Diagnosis and treatment protocol for COVID‐19 patients
(Tentative 10th Version)
(2023, China)
Released by National Health Commission of People’s Republic of China & National Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine on January 5, 2023.

11.8 | Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) therapy
This disease belongs to plague in TCM, caused by epidemic pathogenic factors.
According to the different local climate characteristics and individual states of illness and physical conditions, the following treatment Protocol may vary. …
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/hcs2.36

Zhang Z. Diagnosis and treatment protocol for COVID‐19 patients (Tentative 10th Version). Health Care Sci. 2023;2:10–24. https://doi.org/10.1002/hcs2.36

Overview of the Evolution of Hypertension:
From Ancient Chinese Emperors to Today (2024,USA)
The awareness of sustained elevations in BP, now known as hypertension, dates to the Chinese Yellow Emperor’s Classic of Internal Medicine (2600 BC; Table). Even in those early times, the appreciation of salt as a contributor to elevated pressure was appreciated: “…If too much salt is used in blood, the pulse hardens.” Early treatments for what was then called hard pulse disease included acupuncture, venesection, and bleeding by leeches.

The American Heart Association
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/full/10.1161/HYPERTENSIONAHA.124.21953?af=R
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38507509/

Acupuncture Versus Opioids for Pain Relief: An Expert Discussion
(2018, USA, France)
Chen WG, Niemtzow RC, Belfer I, Helms JM, Kligler B, Langevin H, et al.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6345113/pdf/acu.2018.29102.rtl.pdf
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/31983934/

Acupuncture In Pain Management (2017)
https://www.acunow.org/uploads/1/1/8/6/118615065/anf-fda-20170712.pdf

Acupuncture for radicular pain: a review of analgesic mechanism
(2024, China)
https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnmol.2024.1332876/full
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11002172/pdf/fnmol-17-1332876.pdf

Acupuncture exerts analgesic effects by:
relieving mechanical compression of nerve roots;
anti-inflammatory action,
regulating the plasticity of spinal cord synapses,
adjusting the functional alterations in the brain.

Patients often prefer surgical intervention to conservative management due to its quicker relief (Ropper and Zafonte, 2015) despite comparisons 1 year after surgery showing minimal differences in sympto relief and functional improvement compared to conservative therapy alone.
Therefore, surgical decompression should be recommended primarily for patients experiencing refractory or unbearable symptoms, as the long-term outcomes for radicular pain management do not significantly differ between surgical and conservative approaches
(Peul et al., 2007; Lequin et al., 2013).
Drug therapy, can lead to side effects such as nausea, fatigue and dizziness
(Qaseem et al., 2017).

Acupuncture not only offers significant therapeutic benefits over physical exercise for lumbar intervertebral stenosis but also achieves higher patient satisfaction compared to drug therapy (Oka et al., 2018).

Acupuncture is more effective and safer than oral medication
in treating acute/subacute NSLBP (2023, China)
This systematic review is poised to offer valuable guidance to clinicians treating acute/subacute NSLBP and potentially benefit the afflicted patients.
Acupuncture Versus Oral Medications for Acute/Subacute Non‑Specific Low Back Pain:
A Systematic Review and Meta‑Analysis (2023, China)
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38190024/
Current Pain and Headache Reports https://doi.org/10.1007/s11916-023-01201-7

Can Acupuncture Improve Chronic Spinal Pain? (2021, China)
Global Spine Journal
Conclusion:
In summary, compared to no treatment, sham acupuncture, or conventional therapy such as medication, massage, and physical exercise, acupuncture has a significantly superior effect on the reduction in chronic spinal pain and function improvement. Acupuncture might be an effective treatment for patients with chronic spinal pain and it is a safe therapy.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33034233/

Acupuncture and Spinal Stenosis: Considerations for Treatment (2022, USA)
Compared to no treatment, sham acupuncture, or usual therapy, acupuncture has a significantly superior effect on the reduction in pain and functional limitations for patients with chronic spinal pain.
Our results suggest that acupuncture is also a safe therapy.
Patients with chronic spinal pain might benefit from acupuncture therapy.
https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/4160/5af1c0cbfd6a2473139d899b5df73473a2f0.pdf

Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain

CAG-00452N

SUBJECT: National Coverage Determination for Acupuncture for Chronic Low Back Pain

DATE: January 21, 2020

I. Decision

A. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) will cover acupuncture for chronic low back pain under section 1862(a)(1)(A) of the Social Security Act. Up to 12 visits in 90 days are covered for Medicare beneficiaries under the following circumstances:

For the purpose of this decision, chronic low back pain (cLBP) is defined as:
- Lasting 12 weeks or longer;
- nonspecific, in that it has no identifiable systemic cause (i.e., not associated with metastatic, inflammatory, infectious, etc. disease);
- not associated with surgery; and
- not associated with pregnancy.
An additional eight sessions will be covered for those patients demonstrating an improvement. No more than 20 acupuncture treatments may be administered annually.
Treatment must be discontinued if the patient is not improving or is regressing.

https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/view/ncacal-decision-memo.aspx?proposed=N&NCAId=295

NICE (National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, UK)
guideline for chronic pain (2021)
www.nice.org.uk/guidance/ng193

National Coverage Determination for Acupuncture for Chronic Low (2020)
https://www.cms.gov/medicare-coverage-database/view/ncacal-decision-memo.aspx?proposed=N&NCAId=295

Evidence on acupuncture therapies is underused
in clinical practice and health policy (2021)
https://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/376/bmj-2021-067475.full.pdf

Acupuncture activates inflammation-regulating pathways,
tames cytokine storm in mice (2020, USA)
Harvard University
https://hms.harvard.edu/news/quieting-storm

Revealing the magic of acupuncture based on biological mechanisms
(2022, China)
BioScience Trends. 2022; 16(1):73-90.
https://www.jstage.jst.go.jp/article/bst/16/1/16_2022.01039/_pdf/-char/en
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35153276/

Stimulated oxygen transport in tissue by magnetic needles
– Physiology of acupuncture (2022, China, Sweden)
Uppsala University
https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/2021.02.01.426016v2.full.pdf

An acupoint-originated human interstitial fluid circulatory network
(2021, China, Austria, Germay)
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8509956/pdf/cm9-134-2365.pdf

An insight into acupoints and meridians in human body
based on interstitial fluid circulation (2020, China)
https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2012/2012.13593.pdf

The Meridian is a Set of Pathways for Interstitial Fluid to Travel among Tissues (2013, Taiwan)
http://article.sapub.org/10.5923.j.health.20130302.01.html

Acupuncture impacts same biologic pathways in rats that pain drugs target in humans (2015)