Dong style acupuncture (董氏针灸)

Dong style acupuncture (董氏针灸)

Dong style acupuncture was developed by 董景昌， a doctor from Taiwan. There are three particularities of this method. First, acupuncture points are very close to bone. Second, often multiple needles are inserted at the same place. Three, needles often stay in place for about an hour, much longer time than the standard methods.

What do these particularities tell us? Here is my understanding. First, when needles reach places very close to bones, they signal to our body that we are hurt very badly. Our body will enact strong immune response. Will our body overreact? Certainly possible. Indeed, the main concern of the medical profession now seems to be the overreactions of the immune systems, such as cytokine storm, not the underreaction. I think immune systems often over react to new invaders and under react to chronicle issues. This is the same on the macro level. For example, low fertility is far more important than many other issues in a human society. But it receives far less attention because fertility is a long term, or chronicle issue. Most of our health concerns today are long term issues. Immune systems tend to underreact. When needles reach positions very close to bones, they stimulate our dormant or underreacting immune systems strongly.

Second, multiple needles signal the same kind of emergency. More needles create bigger wounds and hence signal greater urgency. Third, longer staying of needles remind our body for a longer time than our body is in trouble. All these methods give stronger stimulus to our immune system than the standard acupuncture practice.

I would also like to discuss the speed of healing from acupuncture. It is generally felt that TCM (Traditional Chinese Medicine) works slowly, slower than the standard medical practice. But acupuncture often stimulate nervous systems directly. Nervous actions in turn trigger immune responses. I think the impacts of acupuncture are very fast.

Modern medicine has accumulated incredible amount of anatomy and physiology knowledge. It can be applied to understand the specific mechanism of acupuncture. I also think this knowledge can be used to greatly improve the practice of TCM. Some works have started. A great more can be done.

P.S. A conversation with Gemini

My prompt: Could you tell me some specific examples how acupuncture affects sympathetic, parasympathetic nerves, and immune systems?

Gemini:  To understand how acupuncture acts on these systems, we have to look past the traditional concept of "energy lines" and look directly at neuroanatomy.

Over the last few years, major breakthrough studies—including landmark research out of Harvard Medical School published in Nature and Neuron—have mapped out the exact neural circuits that acupuncture triggers.

When a needle is inserted and manipulated, it behaves like an electrical plug connecting into a pre-wired biological grid. The specific effects depend entirely on where the needle is placed and how it is stimulated.

1. Activating the Vagus Nerve & Quieting Cytokine Storms

The vagus nerve is the superhighway of the parasympathetic nervous system, running from the brainstem down to most major organs. It governs the body's "inflammatory reflex"—a built-in brake pedal designed to stop the immune system from overreacting.

Acupuncture can trigger this brake pedal through two primary pathways:

The Hindlimb Pathway (ST36 - Zusanli)

Scientists discovered that stimulating a famous point on the lower leg (below the knee) activates deep somatosensory neurons.

• The Circuit: The signal travels up the spinal cord to the brainstem, which fires a signal down the vagus nerve to the adrenal glands.

• The Immune Effect: The adrenal glands are triggered to release dopamine and epinephrine directly into the bloodstream. These systemic neurotransmitters tell macrophages (immune cells) to aggressively downregulate the production of lethal pro-inflammatory cytokines like TNF-alpha and IL-6. In lab models, this exact mechanical circuit effectively prevented and tamed lethal cytokine storms.

The Ear Pathway (Auricular Vagus Nerve)

The outer ear is one of the only places on the surface of the human body where branches of the vagus nerve emerge close to the skin.

• The Circuit: Placing needles in specific ear points (like Shen Men or Point Zero) directly stimulates the auricular branch of the vagus nerve.

• The Effect: This immediately increases vagal tone, slowing the heart rate, increasing Heart Rate Variability (HRV), and shifting the entire body into a state of deep, parasympathetic rest.

2. Downregulating the Sympathetic Overdrive ("Fight-or-Flight")

When a human is trapped in chronic stress, the sympathetic nervous system is stuck "on." The body continuously pumps out cortisol and norepinephrine, which constricts blood vessels, drives up blood pressure, and suppresses tissue repair.

Acupuncture downregulates this overreaction through specific systemic points (e.g., Yintang between the eyebrows, or Du20 at the crown of the head):

• Calming the Master Command Center: The needle stimulation sends a calming signal to the HPA axis(Hypothalamic-Pituitary-Adrenal axis) in the brain.

• The Neurochemical Shift: It forces the brain to release endorphins, enkephalins, and GABA (the brain's primary inhibitory, relaxing neurotransmitter). This acts as a chemical dampener on the sympathetic nerve fibers running along the spinal cord, effectively releasing the "gas pedal." As a result, blood vessels dilate, muscle tension melts away, and blood pressure drops.

3. Dynamically Tuning the Immune System (Context-Dependent)

Acupuncture doesn't blindly suppress or blindly boost the immune system; it behaves as a neuromodulator. It can rouse a dormant local immune response or quiet down a hyperactive systemic one based on the stimulation parameters used.

Waking Up Local Defenses (High-Intensity/Manual Twirling)

When an acupuncturist strongly inserts and twirls a needle in a localized area of chronic injury, it triggers a massive mechanical reaction in the connective tissue.

• Mast Cell Activation: The physical torque of the needle causes local mast cells (first-responder immune cells) to cluster and degranulate.

• The Inflow: They release histamine, substance P, and adenosine locally. This mimics an acute infection or injury, "tricking" the central nervous system into sending a rush of T-cells and Natural Killer (NK) cells to a region it had previously been ignoring or under-reacting to.

Systemic Calibration (Low-Intensity/Electroacupuncture)

Conversely, running a gentle, low-frequency electrical current through the needles (electroacupuncture) bypasses local tissue trauma entirely. Instead, it codes a purely electrical signal to the brain to coordinate systemic anti-inflammatory reflexes across the spleen and gut, balancing autoimmune conditions where the body is attacking itself.

The Neurobiological Blueprint

This precise tuning explains why acupuncture is utilized across opposite ends of the medical spectrum: it can mechanically signal the body to wake up a lazy, dormant local repair crew, or provide the exact neural coding needed to slam the brakes on a systemic immune system running dangerously out of control.