Wrist-Ankle Acupuncture in Cancer Pain Management: Current Status and Research Advances

Cancer pain, one of the most prevalent clinical manifestations in cancer patients, severely compromises physical-psychological well-being and quality of life. As a principal external therapeutic modality in traditional Chinese medicine, acupuncture has demonstrated unique efficacy in cancer pain management through mechanisms including meridian dredging, qi-blood regulation, vascular spasm alleviation, and ischemic duration reduction in tumor-compressed tissues. Wrist-ankle acupuncture (WAA), a minimally invasive acupuncture technique, exerts analgesic effects by stimulating specific superficial acupoints to modulate neuroendocrine-immune homeostasis. This review systematically synthesizes current mechanistic insights and clinical evidence regarding WAA's anti-nociceptive properties in cancer pain management, aiming to advance novel therapeutic strategies for optimizing pain control in oncology practice.