Reframing Inflammaging: How Acupuncture and Chinese Herbal Medicine Support Healthy Ageing

Ageing, Inflammation & Vitality

How Chinese Medicine Helps You Move Better, Sleep Deeper, and Age with Resilience

Inflammaging refers to the chronic, low-grade inflammation that accumulates in the body as we grow older. It’s increasingly recognised as a core factor behind the symptoms many experience with age—fatigue, joint stiffness, digestive issues, restless sleep, and slow recovery. Even in the absence of a formal diagnosis, these signs can profoundly affect day-to-day life.

This is where Chinese medicine—especially acupuncture and herbal medicine—offers a valuable perspective. Rather than simply masking symptoms, these therapies aim to restore function, improve circulation, reduce inflammation, and build resilience.

What Is Qi—Really?

You may have heard of qi (pronounced “chee”) described as a kind of mystical energy, but that’s a misconception based on early mistranslations. In modern Chinese medicine, qi refers to your body’s ability to function optimally: to circulate blood, digest food, adapt to stress, and regulate hormonal and immune systems. When qi is compromised, people often feel tired, sluggish, foggy, or unwell.

A Functional View of Health in Chinese Medicine

From a Chinese medicine perspective, healthy ageing means that the body can:

• Efficiently deliver oxygen and nutrients to all tissues

• Regulate inflammation and recover from stress

• Maintain coordination across immune, digestive, and hormonal systems

When these systems start to falter—as they often do with age—people may notice slower healing, disrupted sleep, low energy, aches and pains, or cognitive changes. Chinese medicine recognises these not as isolated symptoms, but as interconnected patterns of imbalance.

How Acupuncture Helps

Research supports acupuncture’s ability to:

• Lower systemic inflammation (e.g., reducing CRP and IL-6 levels)

• Enhance peripheral circulation and oxygenation

• Regulate the nervous system to support restorative sleep

• Improve mitochondrial function and cellular energy production

A meta-analysis involving nearly 18,000 patients across 29 clinical trials found acupuncture significantly reduced chronic pain (Vickers et al., 2018). Additionally, it has been shown to improve energy and quality of life in people with persistent fatigue (Kim et al., 2015).

The Role of Herbal Medicine in Healthy Ageing

Chinese herbal medicine has been used for centuries to nourish the body and delay age-related decline. Contemporary studies confirm its relevance in supporting long-term health. For example, it can:

• Reduce low-grade inflammation — useful for managing arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease, or chronic skin issues like eczema

• Boost immune resilience — helping those prone to repeated infections or recovering from viral illnesses

• Enhance digestion and absorption — for people experiencing bloating, irregular bowel movements, or reduced appetite

• Support hormonal balance and emotional health — easing menopause, PMS, or stress-related mood issues

• Improve vascular health — by enhancing circulation and reducing arterial stiffness, which supports brain and heart function as we age

A large review of 84 clinical trials confirmed that Chinese herbal medicine improved fatigue and lowered inflammation in people with chronic fatigue syndrome (Zhang et al., 2022).

Why This Matters as We Age

Even in the absence of a clear diagnosis, it's important to take early signs of physiological change seriously. No single system of medicine holds all the answers—including Western medicine. For people navigating chronic conditions or complex symptoms, Chinese herbal medicine can offer meaningful improvements in quality of life where conventional approaches may have limited options.

At On the Pulse Clinic, we integrate evidence-informed acupuncture and herbal strategies to help patients:

• Feel more vibrant and move more easily — with less stiffness and more freedom of movement

• Sleep better — drift off more easily, stay asleep longer, and wake feeling refreshed

• Rely less on multiple medications — reducing the risk of side effects and interactions

• Improve day-to-day wellbeing — because it’s not just about living longer, but living well

Thinking Differently About Ageing

Western and Chinese medicine can work together to provide more comprehensive care. Chinese medicine doesn’t replace your GP—it has a lot to offer to improve your overall health through a more systems-oriented, holistic lens. With increasing research bridging both systems, the future of integrated care is becoming more collaborative.

You don’t have to believe in tradition or philosophy to benefit. The research is growing, the results are real, and millions worldwide are already using Chinese medicine to age with greater vitality.

📍 On the Pulse Clinic, South County Dublin
🔗 onthepulse.clinic | Integrated care for fatigue, inflammation, and healthy ageing

Reframing Inflammaging: A Clinical Perspective on Acupuncture, Chinese Herbal Medicine, and Ageing

Rethinking Qi in Modern Clinical Terms

Inflammaging—a term now well established in the biomedical literature—describes low-grade, persistent inflammation that accumulates with age. It underpins many of the chronic, non-specific symptoms we see in older patients: fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, poor sleep, digestive slowing, and decreased resilience.

These symptoms often present before frank pathology is measurable, making early intervention both difficult and crucial. This is where Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM)—particularly acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine—offers a valuable, evidence-aligned framework.

🩺 Rethinking Qi in Modern Clinical Terms

Much of the scepticism surrounding TCM arises from historical mistranslations. Notably, the French diplomat Georges Soulié de Morant inaccurately translated the Chinese term qi (氣) as “energy” or “life force,” leading to an entrenched but misleading Western interpretation.

A more accurate understanding recognises qi as functional physiology—the body’s capacity to metabolise, transport, regulate, and maintain internal coherence. In clinical terms, this includes:

• Oxygen delivery and blood circulation

• Tissue repair and immune responsiveness

• Hormonal regulation and autonomic rhythm

• Mitochondrial output and metabolic resilience

Where qi is impaired, we often see fatigue, inflammatory tone, poor recovery, and impaired circulation—exactly the clinical phenotype of inflammaging.

🌿 TCM Definition of Health

In Traditional Chinese Medicine, optimal health is defined by:

• A constant supply of well-nourished, oxygen-rich blood reaching all tissues

• A system in which metabolic, immune, and circulatory functions are coordinated and regulated

• The capacity for repair, adaptation, and resilience in response to stressors

Inflammaging, through this lens, is understood as a progressive breakdown in these coordinated functions—often involving what TCM describes as “qi and blood deficiency,” “internal dampness,” or “Liver constraint.”

🔬 Acupuncture: Regulating Inflammation and Resilience

Mechanisms of Action:

• Modulates inflammatory mediators including TNF‑α, IL‑6, and CRP

• Enhances vagal tone and HPA axis regulation, improving autonomic balance and HRV

• Increases microcirculation and perfusion, supporting mitochondrial and immune function

• Activates descending pain modulation pathways, reducing nociceptor hypersensitivity

Evidence:

• A large meta-analysis (Vickers et al., 2018, JAMA Internal Medicine) showed acupuncture has statistically and clinically significant effects for chronic pain, particularly in musculoskeletal conditions.

• A randomised controlled trial by Kim et al. (2015) demonstrated that acupuncture significantly reduced fatigue severity in patients with idiopathic chronic fatigue.

Clinical Relevance:
Patients experiencing early inflammaging symptoms—particularly pain, fatigue, poor sleep, and stress sensitivity—often respond favourably to regular acupuncture. This provides a non-pharmacological, well-tolerated adjunct to conventional care.

🌿 Chinese Herbal Medicine: Internal Regulation and System Support

Mechanisms of Action:

• Many formulas exhibit anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and immunomodulatory properties

• Targets systemic drivers of dysfunction: poor digestion, impaired detoxification, fluid stagnation, and tissue undernourishment

• Supports gut–immune integrity, endocrine balance, and constitutional recovery

Evidence:

• A 2022 meta-analysis of 84 RCTs (Zhang et al., Frontiers in Pharmacology) concluded that Chinese herbal medicine significantly reduced fatigue, improved quality of life, and lowered inflammatory markers in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

• Experimental pharmacology studies have shown that many Chinese herbs modulate pathways involving NF-κB, COX-2, and IL-1β.

Clinical Relevance:
For patients who present with vague, multisystem complaints but no clear pathology, Chinese herbal medicine offers whole-system regulation that is difficult to achieve with targeted drugs alone.

🔄 Integration into Conventional Practice

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine do not need to replace biomedicine—they can enhance and complement it.

• Help patients tolerate physiotherapy, exercise, or dietary changes

• Improve quality of life and reduce symptom burden in chronic disease

• Provide proactive support before pharmaceutical intervention becomes necessary

• Bridge the gap between lifestyle advice and actual physiological regulation

🧠 For the Sceptical Practitioner

It’s understandable to approach TCM with caution. The language is unfamiliar, the framework is different, and mistranslations have muddied its reception in the West.

But that tide is turning.

There is a growing body of RCTs, pharmacological research, and neuroimmunological studies validating many of TCM’s foundational concepts—especially in areas where conventional medicine lacks whole-system tools.

By referring patients early—for acupuncture and/or herbal consultation—you’re not endorsing mysticism. You’re expanding care options and offering a pathway that has already helped millions worldwide.

✅ Clinical Takeaways

• Inflammaging is real, modifiable, and best addressed early.

• “Qi” reflects the body’s physiological competence—circulation, regulation, recovery.

• Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine improve resilience, reduce inflammation, and support function.

• RCTs increasingly support these modalities as safe and effective adjuncts.

• Early referral improves outcomes—and may prevent decline.

📍 On the Pulse Clinic, South County Dublin
🔗 onthepulse.clinic | Integrated, evidence-informed care for ageing and chronic inflammatory conditions