Skin blood-flow response to acupuncture

It is claimed that acupuncture may have a clinical effect by reducing sympathetic tone, This can be assessed by changes in skin blood now. Previous research into this question has produced contradictory findings, Therefore, a partially-blinded randomised trial was undertaken to investigate blood flow changes in healthy volunteers. Seven volunteers received one session each of electroacupuncture, manual acupuncture and sham acupuncture, one week apart, Blood flow was recorded by means of a laser Doppler flowmeter, There were no significant rises in skin blood flow in the group as a whole following any of the above interventions, A statistically significant fall in blood now during electroacupuncture was seen in those subjects who were not vasoconstricted at the outset, It returned to normal at the end of stimulation. These findings do not support the hypothesis that acupuncture leads to a reduction in sympathetic tone.