewhere that apparently there are legit studies done on acupressure nausea relief... CRAZY! I wanted to undersrtand how that stuff works

[trueseeker]

Do this simple exercise, where your wrist is i the middle palm facing up. The vein is blue. Slow but firmly apply pressure while you relax your hand upwards. Your fingers will curl up. That my friend is basic nerve work.

[MezbahRijvee]

Damn this is very helpful. Thank you 🙏

[megantsai]

Love to body chart with point name and location. Where Can I find those materials? Thanks for sharing!

[GirdharKushwaha]

Good treatment of acupuncture therapy in human body painful conditioning 🙏 🎉

[infinitequest]

Beautiful that they can see below the skin.

[scottscottsdale]

Please looking for advice. I just had my first acupuncture session by a TCM for tennis elbow. He jabbed a hot large needle three times into my elbow with no warning. He didn’t really speak English or French. Just mandarin. I screamed and cried for half an hour and yield at him. It felt like he chopped my arm off with no pain relief. My question is what the hell did this guy do to me? It was not the gentle small needles that everyone talks about.

[louisebam]

If someone damaged my sentrale nerves system by acupuncture, could it be repaired with time? Or is it forever... Thanks for the video

[rameshwaranganesan]

Acupuncture is not only science; it's more than that " wisdom"

[cc-qugz]

The music is very distracting, and makes it difficult to easily hear what the person is explaining. It would be better without that music.