One area of research which has been attracting considerable interest and funding in recent years has been the use of Functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI) and other brain scanning equipment to examine the effect stimulating specific acupuncture points has on the brain. Amongst the hundreds of acupuncture points on the body there are many which the Chinese have always used for treating specific conditions or parts of the body. For modern scientists this presents a dilemma, how can a point on the foot or shin, for example, treat eye disease or one on the hand effect the perception of pain?

Now, with the use of fmri there are numerous studies which are finding that specific points do affect specific brain regions, despite there being no direct nerve pathway. As ZH Cho et al reported in a study published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, "the results obtained demonstrate the correlation between activation of specific areas of brain cortices and corresponding acupoint stimulation predicted by ancient acupuncture literature."

Apart from giving positive feedback about the effect of acupuncture, this also opens up new questions for scientists about how the body communicates and functions.

In addition to looking at efficacy, a number of surveys have been undertaken to investigate adverse events. Both the British Medical Acupuncture Society and the British Acupuncture Council have been involved in studies involving at least 32,000 consultations, finding "no serious adverse events" and concluding that "acupuncture seems, in skilled hands, one of the safer forms of medical intervention".

Finally the largest ongoing demonstration of the use of acupuncture in mainstream medicine, treating a complete range of health conditions is of course in China itself. Here the two approaches of east and west work alongside one another, providing an integrated medical model and offering the patient a choice of treatments both modern and traditional.

For many living and working in the modern scientific world, the appeal of acupuncture is its search for balance, its acknowledgement of the whole, of the connection and flow between things, its use of intuition and its lack of side effects. In the UK today we are fortunate that this choice is becoming available to an increasing number of people. Despite all the uncertainties caused by lack of regulation and research, our willingness to investigate and experiment with different approaches to health care, to argue and debate about concepts and efficacy, to form organisations and research forums with the aim of drawing the best from both east and west must surely be a good thing for the vitality of the nation.

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