Paradoxes in Acupuncture Research: Strategies for Moving Forward

Table 1

Summary of combined recommendations for future research based on the paradoxes identified in this paper.

(a) Recommendations based on paradox 1	Expected benefits for future clinical trials
Understanding the physiological effects of acupuncture needling using appropriate controls	Prevention of needle-specific physiological effects in sham treatment
Identifying key physiological and psychological nonneedle components of acupuncture treatment	Prevention of specific nonneedle effects in sham treatment
Recognizing the extent to which acupuncture provided in the context of a clinical trial reflects acupuncture in real world clinical practice	Increased ecological validity
(b) Recommendations based on paradox 2	Expected benefits for future clinical trials
Translation of physiological effects of acupuncture observed in acute animal models and healthy humans to clinical treatment of complex chronic conditions	Improved correlations between needling parameters, biomarker changes and clinical outcomes
Translation of basic science findings with electro-acupuncture parameters using few needles to more traditional manual needling using multiple needles	Improved understanding of complex manual needling protocols as well as electrostimulation
Cross-correlations between Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) and biomedicine syndromes	Use of biomarkers to TCM entry criteria as objective outcome measures