Effects of Acupuncture on Peripheral Nerve Regeneration

While Western medicine focuses on the use of surgery or drug treatment in the repair of peripheral nerve injury, the use of non-surgical physical stimulation in nerve repair is attracting increasing attention. As a part of traditional Chinese medicine, the practice of acupuncture has spread worldwide and is used to treat various diseases and symptoms. A search of the keywords “acupuncture” and “peripheral nerve regeneration” in the online bibliographic databases covering the clinical medicine literature, including MedLine and PubMed, reveals a wealth of related literature, including experimental animal models, in vitro testing and clinical studies, suggesting that acupuncture improves the symptoms of nerve damage. This chapter reviews the effects of different types of stimulation (traditional acupuncture, electro-acupuncture, or stem cell transplantation as an adjuvant therapy) on promoting repair following peripheral nerve damage caused by various conditions (including traumatic injury, degenerative diseases, or side effects of chemotherapy). We propose future directions for research into the use of acupuncture in nerve regeneration.