White Papers

Acupuncture: More than Pain Management

A review of the research and potential of an ancient therapy in modern times

It is now widely accepted across health care disciplines throughout the world that acupuncture can be effective in treating such painful conditions as migraine headaches, and low back, neck and knee pain, as well as a range of painful musculoskeletal conditions. Less well known is some of the promising research showing that this ancient form of treatment can be valuable in treating such diverse conditions as infertility, depression and allergic rhinitis (hay fever) — to name a few.

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Acupuncture in Pain Management: Strengths and Weaknesses of a Promising Non-Pharmacologic Therapy in the Age of the Opioid Epidemic.

Originally written as our comments to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as they were re-writing their pain management guidelines in response to the North American opioid crisis. This paper calls for an expansion of acupuncture services in response to the opioid crisis. It reviews the most current research, highlights four milestone studies, addresses the criticism that acupuncture is only a placebo by reviewing the ethics inherent in considerations of the benefit to harm ratio, and discusses workforce and cost considerations that will need to be addressed with an expansion of acupuncture's role in mainstream healthcare. A copy of our cover letter to the FDA is also found below.

FDA Position Paper

Acupuncture's Role in Solving the Opioid Crisis

Evidence, Cost-Effectiveness, and Care Availability for Acupuncture as a Primary, Non-Pharmacologic Method for Pain Relief and Management

This paper examines the research evidence behind acupuncture's ability to ease pain in a number of conditions and explores how the use of acupuncture can reduce dependance on opioids.