Acupuncture Proven to have an Effect beyond Placebo, Harvard Study Concludes

by Dave Gabriele

http://www.NaturalNews.com/z025057_acupuncture_placebo_changes.html
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(NaturalNews) Is acupuncture nothing more than a dressed-up placebo effect? Not according to a recent joint MIT-Harvard Medical School clinical study. The study, published in the November 2008 issue of the peer-reviewed science journal Behavioural Brain Research, utilized functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and positron emission tomography (PET) to examine the effects of acupuncture in relieving pain.

The effect of manual acupuncture in 12 healthy “acupuncture-naive” subjects (6 male, 6 female) was observed by monitoring fMRI of the brain and [11C]diprenorphine PET. [11C]Diprenorphine is used with PET to measure endogenous opioid release. Endogenous opioids have a morphine-like action in the body. Currently, “…there is strong evidence that acupuncture analgesia is mediated at least in part by opioid systems” (Dougherty, et. al. p.1).

The Study

The randomized study separated subjects into a real acupuncture group and a placebo acupuncture group. The placebo treatment used a validated sham acupuncture needle (Streitberger placebo) so that the sensation was as close to real acupuncture as possible. Using a placebo is generally believed to eliminate any psychological effects, such as expectation or belief, which may corrupt a study.

During the course of four sessions, the researchers induced pain in the subjects by using heat in varying degrees of intensity. The heat pain, which was issued to the right forearm of each subject, was administered before and after a 29-min treatment of either real or placebo acupuncture at acupoint Large Intestine 4 (LI-4).

The fMRI was used to indentify changes in neural activity by measuring blood flow in the brain. The [11C]diprenorphine PET scans looked for binding decreases which is associated with greater opioid release.

The Results

By comparing the two treatments, the study concluded that “… the reduction in pre- and post-treatment pain ratings was significantly greater in the acupuncture group when compared to the placebo group” (Dougherty, et. al. p.3).

“We found more brain changes during true acupuncture than during placebo acupuncture,” commented Darin D. Dougherty, MD, Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Harvard Medical School and Director of Neurotherapeutics at Massachusetts General Hospital. “fMRI showed changes in the orbitofrontal cortex, insula, and pons during true acupuncture when compared to placebo acupuncture.” The PET scans detected [11C]diprenorphine binding changes during real acupuncture that were very different than the binding changes that occurred during placebo treatment.

The right orbitofrontal cortex (OFC) was the only brain region that showed a common change in both types of scans. During real acupuncture, the right OFC demonstrated increased activity (as determined by fMRI) and increased opioid release (as determined by PET). There were no common fMRI and PET changes during placebo acupuncture.

The data suggests that real acupuncture affects the brain differently than placebo acupuncture and is more effective than a placebo in reducing the experience of pain. When asked whether acupuncture is more than a placebo effect, Dr. Dougherty responded, “Yes, the study does show more changes in the brain during active acupuncture than during placebo acupuncture. Therefore, acupuncture certainly entails more than placebo effect.”

NCCAM

This study was funded by The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). The NCCAM is the American Government`s lead agency for scientific research on complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). It is one of 27 institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health (NIH) within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

SOURCES

1) http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc…

2) http://ecam.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/…

3) http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc…

4) http://www.anesthesia-analgesia.org…

5) http://www.sciencedirect.com/scienc…

About the author

Dave Gabriele, R.Ac, is a registered acupuncturist helping people in the Greater Toronto Area (Ontario, Canada). He has been a practitioner and a teacher of Chinese martial arts since 1997. In 2006, he received a B.A. from York University and he is currently studying at TSTCM to become a doctor of Traditional Chinese Medicine.

anita | April 7, 2011 |

Dr. Farah Khan

Many women have resigned themselves to the monthly emotional and physical roller coaster that their menstrual period brings. Psychological symptoms include weepiness, moodswings, irritability, anger, and depression. Physical symptoms can include bloating, cramping, backaches, breast tenderness, food cravings, headaches, acne, and digestive problems.

Oriental medicine has developed treatment for the many complaints of pre-menstrual syndrome over the past two thousand years. Treatment and prevention involve the use of acupuncture and herbs along with nutritional and lifestyle counseling.

Acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine are based on the theory that life energy, called “Qi” (pronounced “chee”), flows through channels or meridians in the body. When a person is under mental, emotional, or physical stress, the energy, which normally flows freely through the body, begins to stagnate.

This may not sound rational to the modern mind, so it might be helpful to illustrate an obvious example of “Qi Stagnation”. When a person is under stress, their neck and back muscles tense up. This can interfere with nerve stimulation to the arms or legs. The Chinese would consider the person’s neck or back to be “stagnant” while the person’s limbs would be “deficient” (lacking in nervous stimulation).

The buildup of the uterine endometrial lining and the hormonal changes a woman experiences before and during her period are seen as a natural process that is conducive to stagnation, particularly at times of stress in a woman’s life.

Acupuncture and herbal medicine is used to harmonize and free up patterns of stagnation in the body in order to alleviate the many symptoms of pre-menstrual syndrome. This can result in relaxation, stress relief, and mitigation of many of the symptoms of PMS. Symptoms of PMS such as cramps, breast tenderness, backaches, depression, moodswings, constipation, bloating, can all be treated with herbs and acupuncture. Acupuncture has also recently been endorsed by the National Institute of Health for the relief of pre-menstrual pain.

Many of the herbs used for PMS alleviate depression and are phytoestrogenic. They may improve a woman’s natural hormonal functioning. Herbs such as vitex, bupleurum , white peony, and black cohosh are used in Chinese herbal formulas to balance hormones and treat Qi stagnation. Vitex is particularly useful for fibrocystic breasts and for menstrual pain due to endometriosis and fibroids.

As a result of acupuncture and herbs, many Asian women have a much easier “time of the month”, and now women in the West can also benefit from the wisdom of Oriental medicine.

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Dr. Khan is a licensed Doctor of Oriental Medicine practicing in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She offers distance herbal and aromatherapy phone consultations as well as more information on numerous health problems: farah@yinessence.com

healingarts | April 27, 2005 |