by Kate Henderson, L.Ac.
CSW pic
Qi is translated as “vital energy” or “vital breath.” Thus far, no Western-medical observation has ever validated the existence of the channels of Qi that run through the body in the patterns that Chinese Medicine describes, though some research has been suggestive. In the Western medical view, there is not currently a satisfactory scientific explanation for what acupuncture points are, let alone for what happens at specific acupuncture points or how acupuncture treats conditions understood through Western diagnosis.

Even so, all cellular activity has a measurable bioelectric current. Even in a Western clinical setting, it has been observed that 80 percent of the acupuncture points described by Chinese medicine seem to show a higher conductivity at their sites than the surrounding tissue. So, even by Western scientific standards, there is some phenomena that may eventually explain something about how acupuncture works. With only 80 percent of recognized Chinese points showing up in Western studies (done with machines meant to measure phenomena already understood and quantifiable in the West), there remains a translation gap between what Chinese Medicine understands, measures, and treats, and what Western Medicine understands, measures, and treats.

One organ neglected by Chinese Medicine theory seems to be the brain. When mentioned in Chinese Medicine texts, the brain seems to have little importance in clinical use, lacks a channel or points, and plays a negligible part in treatment. While Western medicine places much emphasis on the brain in clinical research, CM sees it as secondary to the system of organs (Liver, Heart, Pericardium, etc.) and channels as a whole.

Despite acupuncture’s apparent omission of the brain in its theoretical framework, acupuncture does have clear effects on the brain’s function, as well as the nervous system at large. An MRI study of patients receiving acupuncture shows a constellation of measurable responses in the brain, especially decreases in pain and distress signals in the limbic system.

This may explain why patients often show changes in the most automatic functions of the body: appetite, digestion, sleep, and mood. However, the overall reaction of the body to acupuncture treatment is intricate, with acupuncture simultaneously modulating and balancing the function of the Nervous system, the Immune system, the Endocrine system, the Circulatory system. Western studies show measurable bodily changes in heart rate, neurological activity, hormone regulation, white blood cell production and increased circulation—all from acupuncture.

But why do specific points work for specific problems, and how does this speak to the brain? Some scientists have observed an increased amount of nerve bundles at acupuncture point sites. But not all scientists who looked for anatomical phenomena have found this. There are also nerve/vessel bundles found at sites that contain no acupuncture points. Another theory speaks about the role of connective tissue in acupuncture. Connective tissue is what holds all of our tissues, muscles, nerves, and vessels in place. When you are handling a piece of raw chicken you can observe some of the connective tissue that looks like an iridescent saran wrap over the muscle. You contain and are permeated by this tissue throughout your body. If every tissue in your body were removed and only connective tissue remained, it would still retain the shape of your body and all of its structure. It maintains its shape through the hydrostatic pressure of the body’s water content, much like the stem of a flower. Because connective tissue is literally connected all over your whole body, this may explain how the bioelectric response precipitated by needle therapy could have far reaching effects all over the body. The connective tissue may “conduct” the “signal” made by the stimulation of the needle and register with the nervous system in a cascading effect through the brain, explaining the pattern of sensation that many patients describe during acupuncture, such as being needled on the inner portion of the elbow and feeling subtle traveling sensations toward the middle finger.

[Personally, my theory is that Qi does not refer to a specific substance in the body. I think that when the old Chinese medical texts talk about qi, it refers to a pattern of movement or a probability rather than a separate bodily system. I believe that it is the underlying tendency of activity and movement that interrelates all the bodily systems in Chinese medicine, much like energy is described in physics.]