This summer, physicists (tentatively) discovered the existence of the Higgs Boson. Sometimes referred to as “the God particle” (more on that terminology later) this particle lays the foundation for how matter was created during the Big Bang. Though this concept was formulated by 6 different physicists (including a fellow University of Rochester alum, Carl Hagen) over a half century ago it has taken time to develop the technology to detect these particles. This discovery provides the foundation upon which our understanding of the universe is based.

So what is the Higgs Boson all about? I’m not a physicist or mathematician by any stretch of the imagination, the only numbers I use on a daily basis are for accounting or for the numbering system used for naming acupuncture points but I will take a stab at explaining the concept according to my understanding of it. It has generally been accepted that the universe started at the so called Big Bang where an infinitely small point contained all of the matter of the universe which then rapidly expanded and became the universe as we know it. One of the issues physics has had to deal with is explaining how that mass was created. Enter the Higgs boson…

In July of 2012 researchers at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland observed a boson that is consistent with the previously hypothetical Higgs Boson, though it has not been conclusively identified. If this particle does exist then it would prove the existence of the Higgs field. The Higgs field permeates the whole universe and is the vacuum from which all else came. The Higgs boson is how energy in the Higgs field “condenses” into mass creating particles and therefore the matter that we are more familiar with. This particle started being referred to in the media as “The God Particle” after a title of a 1993 book by Leon Lederman. Many physicists are not fans of this name as there is nothing religious or mystical about the particle.

What does all of this fancy physics stuff mean to an ancient healing tradition like Chinese medicine? First of all it explains the universe, in modern terms, in much the same way it is described in ancient Chinese thought and it also gives us some insight into the “energy” (or “qi”) that is a central concept of Chinese medicine.

Every culture has their own creation myths. In the Judeo-Christian traditions it is the story of Genesis, God creates the world in six days, takes a day off on the seventh. In Taoism, a philosophy from ancient China which greatly influenced the development of acupuncture, the universe does not have a Creator in the same sense. The origin story of the universe comes from the Taoist text the Tao Te Jing (Dao De Ching) written by Lao Tzu around 300 BC. In it he says, (and I paraphrase), “From the one comes the two, from the two the three, and from the three the ten thousand myriad things”. I know, that’s kind of cryptic, so lets break that down.

The one refers to the Void (the Tao, represented by the Wuji symbol which is an empty circle). This is an undifferentiated whole. From this comes the two, or Yin and Yang (symbolized by the Taiji or Great Ultimate – the black and white symbol found in my logo). From the two comes the Three – Yin and Yang interact to create Qi or energy (it would probably be better understood as from the two comes the third). From the three comes the ten thousand myriad things, or in other words everything in the universe. Are you still with me?

Admittedly the Taoist explanation is more poetic than scientific, but lets look a little closer. The universe starts off as an undifferentiated “Void” from which everything else comes from. Sounds a lot like the Higgs field. From this we get Yin and Yang which would equate to the charge of particles. This interplay of polarity creates Qi. While commonly translated as energy we could also consider this to be the various forces (gravity and other forces) that holds particles together to create matter (the ten thousand things). So in just a couple of sentences the ancient Taoists may have been describing sophisticated concepts of particle physics.

Now the title of this article is about the Higgs boson validating acupuncture so I think I need to go another step or two further. Chinese medicine and acupuncture rely heavily on the concepts of Taoism so if we can comfortably say that the Taoist cosmology is similar to our Standard Model of physics that is a big step in showing that what we talk about in acupuncture is describing the same things we talk about in physics, and by extension in biomedicine (though some would agree biomedicine is a bit behind modern physics in its understanding of the universe and the human body). The problem is we still have a lot to learn about our bodies before we can translate the ancient terminology into the modern. Many acupuncture skeptics point out that we haven’t proven meridians or qi and therefore the whole system must be false. I contend that we didn’t understand gravity for a long time (and certainly not in the same way we have understood it in the past 100 years) but humans still knew that if you drop something it will fall to the ground. Not knowing about gravity did not make its effects false. In the same way we still have work to do to fully understand the mechanisms of acupuncture but we can see the effects and know that something is indeed going on. To take one more stab at equating the two seemingly different models I will pass along a quote about qi (the “energy” that we manipulate in acupuncture to cause healing). I don’t know the source, so if anyone does please let me know. It goes something like this – “Qi is energy on the verge of becoming substance, and substance on the verge of becoming energy”. This concept is strikingly similar to the idea of the Higgs boson as the intermediary between energy and substance. As we deepen our understanding of the Higgs field and Higgs boson I think we will come to a better understanding of the mystical sounding concept of qi and a better understanding of the human body. Of course, if you ask me acupuncturists already have that understanding, we just need to make ancient terminology work with modern terminology, but to do that the modern terminology still needs to be developed.

Regardless of how we tackle the conceptualization of acupuncture and Chinese medicine with further scientific advancement I hope I have sufficiently shown you that the ideas of Chinese medicine really are not mystical and are in fact very well grounded in a deep understanding of our bodies (and universe) developed through thousands of years of observation. It is important to not get hung up on the words, as they are merely a tool for our understanding. Just like Shakespeare points out “What is in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would still smell as sweet”. No matter how weird Chinese medicine may sound at times we are, in fact, describing the same exact body including it’s many functions and dysfunctions, as modern medicine.

Note – If you liked this article be sure to check out “The Tao of Physics” by Fritjof Capra. He goes into much more depth about modern physics and looks into other eastern traditions. I checked the index of his book after writing this article and it does not mention Higgs bosons or Higgs field. It has been around 10 years since I last read the book, before I knew anything about Taoism, so any similarities in content are unintentional.

Getting people to try acupuncture can be very difficult. Many people know what it is but know very little about it, so it just seems foreign and strange to them. There are many misconceptions about acupuncture and Chinese medicine. Sometimes this also makes patients afraid to even acknowledge that they receive acupuncture because they’re afraid their friends and family will think they’re weird. Below are some of the more common misconceptions and why they are not correct. So next time you find yourself in a conversation about acupuncture and someone brings any of these up, you’ll know what to say.

“Acupuncture is only good for treating pain”

While it is true that acupuncture is a great option for the treatment of pain from many different causes, it can also help with many other conditions. It works well for digestive disorders, menstrual problems, and infertility just to name a few.

“Acupuncture hurts” or “I’m afraid of needles”

While its true many people are afraid of needles the needles used in acupuncture are much different in design and size than those used in a doctors office. It is mostly painless and certainly does not feel like what many people would expect. For more on this check out my VIDEO

“You need to believe in acupuncture for it to work” or “I don’t believe in it”

Most people think acupuncture only works because of the placebo effect. Oddly enough most people don’t really know what the placebo effect is, and recent research is causing the medical community to rethink their prior opinion on what the placebo effect is. A great demonstration of why belief is not necessary is veterinary acupuncture. Many animals get acupuncture and are noticeably better after treatment. Do dogs believe it will work for them and that’s why they’re better?

Also saying you don’t believe in it is kind of like saying you don’t believe in gravity. Acupuncture works and has demonstrable effects in the body. You may not believe in some of the underlying theories such as qi or vital energy and the energy pathways or meridians, and that’s ok. The terminology used in Chinese medicine can seem a little “out there”. We are talking about the same body, just with different terms and concepts. And honestly, the stripped down version often presented in the media is like describing a cake only by talking about the color of the frosting. There is much more to it.

“Acupuncture is religious” or “It is against my religion”

The practice of acupuncture involves no religious beliefs, plain and simple. During its history it was certainly influenced by the philosophies of Taoism, Buddhism, and Confucianism but it does not conflict with other religious beliefs. It is merely a form of medicine and is no more or less religious than modern “Western” medicine.

“Acupuncture is expensive”

Paying out of pocket for health expenses is a foreign concept for many of us accustomed to only paying a small co-pay for our doctor visits or prescriptions. The truth is that acupuncture is a very cost effective medical therapy. Because of that insurance coverage is becoming more common. Most assume it’s not going to be covered by their insurance but it is always worth calling to find out. And if you don’t have insurance coverage currently, talk to your HR rep or who ever is in charge of purchasing your healthcare and let them know you want acupuncture as a covered service.

“I’ve already seen several doctors/tried several medications/had several procedures. None of them helped me, so how could acupuncture help?”

This usually indicates a bias for Western medicine and the idea that the “more technologically advanced and scientific” form of medicine we are all familiar with is the superior one. I’m not saying it is or it isn’t. In fact there are many times where patients have had no luck with Western medicine, maybe not even being able to get a diagnosis for their issues from their doctor, but still have fantastic results with acupuncture.

“I tried it once and it didn’t work”

The key word here is once. One acupuncture treatment is not enough to judge its effectiveness. Many people will notice a change in their symptoms after their first treatment and the results may only last for a day or two at first. With continued treatment the results get better and last longer. To try one acupuncture treatment and say it doesn’t work is like taking one dose of a medication and expecting it to suddenly change everything.

“There is no proof that it works”

I’ve got 2,000 plus years and millions of people as proof it works. When someone makes a statement like this they are usually trying to say there are no double-blinded, randomized control trials showing effectiveness for acupuncture (there are also no double-blinded, randomized control trials demonstrating the effectiveness of parachutes at reducing injury or death in high altitude falls, but if I ever have to bail out of a plane at 30,000 feet I don’t think I’m going to be skipping on the parachute). 10-15 years ago there were not a lot of studies done that indicated acupuncture was effective (mostly due to poor study design). A lot of research has been done in recent years showing that acupuncture works well for a variety of conditions. We still don’t understand all of the various mechanisms by which it works, but we’ve come a long way.

“I’m healthy/nothing is wrong with me, I don’t need acupuncture”

This is probably one of the more common reasons people don’t use acupuncture. This even applies to patients who have received care and resolved their issues. Just like our cars need regular maintenance even though it may be running just fine, so do our bodies need the occasional “tune-up”. Acupuncture is a great way to stay healthy and is very preventative in nature. It doesn’t require a lot of treatments to have this benefit, one a month or so is often sufficient.