Individualized acupuncture for unilateral musculoskeletal pain: The advanced mathematical model

Abstract

Chronic musculoskeletal pain persists for longer than three months and is perceived to emerge from structures like bones, joints, and muscles. This condition interferes considerably in patients’ lives, leading to physical malfunction, psychological suffering, fatigue, social isolation, and job loss, resulting in a decrease in quality of life. Effective treatment remains a major challenge, highlighting the need for research to understand the complex underlying mechanisms. Recent studies have identified central neuroimmune activation and neuroinflammation as key contributors to the development of chronic pain, leading to central sensitization and reduced efficacy of opioid treatments. The number of clinical studies on the use of acupuncture for various types of pain has increased significantly in the last two decades showing a beneficial effect on pain relief and improving functional activities and psychological wellness. In our study, we decided to use a channel system and mathematical reasoning to resolve some chronic musculoskeletal pain. This method is grounded on an investigation of the historically described balancing systems, conducted by Schroeder et al. (2013) thus showing the extreme relevance of integrating psychoneuroimmunology and biopsychosocial details as necessary approaches to completely understand disease and illness. The results showed high efficiency and confirmed that the combination of more than two channels, somatotopic knowledge for the search for the right points on a balancing channel and the use of at least two types of needles helps preserve the balance of the treatment. More work should be done including studies in degenerative osteoarticular conditions.