So, people like to ask how acupuncture works. When asking this question, one can come up with a variety of responses ranging from scientific to totally esoteric. I prefer a blend of the two myself. I like to hear about the science and I like to revel in the magic, all at the same time. However, when a good research study comes into your hands it's pretty mind blowing. I like this research article as it talks about the anatomy of the back shu points. These are points that the ancient Chinese found by experimenting and observing a persons response to having needles put into this certain point. Back then they did not cut animals open, keep them alive and stick needles in them and write everything down according to the scientific method, yet they still found points that caused physiologic changes in a person, then they deciphered what the changes meant. In this day and age of the scientific method we find that these points (I am specifically talking about the back shu points of the bladder channel) line up with axons and dendrites of the nervous system along the spine, and thus by manipulating these points you are indeed causing a response to the nervous system that affects target organs and induces a physiologic response in the body. I find this both logical and magical myself. Here is the article I am talking about, please read if you are interested:
http://www.neuroanatomy.org/2009/032_035.pdf
