Chinese medicine is an empirical science, that it is based on a centuries-old experience based medicine.
With its catchment in the Western world, the Chinese medicine, especially acupuncture, has to undergo more and more scientific tests.
Nowadays acupuncture is already an established method with numerous evidence of physiological effects. These include:
- the impact on local structures which surround cells (fibroblasts, collagen fibers, fascia, etc.),
- the peripheral distribution of various neurotransmitters (messengers of nerve cells),
- the relaxing effects on the muscles,
- the release of various neurotransmitters in the brain and spinal cord (eg, endorphins, serotonin, norepinephrine) and
- the activation of the descending pain-inhibition.
See also: https://www.evidencebasedacupuncture.org/present-research/acupuncture-scientific-evidence/