There has already been research showing Acupuncture is effective for Allergic Rhinitis, but its western medical mechanism is poorly understood. A recent Australian study done on dust mite allergies believes to have worked it out. The symptoms of itchy eyes/nose and nasal obstruction are all caused by a cell receptor called TRPV1. This cell receptor plays a key role in the body’s allergic inflammatory response, which Acupuncture down regulates. What this means is Acupuncture reduces the cells reactivity of this receptor which is triggered by allergens; and hence reduces the allergic response. The study group noticed improvements in allergic symptoms and improved sleep quality over the course of the study.
Whilst this not only helps reinforce other studies results of Acupuncture’s effectiveness for treating allergies, it also helps provide some understanding of the mechanisms behind it within a Western Medical framework.
In Chinese Medicine this would be described as “expelling external wind and damp”, which doesn’t sound very scientific by comparison. This is because Chinese Medicine and the Eastern way of viewing how illness develops has a lot to do with observing nature and its phenomenon. Instead of inventing another vocabulary -as damp is like a fog or mildew in nature- Chinese medicine uses that term to describe medical conditions such as sinus obstruction, bloating, and other infections that involve mucous and phlegm. Interestingly though the term “caught a cold” its still used in western medicine, even though its more a naturalist description.
