Brilliant New Study on Acupuncture's Role in Controlling Lethal Inflammation

Septic reaction within the blood.A fascinating article summarizing and discussing several studies which looked at the role of acupuncture on the deadly inflammation which often follows bacterial sepsis was recently published in Scientific American. The article was exciting for several reasons, the first of which is that such a potent and life saving property of one specific acupoint has been revealed to the larger medical community (as acupuncturists were already aware of this). Yet another is that it marks yet another step in the long, yet ever shortening, staircase toward the acceptance of traditional Chinese medicine as a valid and valuable clinical resource. Perhaps just as important is the immediate and life saving function that acupuncture may now be allowed to have in a hospital setting:

Sepsis kills over 250,000 patients in the U.S. each year, more than 9 percent of overall deaths. Antibiotics can control sepsis-related infection, but no current drugs have FDA approval for counteracting the runaway immune response.

Also exciting is the notion, put forth in the article, that this may just the beginning of other investigations into the role that acupuncture may play in managing autoimmune reactions within the body. Something that we see a lot of in our clinics – running the wide gamut from rheumatoid arthritis to lupus and many disorders in between.