Evidence Base for Acupuncture

Evidence of Effectiveness

Evidence of effectiveness underpins the validity of all health care interventions. Acupuncture has been practised for thousands of years; research into its effectiveness and cost effectiveness is in its relative infancy.

Recently the Acupuncture Evidence Project* reviewed the effectiveness of acupuncture for 122 treatments over 14 clinical areas. They found evidence of effect for 117 conditions “with stronger evidence for some conditions than others”:

British Acupuncture Council Research Factsheets

  • The A-Z of the evidence base for acupuncture. These fact sheets are produced to provide accurate and unbiased general information for a variety of conditions.

Journal of Chinese Medicine Research Archive

  • Chinese medicine and acupuncture research news pages.

Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association: The Acupuncture Evidence Project

  • The Acupuncture Evidence Project – A comparative Literature Review 2017 – The Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association Ltd (AACMA) identified the need for an updated review of the literature with greater rigour than was possible in the past and commissioned The Acupuncture Evidence Project.

Society for Acupuncture Research White Papers

  • These are “must-reads” for anyone interested in looking at acupuncture research from a wider perspective of what’s happening in the field and then delving more deeply into each area of focus.

Evidence Based Acupuncture: Evidence Summaries

  • The evidence summaries produced by Evidence Based Acupuncture are fully referenced literature reviews of the most up to date evidence for acupuncture in a variety of clinical areas.