Our research approach

The Acupuncture Research Resource Centre (ARRC) provides a specialist resource for acupuncture research. ARRC was set up by the BAcC in 1994 and is currently hosted by the Centre for Complementary Healthcare and Integrated Medicine (CCHIM) at Thames Valley University.

Traditional acupuncture's greatest strength is that it treats each patient individually. It focuses on all factors that contribute to disease, not just the presenting symptoms. Consequently, traditional acupuncture does not neatly fit the prevalent research protocols that have been developed in response to symptom-based treatments.

Although traditional acupuncture has been studied, tested and refined for centuries in China, huge databases of research remain largely inaccessible outside the Far East and some western commentators question their credibility. But as new research begins to provide quantifiable evidence of traditional acupuncture's efficacy and cost-effectiveness the body of evidence available internationally is growing rapidly.

The BAcC established ARRC to:

• improve the evidence base and demonstrate the value of traditional acupuncture
• collect acupuncture research data from available sources
• develop and apply research methods that are suited to investigating traditional acupuncture
• increase awareness of the effectiveness of traditional acupuncture by providing good quality information to practitioners, other health service providers, journalists, researchers, government bodies and the public
• liaise with other researchers and establish a network of research-active practitioners
• produce review papers on the latest evidence-based clinical trials into the effectiveness of acupuncture for the treatment of specific conditions
• encourage and support BAcC members' research projects
• conduct the BAcC’s own research projects
• organise an annual research symposium for healthcare professionals from all backgrounds