Research has showed that acupuncture can prevent muscle atrophy. This is great news for acupuncture and sports medicine because there is now evidence for the scientific community that verifies that acupuncture can influence and benefit muscles. In traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture and Chinese herbs have been used for centuries for many types of muscle problems including the wasting of muscles after a stroke. One herbal medicine known as Radix Astragali (Huangqi) has had a history of being used to help muscles recover after a stroke as well as by kung fu martial artists to strengthen their muscles. The acupuncture point Stomach 36 has been used for many years in acupuncture and sports medicine for muscle strength enhancement.

In fact, many marathon runners have just this one acupuncture point needled daily for 2 weeks prior to the event to improve their fitness and endurance levels. The research presenter was hopeful that acupuncture would become the primary non-pharmacological treatment to prevent muscle skeletal atrophy. The team showed that decreases in muscle mass in the mRNA expression level of the E3 ubiquitin ligase atrogin-1 can be significantly reversed by acupuncture. The scientific community is still sceptical about acupuncture even though the World Health Organisation has endorsed hundreds of medical conditions that have benefit from acupuncture.