Does Acupuncture Work?

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You state that "Acupuncture is the practice of placing thin needles at acupuncture points, which are said to coincide with points at which meridians cross..."

I'm not too sure what comic book you read to learn about acupuncture, but in 361 acupuncture points, there is ONE called Sanyinjiao that is at a point where acupuncture meridians cross; the remaining 360 are located on meridians, (not including 40 "extra points" that lie off of meridians but have therapeutic value.)

Although the ancient Chinese knew nothing of viruses and bacteria, they DID have an awareness that if someone's "anti-pathogenic Qi or Wei Qi" (their immune system) was weaker than the "exogenous pathogenic factors" (microorganisms), a diseased state would ensue.  Herbal medicine that would "tonify wei qi" has been shown in modern day studies to boost NK cells, specialized white blood cells, etc. Lister is one of the early pioneers of Germ Theory, where if you are exposed to a germ, you get sick.  "Environmental theory" is taught in medical schools today, demonstrating that a strong immune system is necessary for robust health, regardless of the germs one is exposed to (reflecting the philosophy of Traditional Chinese Medicine).  Ancient Chinese terminology was lacking, but they understood the pathology of illness and described it in detail in the "Yellow Emporors Classic of Medicine".

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None of this establishes the existence of qi, or meridians. These are pre-scientific notions that have been discarded by modern biology, chemistry, and physics. The vitalists lost this debate 150 years ago - there is no life force. Qi does not exist. The details of the magic are irrelevant.

The fact that an herb increases white cell function is extremely non-specific. The immune system reacts to just about every foreign substance. This says absolutely nothing about the traditional beliefs about the mechanism of the herb. Herbs are drugs - they can affect the body.

The retrofitting of modern immune function and disease theory to the ancient notions of TCM is amusing. They had no idea about disease or germs or the immune system. The very vague and basic ideas that a strong body will resist illness is no generic that it could fit any modern knowledge of health and disease.

The bottom line - TCM has tought us nothing about how the body actually works. The notion of a vitalistic life force is completely unecessary.