Effectiveness

Acupuncture works in approximately 70 to 80% of humans and animals. Meanwhile, we know that placebo only works 30% of the time.Acupuncture does not work all the time in all people for various reasons. Principally due to cholecystikinin (CCK). Those individuals with high CCK are poor responders to acupuncture analgesia. Good responders have less CCK. CCK blocks acupuncture tolerance, it acts in the periaquaductal gray. Animal experimentation have been done to show that poor responders may become better responders through the use of a CCK antagonist and that good responders can become poor responders by the use of cDNA, CCK gene.

Acupuncture has been shown not to be physiologically addicting. Acupuncture is however additive and cumulative in its effects. It is more powerful after ten to fifteen treatments. Neurologically we know acupuncture works with a small mylenated fibers A delta-type III, and it does not work on larger fibers, C-fibers.