Acupuncture works by making the brain, rather than the body, no longer experience pain, according to new research.
Source: Telegraph.co.uk
By Andrew Hough
Published: 8:00AM GMT 06 Feb 2010
Scientists who scanned the brains of volunteers as they were given the Chinese therapy found it deactivated pathways that govern pain.
Complementary medicine expert Dr Hugh MacPherson, of the University of York, said: "These results provide objective scientific evidence that acupuncture has specific effects within the brain which hopefully will lead to a better understanding of how acupuncture works."
The findings, published in Brain Research, suggest acupuncture has a significant effect on specific nerve structures.
Dr MacPherson and colleagues explained when a patient receives acupuncture treatment a sensation called deqi can be obtained. Scientific analysis showed this switches off areas within the brain that are associated with the processing of pain.
(Kenneth's comments: Deqi is a tingling, numbness, heaviness sensation that occur after an acupuncture needle has been properly placed in the body's acupoint. It may feel like an electrical impulse in the area of the acupoint being addressed and the sensation will radiate down the meridian. Depending on the message the acupuncturist wants to transmit to the body, the needle may then be left alone or twirled, moved up and down at different speeds and depths for the deqi sensation to continue.
For patients who have not experienced a deqi sensation during acupunture, it may be due to:
1) The technique of the acupuncturist
2) The acupuncture needle did not touch the correct acupoint
3) The acupuncture needle was only inserted at a very shallow depth, i.e. only the surface of the skin
Acupuncture only works when a deqi sensation can be felt by the patients.)
Dr MacPherson said: "We carried out two tests of acupuncture on our participants, one where the needles are inserted at a shallow depth which is the practise in Japan and the other where they went in much deeper which is the Chinese tradition.
"We found 10 out of the 17 experienced 'deqi' while the others didn't, and this appeared to help in deactivating areas in the brain that are associated with pain.
"The Chinese have been using acupuncture for 2,000 years for wide ranging illnesses but we have only touched the surface at the moment.
"We believe it can help relieve a number of conditions, including depression which we have recruited 640 people for another study where half will receive acupuncture and the others counselling."
Last summer acupuncture was recommended for the first time by the drugs watchdog NICE (National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence) as a treatment option for NHS patients with lower back pain.
Guidelines now state that GPs should "consider offering a course of acupuncture comprising a maximum of ten sessions over a period of up to twelve weeks" for patients with this common condition.
Co researcher Dr Aziz Asghar, a neuroscientist at Hull York Medical School, added: "The results are fascinating. Whether such brain deactivations constitute a mechanism which underlies or contributes to the therapeutic effect of acupuncture is an intriguing possibility which requires further research."
The team is currently researching if acupuncture has the ability to successfully treat irritable bowel syndrome and depression. Previous studies have indicated the holistic treatment works on knee pain and migraines.
Dr MacPherson and colleagues say their research could help to clear the way for acupuncture to be more broadly accepted as a treatment option on the NHS for a number of medical conditions.
中醫針灸可引起大腦神經變化
2010-2-8
【大公網訊】英國研究人員日前報告說，利用現代科學手段檢查中國傳統針灸的效果，發現它可以引起大腦相應部位神經的變化，這有助於分析針灸的作用原理。
據新華社倫敦２月７日電，英國約克大學等機構的研究人員在新一期美國學術期刊《腦研究》上報告說，１７名受試者接受了手上合谷穴針灸，並同時接受大腦掃描。合谷穴位於手背虎口下方。研究人員發現，在那些認為有「得氣」感覺的受試者中，與處理疼痛有關的大腦某部位神經出現活動降低的情況。
「得氣」是指針灸過程中患者產生的酸、麻、脹等感覺，被認為是針灸取得效果的重要條件。如果針灸時患者沒有「得氣」而只是感覺疼痛，那麼針灸效果可能不佳。本次研究發現，在僅感覺疼痛的患者中，大腦相關部位的神經出現複雜變化：一些部位的神經活動增強，而另一些部位的神經活動減弱。
參與研究的休·麥克弗森說，這項研究提供了的科學證據說明，針灸可引起大腦產生一些特殊變化，這有助於理解針灸複雜的作用原理。
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment