title: Unanticipated Insights into Biomedicine from the Study of Acupuncture.
abstract: Research into acupuncture has had ripple effects beyond the field of acupuncture. This paper identifies five exemplars to illustrate that there is tangible evidence of the way insights gleaned from acupuncture research have informed biomedical research, practice, or policy. The first exemplar documents how early research into acupuncture analgesia has expanded into neuroimaging research, broadening physiologic understanding and treatment of chronic pain. The second describes how the acupuncture needle has become a tool to enhance biomedical knowledge of connective tissue. The third exemplar, which illustrates use of a modified acupuncture needle as a sham device, focuses on emergent understanding of placebo effects and, in turn, on insights into therapeutic encounters in treatments unrelated to acupuncture. The fourth exemplar documents that two medical devices now in widespread use were inspired by acupuncture: transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulators for pain control and antinausea wrist bands. The final exemplar describes how pragmatic clinical trial designs applied in acupuncture research have informed current general interest in comparative effectiveness research. In conclusion, these exemplars of unanticipated outcomes of acupuncture research comprise an additional rationale for continued support of basic and clinical research evaluating acupuncture and other under-researched therapies.
authors.affiliation: 1 Department of Health Sciences, University of York , York, United Kingdom .
authors.forename: Hugh
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: MacPherson
authors.affiliation: 2 Research Department, Oregon College of Oriental Medicine , Portland, OR.|3 The Institute for Integrative Health , Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Hammerschlag
authors.affiliation: 4 Duke Clinical Research Institute , Durham, NC.|5 Department of Community and Family Medicine, Duke University , Durham, NC.
authors.forename: Remy R
authors.initials: RR
authors.lastname: Coeytaux
authors.affiliation: 6 Stromatec, Inc. , Burlington, VT.
authors.forename: Robert T
authors.initials: RT
authors.lastname: Davis
authors.affiliation: 7 Department of Anesthesiology, University of Michigan , Ann Arbor, MI.
authors.forename: Richard E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Harris
authors.affiliation: 8 Department of Anesthesiology, Perioperative and Pain Medicine, Stanford University School of Medicine , Stanford, CA.
authors.forename: Jiang-Ti
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Kong
authors.affiliation: 9 Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Helene M
authors.initials: HM
authors.lastname: Langevin
authors.affiliation: 10 School of Chinese Medicine, The University of Hong Kong , Hong Kong .|11 Center for Integrative Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Maryland , Baltimore, MD.
authors.forename: Lixing
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lao
authors.affiliation: 2 Research Department, Oregon College of Oriental Medicine , Portland, OR.
authors.forename: Ryan J
authors.initials: RJ
authors.lastname: Milley
authors.affiliation: 12 Martinos Center for Biomedical Imaging, Massachusetts General Hospital , Harvard Medical School, Charlestown, MA.|13 Department of Radiology, Logan University , Chesterfield, MO.|14 Department of Biomedical Engineering, Kyunghee University , Yongin, Korea.
authors.forename: Vitaly
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Napadow
authors.affiliation: 15 School of Nursing, University of Texas , Austin, TX.
authors.forename: Rosa N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Schnyer
authors.affiliation: 16 Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology, Department of Physiology, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg , Gothenburg, Sweden .
authors.forename: Elisabet
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Stener-Victorin
authors.affiliation: 17 Institute for Complementary and Integrative Medicine, University Hospital Zurich, University of Zurich , Zurich, Switzerland .
authors.forename: Claudia M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Witt
authors.affiliation: 9 Osher Center for Integrative Medicine, Brigham and Women's Hospital and Harvard Medical School , Boston, MA.
authors.forename: Peter M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: Wayne
mesh_terms: D026881:Acupuncture; D015667:Acupuncture Analgesia; D015670:Acupuncture Therapy; D035843:Biomedical Research; D059350:Chronic Pain; D057186:Comparative Effectiveness Research; D006801:Humans; D059408:Pain Management; D015990:Placebo Effect; D012107:Research Design; D004561:Transcutaneous Electric Nerve Stimulation