Mention the word research to a group of acupuncturists and you are likely to get a wide range of opinions. In my years of teaching research classes to doctoral students and acupuncturists, I have found most of us fall into one of three general groups:
- We love research and are actively using it in our clinics or have been involved in studies before.
- We are indifferent or feel it simply isn’t super useful for our field, so we don’t give it much attention.
- We are vehemently opposed to it and perhaps even see it as a threat to the integrity of our medicine.
None of these is wrong. In fact, they all make perfect sense given the challenges in studying our medicine within the Western biomedical model. I am not here to say that research is a perfect way to understand our medicine. The fact remains that many of our communities were raised with the Western medical model as their primary medical model. It has influenced how people understand and speak about the body, health and illness. It is their first language.
As practitioners of Chinese medicine, we are actually bilingual clinicians. We have the unique ability to translate between traditional Chinese medicine and modern biomedical frameworks. Research literacy, when taught and applied thoughtfully, can become a tool for communication, collaboration, and patient understanding.
What Does Research Literacy Actually Mean?
It does not mean memorizing every study and regurgitating statistics. It does mean learning to understand and critically evaluate study designs and limitations, as well as knowing what questions research can and cannot answer.
There is also a need to understand that population data in a study is not the same as individualized care (the same way a patient’s patterns are not textbook presentations). Research will never replace clinical experience, pattern differentiation, and the lived experiences and values of our people. This aligns with a modern understanding of evidence-based practice.
Growing Research Literacy
Developing research literacy is not about turning acupuncturists into researchers. It is about equipping clinicians with the ability to read, contextualize, and translate research in ways that are clinically useful, intellectually honest, and respectful of the complexity of human health. In designing the research courses I teach, I always keep the focus on how research can be useful to the clinician in front of me.
While this can vary widely based on the practitioner, we always spend time exploring reading research through a TCM lens; as well as taking our patient’s constitution and beliefs into account in our conversations with them. It is also important to take an honest look at our own biases related to different health topics and be sure we are doing our due diligence in learning about all sides of current hot topics in health.
In learning research literacy, we need to be able to extract the essence of what we want to share in a way that is both true to ourselves and will be heard by the audience in front of us, whether that is a patient or another health care provider.
I recently returned from studying abroad in Nanjing, China, a place where our medicine has deep roots and is also fully integrated with biomedical care. Their communities can access hospitals where they are triaged into either TCM or biomedical care based on what will support their current condition best – wow! There are also hospitals where the care is completely TCM and others where they are applying cutting-edge science to their treatment methods.
Being able to see the way our medicine is evolving and growing while maintaining its integrity was truly inspiring. It seemed second nature for the practitioners to communicate bilingually to their patients and students.
Using It Responsibly to Build Trust
Most of our patients and other medical providers have never learned how Chinese medicine views physiology and pattern differentiation, or why individualized care matters so much. Acupuncturists can use research responsibly to build trust in terms our communities can understand.
Research literacy helps us act as a bridge between our medicine and the rest of the world. Just like any communication, not everyone will want to listen. And that is OK, too. However, I can speak from experience that the ones who are open and curious will be so grateful, and it can really open doors to what is possible for our communities.
A Bridge to Communication
Research does not need to define our medicine in order to support it. We can choose to use research in our clinical practices in a way that supports recommendations for treatment frequency or length of treatment plan. We can also read about points or herbs used in different studies and see how that might inspire our work with our own patients.
And the way we share it can be authentic to ourselves and our practices: We can keep things conversational, send patients full studies, or even host an educational experience for patients or providers and dig in to what the research says on a certain topic. There are some wonderful studies on the safety and efficacy of acupuncture, and thanks to guidelines like STRICTA, the studies are becoming more high quality.
When clinicians are trained to engage research thoughtfully, it becomes a bridge to support clearer communication with patients, fostering collaboration with other providers and strengthening confidence in our clinical decision-making.
Acupuncturists occupy a unique position within the healthcare landscape. We are fluent in both traditional Chinese medicine and contemporary biomedical language, even when the concepts do not map neatly onto one another.
Not a Choice Between Science and Tradition
Research literacy allows us to translate and educate our communities in a way they can understand. When we meet people where they are, they feel safe in exploring and being curious about what else TCM might offer. The goal is not to choose between science and tradition, but to hold both with discernment.
When research is integrated with clinical experience, pattern differentiation, and patient-centered care, it can only enhance the depth and relevance of our work.
