The rapid development of information technology has accumulated massive data for acupuncture research, but the characteristics and laws behind these data have not yet been systematically and deeply excavated and researched, restricting the development of acupuncture to a certain extent. In response to the above problems, we first put forward the concept of "computational acupuncture", which integrates traditional acupuncture and computational science. Taking acupuncture as the research object, data as the driving force, and calculation as the approach, we revealed the law and mechanism of acupuncture, in order to guide clinical practice and improve clinical efficacy. This paper reviewed the significance of the establishment of computational acupuncture, the characteristics of computational acupuncture, the challenges and suggestions currently faced with, and scientifically explained the connotation and future development trend of computational acupuncture, which can serve as a reference for the high-quality innovative development of computational acupuncture.

acupuncture  /  big data  /  computational science  /  information science  /  computational acupuncture