Clinical Trial Study on Acupuncture for Autism Based on the Current Traditional Chinese Medical Journals

Objectives : The purpose of this study is to investigate the current acupuncture treatment of autism. Methods : 13 Chinese clinical studies published in the last five years were selected for analyzing. Results : Treatment methods were used; massage of acupoints, electro acupuncture, scalp acupuncture, the general acupuncture and special acupuncture treatments for autism as Jin's three needling, Intelligence-increasing acupuncture. Commonly used acupoints were sishencong(四神總), shenting(神庭), benshen(本神), yintang(印堂), naohu(腦戶), naokong(腦空), bohui(百會), neiguan(內關), yanyu1qu(言語1區), yanyu2qu(言語2區), yanyu3qu(言語3區). 10 studies were showed the effects of acupuncture with total improvement rate and 7 of them were higher than 80%. Also, most of the studies showed the acupuncture treatment was extremely effective in improving autism children's speaking ability. Conclusions : Acupuncture have been shown as an effective treatment on autism. Further studies about various treatment using by acupuncture and the evaluation standard would be needed.