Wang, Delong, Yang, Tiansong, Cui, Yang et al. · Frontiers in medicine · 2025 · DOI
This article reviews what we know about ME/CFS and explores how acupuncture—a traditional Chinese medicine practice—might help treat it. The authors summarize research on what causes ME/CFS, how doctors diagnose it, and discuss both historical and modern approaches to using acupuncture and related techniques to manage symptoms.
ME/CFS affects over 65 million people globally with disproportionate impact on women, older adults, and low-income populations. This comprehensive review bridges traditional and modern medical perspectives on acupuncture, potentially expanding treatment options for patients with limited effective therapies and summarizing current understanding of ME/CFS biological mechanisms.
As a narrative review rather than controlled trial, this study does not provide definitive proof that acupuncture is effective for ME/CFS—it synthesizes existing literature without presenting new experimental data or establishing causation. The review's scope means it cannot determine which specific acupuncture techniques, patient populations, or outcome measures are most reliable, and quality varies among cited studies.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Wang, Delong, Yang, Tiansong, Cui, Yang, Qu, Yuanyuan, Feng, Chuwen, Sun, Zhongren, et al. (2025). From tradition to healing: the promise of acupuncture in managing chronic fatigue syndrome.. Frontiers in medicine. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2025.1724290
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-wang-2025-tradition-healing,
author = {Wang, Delong and Yang, Tiansong and Cui, Yang and Qu, Yuanyuan and Feng, Chuwen and Sun, Zhongren and Zhang, Miao},
title = {From tradition to healing: the promise of acupuncture in managing chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Frontiers in medicine},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.3389/fmed.2025.1724290},
note = {PubMed: 41641244},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2025-tradition-healing},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2025-tradition-healing
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