Volume 1 Issue 4 - August 2006

by Phil Rogers

Acupuncture works via homeostatic (self-adjusting, natural self-healing) mechanisms in the body. Adaptive feed-back and feed-forward mechanisms include sensory and motor reflexes, mediated by the peripheral nervous system, spinal cord, midbrain and autonomic nervous system. They also include adaptive responses mediated by the neurohumoral and immune systems (cellular chemical messengers, neurotransmitters and hormones, antibodies, interferon, etc). Acupuncture can help only if these mechanisms are capable of responding to peripheral stimuli.