Acupuncture and migraines

In a recent study, fake acupuncture was found to be as effective as real acupuncture in helping migraine sufferers.

In addition to the possible explanations suggested by medical researchers, Chinese medicine provides two additional explanations for why the fake treatment was effective.

The fake acupuncture treatment consisted of inserting needles in places that are not known acupuncture points. However, acupuncture points are not isolated points, they are points on paths. If the fake treatment involved inserting needles anywhere on an appropriate path, there would likely be a benefit, even if that location does not correspond to a known acupuncture point.

The other explanation is more technical. One cause of migraine headaches is called ‘Excess Wood’, in the Law of 5 elements. Acupuncture, partly because it uses metal needles, belongs to the Metal element. The Metal element has the property of decreasing Wood, so inserting metal needles anywhere is likely to help migraine headaches caused by Excess Wood.

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