ABSTRACT
The location of acupuncture points and suggestions of reasonable neurological mechanisms have convinced many that acupuncture effects are primarily mediated through the nervous system. For example, analgesic effects of acupuncture are blocked by local anesthetics, suggesting that actions of the peripheral nervous system are crucial. It has also been demonstrated that endorphin production is induced by acupuncture analgesia, and that acupuncture analgesia can be blocked by naloxone.5 Others reject the idea that acupuncture is primarily neurologically based, noting for example that some of the most commonly used acupuncture points (e.g. in the auricle of the ear) have no demonstrably important nerves or vessels nearby.
