Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine

Mieko Takaoka has completed her Master Degree at South Baylo University and Doctoral degree at University of East West Medicine. Currently, she is working on her second Doctoral degree at Tianjin University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. She completed Acupuncturists without Boarders (AWB); Auricular Acupuncture training to provide relief and recovery in the wake of major disasters and traumatic events across the world. She has treated US veterans at the Bay Area Veterans Acupuncture Clinic in San Francisco, USA. 

Objective: This literature review aimed to investigate the current trends of auricular acupuncture (AA) research in the US and its future direction from recent journal publications. 

 

Methods: AA relevant articles published by authors from the US were collected from PubMed database from 2013 to May 2018. 

 

Results: The finding components were AA topics, publication years, article types, research collaborating countries outside of the US, AA tools and combination of other modalities with AA, NADA protocol and BFA protocol, p-values, number of subjects and animal model experiments. Top four AA research topics in the US were pain management (n=20), psychological disorders (n=11), addiction (n=8) and the US military healthcare (n=5). The journal article types were mostly clinical study (34%, n=10), review (27%, n=8), and research supported by US government (23%, n=7). Other modalities combined with AA treatment were electro acupuncture, body acupuncture, gua sha, tui na, relaxation technique and antiemetic medication. US authors wrote articles in collaboration with authors from outside of the US such as China 

(63%, n=12), Hong Kong (16%, n=3), (5%, n=1), Australia, Austria, China, Canada and France, Hong Kong and Taiwan (5%, n=1), Australia (5%, n=1), and Korea (5%, n=1). Conclusion: U S government and military department support AA research and clinical practice in order to respond the urgent medical needs in America. The involvement of international AA experts in future research can benefit the further development of AA intervention. Effective AA models may be replicated globally.