French Medical Auriculotherapy

The ear (auricle) is directly innervated by cranial nerves from the brainstem and upper cervical plexus. Following clues from folk medicine practices, French researchers discovered that the auricle surface carries a complete topographic representation – a complete “map” – of the body. This makes the ear a true means of speaking to the same representation of the body in our brain. By stimulating specific points that in turn stimulate the control tower of our brain, auriculotherapy can influence not only physical symptoms (like pain and paralysis), but also physiological functions (like inflammation and hormones), and neuro-psychological states (like anxiety and insomnia).

In Europe, medical auriculotherapy is integrated into hospitals and clinics — from oncology and pediatrics to pain management, psychiatry, and gynecology — as a powerful complement to conventional medicine.

Neurophysiologist Dr. David Alimi, MD has spent many years researching the neurophysiological mechanisms underlying the effects of auricular acupuncture, building on the foundation of groundbreaking French physicians like Paul Nogier. Dr. Alimi developed a new universal nomenclature for auriculotherapy which was adopted by the World Health Organization in 2011 due to its reproducibility. His work has contributed significantly to the medical understanding of ear-point localization and therapy.

Although in Europe auriculotherapy is only taught to medical doctors, in 2020 Dr. Alimi agreed to train and certify a small group of North American acupuncturists his system of Neuro-Auricular acupuncture. Rosanna Giuliani, lead acupuncturist at Inner Light Wellness, was part of this select group to become certified by Dr. Alimi, and has seen tremendous results applying this style in practice.

Auriculotherapy can reach every system in the body by way of the neurophysiological connections between the topographic representation on the auricle surface, and the same representations in our brain. There are points to influence areas as specific as the anterior or posterior hypothalamus, the different fingers of the hand, motor or sensory nerves at different levels of the spine, and different internal organs.

Therefore, it is a versatile, complete treatment system that can help patients with a wide variety of dysfunction. It is considered especially powerful for pain, insomnia, anxiety, and addiction, but is also powerful for hormonal imbalances, digestive dysfunction, allergies, swelling, even skin disorders.

Generally, auriculotherapy may be used as a complement to other styles of acupuncture treatment, improving outcomes. As a stand-alone system it can also “spare” the need for other points on the body: some patients who may find they are uncomfortable with the idea of body needling, or who have disorders like CRPS that make direct needling contra-indicated, may find auriculotherapy well tolerated.

Also, patients can be sent home with methods of stimulating points on the ear, such as ear seeds, small intradermal needles, or ASP “semi-permanent” needles. These are powerful methods of prolonging treatment results and achieving longer-lasting results. The ability to continue treatment out of the office makes French auriculotherapy highly recommended for patients traveling long distance who cannot visit the clinic on a weekly basis. In fact, many French Medical Auriculotherapy protocols are designed around treatment with ASP needles once per month, for three to four months.

As with any acupuncture style, the treatment is always customized to ensure the comfort of the patient. Generally, anywhere from one to several points are selected by palpation. They are then treated either with acupuncture needles (shallowly inserted), press balls (“ear seeds”), small stick-on intradermal needles, or thicker semi-permanent needles (ASP needles), depending on patient tolerance and need.

Patients can feel a “pinch” on the skin and warmth on the ear surface after needle insertion, after which they generally feel just a feeling of gentle circulation and relaxation while needles are retained.