Current research suggests that there is a specific relationship between acupuncture points, meridians, and the electrical currents of the body. Since the 1950s, numerous studies have been conducted using electrical devices to measure the galvanic skin response (GSR) of both meridians and specific acupoints. These studies not only verify the existence of the meridian system, but also indicate that the acupoints themselves have a higher level of electrical conductance than non-acupuncture sites.[i]

In the 1970s, under a grant from the NIH (National Institutes of Health), Dr. Robert O. Becker, M.D., and biophysicist Maria Reichmanis were able to prove that electrical currents did indeed flow along the ancient Chinese meridians and that 25% of the acupuncture points existed along those scientifically measurable lines.  They reasoned that these points acted as amplifiers to boost the minute electrical signals as they traveled along the body and that the insertion of a needle could interfere with that flow and thus block the stimulus of pain.[ii]  The other acupuncture points, Dr. Becker suggested, “may simply be weaker or in a different link than the ones our instruments were capable of revealing.”[iii]