The Science of Acupuncture 
Dr. John McDonald, PhD
Dr. John McDonald, PhD. commenced acupuncture studies in Australia in 1971, clinical practice in 1975 and teaching acupuncture in 1977. He has been a pioneer in developing acupuncture education in Australia in curriculum development and as a Dean, Department Head, senior lecturer and course coordinator in a number of colleges and universities.
Among John’s publications are the textbook “Zang Fu Syndromes: Differential Diagnosis and Treatment” co-authored with Dr Joel Penner from Los Angeles, seven peer-reviewed journal papers, 21 other journal papers, more than 30 health magazine articles and four videos. Recently John has, with Stephen Janz, co-authored a comparative literature review, The Acupuncture Evidence Project, sponsored and published by the Australian Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine Association of Australia Ltd (AACMA).
Currently John is an Adjunct Senior-Lecturer in the School of Medicine at Griffith University (where he conducted his PhD research into the immunological mechanisms underpinning the effects of acupuncture in allergic rhinitis). John is also Vice-President of the Acupuncture Now Foundation, President of Acupuncture Now Foundation Australia, a sessional lecturer and Honours student supervisor at the Endeavour College of Natural Health and a reviewer for various peer-reviewed journals including Nature, BMJ, Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine and Journal of Acupuncture and Meridian Studies. John has recently been appointed to the Editorial Board of Digital Chinese Medicine at Hunan University of Chinese Medicine.
November 16, 2019-November 17, 2019 9:00 AM-6:00 PM
16 Category 1 CAB units available
Type: Didactic lecture
Description:
1. The current state of acupuncture research
Current status of acupuncture research will be reviewed including an introduction to tools for assessing evidence level and quality including CONSORT, STRICTA, NICMAN and GRADE. Research on cost-effectiveness and safety will be reviewed briefly. Acupuncture research on pain, nausea and vomiting, inflammation and allergic rhinitis will be reviewed in depth. The current status of recommendations for acupuncture in clinical practice guidelines will be reviewed, as well as a discussion of the process for developing clinical practice guidelines with suggestions for future directions in acupuncture research to facilitate more clinically relevant outcomes in clinical practice guidelines.
2. How does acupuncture work?
The greater our understanding of the physiological mechanisms of acupuncture, the easier it is to demonstrate that acupuncture can produce significant health benefits. Much research has explored the neural pathways, signalling pathways, mediators and receptors which participate in acupuncture’s numerous effects. Initially, much of the research was focused on acupuncture analgesia. The discovery of various endogenous opioids, released in response to acupuncture, has done much to promote the credibility of acupuncture. Now research is delving into other fields such as the effects of acupuncture on inflammation, neuromodulation, immunomodulation and the effects of acupuncture on circadian regulation.
3. History of acupuncture in the West/Untangling the threads
The historical narrative of acupuncture in the West begins in the 1930s with Georges Soulie de Morant in France and Sawada Ken in Japan. The early teaching of acupuncture in France also drew from Taiwanese mentors such as Wu Weiping and Chuang Yumin. Modern TCM was created in the 1950s in China by Cheng Danan and the first school in USA was established in Boston by James Tin Yao So, whose teacher was a student of Cheng Danan. Acupuncture teachers in France, such as Jacques Lavier, influenced the first schools established in England in the 1960s, which in turn led to the first schools being established in Australia and New Zealand. In the course of the development of various schools, mistakes were made, and this lecture attempts to unravel some of these threads by revealing the discrepancies from original sources which have arisen. Misconceptions about the Luomai, Jingbie (Divergent channels) and Jingjin (Tendinomuscular channels) are highlighted, as well as Window of the Sky points.
4. Evidence-based point selection methods
Although the theories and practices of acupuncture are constantly evolving, a sound knowledge of the historical literature allows innovation to be guided in directions that are more likely to lead to effective treatment.
This lecture reviews the main methods of acupuncture point selection, and the uses of different point categories and point groupings. The historical acupuncture literature has generated a trail of literary evidence that, although including many diverse views, distils down to a broad consensus regarding which points are clinically effective to treat which symptoms/diseases. This ‘broad consensus’ is the basis for evidence-based point selection.