Body of Research

Several studies investigating the use of transcutaneous vagus nerve stimulation (tVNS) for disorders tinnitus, migraine and pain show therapeutic effects similar to those produced by the more invasive direct vagus nerve stimulation (VNS). Although VNS is an FDA-approved therapy for the treatment of both depression and epilepsy, it is limited to being a second or third-line treatment option for severe, intervention-resistant cases, due to risks involved with device implantation. In contrast, t...

Obesity is a chronic condition related to serious morbidity and mortality of increasing incidence and prevalence. Several studies show a significantly higher weight loss with acupuncture treatment. This is the first prospective, randomized, double-blinded study, testing the effects of auricular electroacupuncture on weight loss in obese female patients. Read more about the promising results showing the possibility of electrical auricular acupuncture to be a safe, adjunctive, non-pharmacologic...

The authors of this study note that in contrast to psychological interventions the usefulness of acupuncture as an adjuvant therapy in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has not yet been demonstrated. The objective of this study is to directly compare the efficacy of auricular electroacupuncture (EA) with autogenic training (AT). A clinically meaningful and statistically significant improvement (p < 0.05) could be observed in all outcome parameters and both groups. In contrast to the AT group, the ...