Acupuncture & ADHD
- Bethesda Acupuncture
- Oct 30, 2020
- 1 min read
Updated: Apr 14

Acupuncture is a safe and effective treatment for ADHD. Acupuncture has been widely utilized to lessen the severity of core ADHD symptoms in patients while avoiding adverse effects medication may cause. Acupuncture is well known to be able to change brain activity. A Japanese study reported acupuncture significantly decreased activity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex. Hyperactivity in the dorsomedial prefrontal cortex is associated with socio-emotional disturbances such as ADHD. Studies report improvement of ADHD symptoms utilizing electroacupuncture in children receiving concurrent behavioral therapy.
References:
Bai L, Tian J, Zhong C, Xue T, You Y, Liu Z, Chen P, Gong Q, Ai L, Qin W, Dai J, Liu Y Acupuncture modulates temporal neural responses in wide brain networks: evidence from fMRI study. Mol Pain. 2010 Nov 2; 6():73.
H L. Prof. Zhang Jia-wei Clinical Study on Acupuncture Treatment of 380 Cases of Infantile Attention-deficit Hyperactivity. Shanghai Journal of Acu-Mox. 2004;23:23–25.
Hong, S. S., & Cho, S. H. (2011). Acupuncture for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD): study protocol for a randomised controlled trial. Trials, 12, 173.
Hori E, Takamoto K, Urakawa S, Ono T, Nishijo H. Effects of acupuncture on the brain hemodynamics. Auton Neurosci. 2010;157:74–80. doi: 10.1016/j.autneu.2010.06.007.
Lee, M.S., Choi, T.Y., Kim, J.I., Kim, L., Ernst, E. Acupuncture for Treating attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder: a systematic Review and meta-analysis, Chinese J Integrative Medicine, 2011, April; 17 (4):257-60
ZY W, M L, JL Y. Clinical observation of ADHD in children with acupuncture and medicine. Chinese Journal of Information on TCM. 2006;13:78–79.
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