Study Shows that Acupuncture Relieves Pain by Affecting the Brain

I was recently watching an episode of Dr. Oz where he was discussing the effectiveness of complementary therapies such as acupuncture. Dr. Oz disagreed with one of the guests on his panel, and Medical Doctor who stated that acupuncture did not have any veritable studies to validate its benefits. Reading “Arthritis Today,” I came across a study that showed that indeed acupuncture eases pain, and they used an fMRI (a functional MRI) to prove it. fMRI is a technique that measures small metabolic changes in the brain when a patient is exposed to a stimulus.

In this study, German researchers applied a painful electrical stimulus to the left ankle of 18 participants using fMRI. Then 3 acupuncture needles were applied to the ankle area. The painful stimulus and fMRI were repeated. They looked at the pain processing areas of the brain. When researchers compared the two images, they found that the activation of these pain processing areas of the brain changed and reduced with the use of acupuncture. It also changed the area of the brain controlling the expectation of pain.

These findings show that acupuncture relieves pain by changing the patient’s pain and also their expectation of that pain. This study was published in the 2010 meeting of the Radiological Society of North America.

Source: Arthritis Today, May-June 2010.

Additional Reading Resources:

• What Are Patients with Chronic Pain Doing About it?
• 6 Ways to Get a Better Night's Sleep
• Acupuncture your Way to Better Health
• Promote Self Healing Exercises
• How can Acupuncture Help me Get a Good Night’s Rest?