Editing Acupuncture (section)

====Rationalizations of traditional medicine====
It is a generally held belief within the acupuncture community that acupuncture points and meridians structures are special conduits for electrical signals, but no research has established any consistent anatomical structure or function for either acupuncture points or meridians.{{efn|name=SinghErnst2008}}<ref name="Ahn2008">{{cite journal | vauthors = Ahn AC, Colbert AP, Anderson BJ, Martinsen OG, Hammerschlag R, Cina S, Wayne PM, Langevin HM | title = Electrical properties of acupuncture points and meridians: a systematic review | journal = Bioelectromagnetics | volume = 29 | issue = 4 | pages = 245–56 | date = May 2008 | pmid = 18240287 | doi = 10.1002/bem.20403 | s2cid = 7001749 | url = https://mn.uio.no/fysikk/english/research/projects/bioimpedance/publications/papers/meridian_rev.pdf | access-date = 2 March 2012 | archive-date = 18 May 2021 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20210518004121/https://www.mn.uio.no/fysikk/english/research/projects/bioimpedance/publications/papers/meridian_rev.pdf | url-status = live }}</ref> Human tests to determine whether electrical continuity was significantly different near meridians than other places in the body have been inconclusive.<ref name="Ahn2008"/> Scientific research has not supported the existence of ''qi'', meridians, or yin and yang.{{efn|name=SinghErnst2008}}<ref name="Ahn2008"/><ref name=Mann2000>{{cite book | last = Mann | first = F | author-link = Felix Mann | isbn = 978-0750648578 | publisher = [[Elsevier Health Sciences|Elsevier]] | year = 2000 | title = Reinventing Acupuncture: A New Concept of Ancient Medicine}}</ref> A ''[[Nature (journal)|Nature]]'' editorial described TCM as "fraught with pseudoscience", with the majority of its treatments having no logical [[mechanism of action]].<ref name=swallow>{{cite journal | title = Hard to swallow | journal = Nature | volume = 448 | issue = 7150 | pages = 105–06 | date = July 2007 | pmid = 17625521 | doi = 10.1038/448106a | bibcode = 2007Natur.448S.105. | doi-access = free }}</ref> [[Quackwatch]] states that "TCM theory and practice are not based upon the body of knowledge related to health, disease, and health care that has been widely accepted by the scientific community. TCM practitioners disagree among themselves about how to diagnose patients and which treatments should go with which diagnoses. Even if they could agree, the TCM theories are so nebulous that no amount of scientific study will enable TCM to offer rational care."<ref name=Barrett2007/> Academic discussions of acupuncture still make reference to pseudoscientific concepts such as ''qi'' and meridians despite the lack of scientific evidence.<ref name=Ulett2002/>