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Faculty of Health Sciences

Department of Anesthesia

Contemporary Acupuncture

The McMaster Contemporary Acupuncture Program is a university-based continuing educational program designed for qualified health professionals interested in integrating Contemporary Medical Acupuncture (Neurofunctional Acupuncture, Electroacupuncture) into their practices.

Contemporary Medical Acupuncture is a precise peripheral nerve stimulation technique in which fine solid needles (acupuncture needles) are inserted into anatomically-defined neurofunctional sites and stimulated manually or with electricity for the therapeutic purpose of modulating abnormal activity of the nervous system and/or the endocrine, exocrine, and immune systems in pain syndromes, functional problems, and any diseases in which these modulatory mechanisms are available. Neuromodulation occurs through neurological and neurohumoral mechanisms at multiple levels, namely peripheral nerves, spinal cord, brain stem, brain, and cerebellum.

Contemporary Medical Acupuncture is mechanism-based, not disease-based. Therapeutic goals and treatment targets are selected based on the identified neurological dysfunctions contributing to the clinical presentation of the symptoms. Sometimes Contemporary Medical Acupuncture treatments result in transient amelioration or disappearance of the symptoms and other times results in permanent resolution of the dysfunction, especially when dysregulation of the nervous system was the underlying pathophysiological mechanism.

Contemporary Medical Acupuncture is synonymous with Neurofunctional Acupuncture at the McMaster University Contemporary Medical Acupuncture Program. Neurofunctional Acupuncture is a physiological intervention similar to exercise that elicits existing available regulatory mechanisms through the up-regulation and down-regulation of specific cellular processes. These cellular processes cannot be forced upon the body as it would happen with administration of pharmacological substances.

Our mission is to train selected health professionals in the use of Contemporary Medical Acupuncture (Neurofunctional Acupuncture, Electroacupuncture) for the treatment of musculoskeletal pain and movement disorders, sports injuries, functional problems, problems of dysregulation, headaches, stress-related disorders, chronic pain, etc., through high-quality, accelerated Continuing Education programs.