Technology is helping scientists see how acupuncture, the ancient practice of using long, thin needles to stimulate specific points on the body, reduces pain.
Richard Harris, PhD, of the Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center at the University of Michigan Medical School, recruited 20 women who had been diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, for at least one year. Half the women got traditional Chinese acupuncture, while the other half had sham acupuncture. They were then injected with a radioactive tag that binds to special receptors that block the transmission of pain signals in the brain.
Scientists scanned the brains of the study participants during their first treatments, and then a month later, after eight treatment sessions. The results showed that Chinese acupuncture increased the activity of the pain-killing receptors in the brain, while treatment with sham acupuncture did not. “We were very excited,” Harris says.
“Our study was the first to really show this in pain patients.”
One implication of the study is that pain patients may be able to take lower doses of opioid medications by using those drugs in conjunction with acupuncture, but Harris says further studies will be needed to prove that theory.
Harris says acupuncture has virtually no side effects, so people who want to try it for pain relief should work with their doctors to find a qualified practitioner.
Acupuncture is based on the theory that life energy, called qi – and pronounced chee – runs through the body along invisible channels called meridians. When the energy flow becomes blocked or unbalanced, illness or pain result. Some 2,000 acupuncture points connect to the meridians; acupuncturists use needles to stimulate those points, which corrects the energy flow and alleviates pain.
Leave a Comment