Asthma can turn something as simple as a flight of stairs or a change in weather into a struggle to breathe. It also makes frequent colds, allergies, and stress all feed into how often flare-ups happen and how severe they are. In my Upper West Side (Manhattan) practice, I’ve worked with many patients over my 20 years of clinical experience to help ease the overall burden of asthma: calming flare-ups, strengthening the body’s resistance to the colds and allergies that often trigger them, and building a stronger baseline of respiratory health over time. Because asthma can be a serious, even life-threatening condition, acupuncture is not a replacement for your prescribed asthma medications. It’s a way to help you feel better overall, alongside the care you’re already receiving from your doctor.
Understanding Asthma Through Chinese Medicine
In traditional Chinese medicine, asthma is most often traced back to a deficiency of qi — the body’s protective energy. When qi is low, the Lungs become more vulnerable, and colds, allergies, and asthma flare-ups happen more easily and take longer to resolve. This is a traditional framework for understanding the pattern behind your symptoms. When someone says “I’m wiped out, I have no energy,” in Chinese medicine that’s often a sign the qi itself needs support, not just the immediate symptom.
Dampness and phlegm are another common pattern behind asthma. When the Spleen struggles to transform fluids properly, dampness accumulates and congeals into phlegm, which settles in the Lungs and obstructs the smooth flow of qi leading to the wheezing, chest tightness, and mucus that come with a flare-up. Many patients actually have some combination of both patterns: an underlying qi deficiency that leaves the Lungs weak, with phlegm building on top of it during flare-ups.
Acupuncture for Asthma
Treatment is built around your specific pattern rather than a one-size-fits-all protocol — someone with a qi deficiency pattern and someone with a dampness/phlegm pattern need different points to target the underlying imbalances.
For qi deficiency, treatment focuses on rebuilding the body’s overall energy — Lung 7 on the arm and Stomach 36 on the leg help build overall qi and strengthen Lung function, Kidney 3 near the ankle is effective for boosting the body’s deeper energy reserves, and bilateral Lung and Kidney back points are often used to strengthen the organs most tied to qi deficiency.
For dampness and phlegm, treatment shifts toward clearing what’s already accumulated — Spleen 9 and Stomach 40 are commonly used to drain dampness and resolve phlegm, Ren 12 on the abdomen supports the Spleen’s ability to transform fluids, and cupping helps relieve chest tightness and encourage the release of phlegm and congestion.
Many patients need a blend of both approaches, and the balance often shifts over the course of treatment more phlegm-clearing during a flare-up, more qi-building once things settle down.
Because every patient’s pattern is a little different, I’ll ask detailed questions about your symptoms, take your pulse, and look at your tongue before mapping out a treatment plan specific to you.
Chinese Herbal medicine for Asthma
Herbal formulas are often part of asthma treatment alongside acupuncture. Rather than single herbs, Chinese medicine typically combines several herbs into one formula — the combination creates a synergy that’s more effective, and often better tolerated, than any single herb alone.
For patients dealing with dampness and phlegm, herbs are chosen to help resolve phlegm and support the Spleen. These formulas are typically adjusted over time depending on your pattern.
One formula commonly used to help prevent colds in asthma patients is Yu Ping Feng San (Jade Wind Screen). It combines huang qi (astragalus) and bai zhu (atractylodes) to build qi, with a smaller amount of fang feng (siler) to help the body fend off germs it encounters.
During my research training at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, my mentor, Dr. Xiu Min Li, conducted extensive research into Chinese herbs for asthma — her work points to herbs playing a role in regulating immune response and reducing the inflammatory processes involved in asthma.
What Does the Research Say?
As a clinician, the studies I find most helpful are pragmatic trials — ones that test acupuncture the way it’s actually used in practice, alongside regular medical care in the real world. One of the largest studies of this kind, followed 1,445 patients with allergic asthma. Patients who added acupuncture to their routine asthma care, including up to 15 sessions over three months, showed a meaningful improvement in asthma-specific quality of life compared to those on routine care alone, with those gains still holding six months later. Patients also reported broader improvements in physical and mental well-being.(1)
These patients felt better and saw improved function better in their day-to-day lives, on top of the care they’re already receiving.
Cupping
Cupping uses suction cups placed on the skin to increase circulation in the treated area. For asthma, it’s commonly used on the upper back and chest to help open the lungs and encourage the release of phlegm, easing the tightness and congestion that come with a flare-up. It’s often paired with acupuncture in the same session.
Diet
In Chinese medicine, food is understood through its energetic qualities, including yin and yang. Dairy and greasy foods are considered heavy, cooling, and yin in nature, and they create the dampness and phlegm. Ice cream and milk are often the biggest offenders, though yogurt in moderation is usually fine. If your asthma leans toward a phlegm pattern, cutting out dairy can help your body clear phlegm more effectively and keep dampness from building back up.
Feel Better, Get Acupuncture
Asthma doesn’t have to mean living around your symptoms. Whether your pattern leans toward qi deficiency, dampness and phlegm, stress, or some combination of all three, treatment can be built specifically around what’s actually happening in your body, not a one-size-fits-all protocol.
If you are ready to consider acupuncture as part of a comprehensive plan to improve your health, give us a call at 212-319-5757 or you can make your appointment online.
By Joseph Alban, D.Ac. M.S, L.Ac. Last Updated July 20th, 2026.
References:
- Brinkhaus B, Roll S, Jena S, Icke K, Adam D, Binting S, Lotz F, Willich SN, Witt CM. Acupuncture in Patients with Allergic Asthma: A Randomized Pragmatic Trial. Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 2017 Apr;23(4):268-277. doi: 10.1089/acm.2016.0357. PMID: 28287818.