Stick It To Pain

New research shows how acupuncture brings relief.

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 Health System, recruited 20 women who had bee diagnosed with fibromyalgia, a chronic pain condition, for at least on year. Half the women got traditional Chinese acupuncture, while the other half had sham acupuncture. During the first and last treatments, they were injected with a radioactive tag that binds to special receptors that block the transmission of pain signals in the brain.

     When the 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 support that theory. Harris says acupuncture has virtually no side effects, so people who what to try it for pain relief should work with their doctors to find a qualified practitioner.

~ Brenda Goodman
 
Published by the Arthritis Foundation

Featured in Arthritis Today Magazine
January-February 2010

Polycystic Ovary Syndrome 

Low-frequency electro-acupuncture and physical exercise improve metabolic disturbances and modulate gene expression in adipose tissue in rats with dihydrotestosterone-induced polycystic ovary syndrome.

For the complete article visit:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18388196

PMID: 18388196 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Nausea in Patients With Cancer

Manual acupuncture as an adjunctive treatment of nausea
in patients with cancer in palliative care--a prospective, observational pilot study.

For the complete article visit:
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18356796

PMID: 18356796 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Chinese Herb May Lower High Blood Pressure

TUESDAY, Jan. 30, 2007 (HealthDay News) -- A Chinese herb called danshen could one day be the foundation of a new treatment for high blood pressure, scientists say.

For the complete article visit:
www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/30/AR2007013001133.html

~ Randy Dotinga

HealthDay Reporter
The Washington Post