Voll's machine acts as a system of diagnosis in that it tells the acupuncturist which points, and therefore which organs, are diseased. It can also be used to make quite specific diagnoses as slight differences in the charge of the point indicate different types of disease processes; furthermore, the acupuncturist Cal use Voll's machine to treat the altered (diseased) charge. Returning the point to a state of normal charge, or health, is often enough to control and cure the internal disease process.

Dr. Voll's work is firmly grounded in traditional Chine medicine and can be thought of as a sophisticated 'electric formalization' of traditional Chinese diagnosis and treatment There are other systems of acupuncture based on the same principle; Roidaraku, a Japanese system of acupuncture, similar in idea to that of the Voll machine but is less sophisticated. The acupuncture points are measured less specifically but electrical measurements of the points are made and the measurements are used as a basis for therapy.

A variety of other new acupuncture techniques are being developed in the West, but as yet these are poorly evaluated. China is a poor country and has little technology available, but the West is more able to develop and evaluate these technological ideas and, at present, is far ahead of China in doing so.