| Dr. Jai Maharaj 2005-05-06, 5:58 pm |
| Acupuncture activates the brain
By Andreas von Bubnoff
nature.com
Sunday, May 1, 2005
Medicinal use of needles does more than placebos.
[Caption] Needles are used in alternative therapy to
treat illness, pain and even addiction.
- Punchstock
Acupuncture has a measurable, if mysterious, effect on
the brain, UK scientists have found. The study adds to
evidence that patients benefit from acupuncture not
simply because of their expectations.
The research team used brain imaging to show that
treatment with genuine needles activates brain areas
beyond the ones that light up when trick needles are
used. "This is the first brain-imaging study that has
shown an effect beyond placebo," says George Lewith, an
expert in complementary medicine at the university of
Southampton who led the study.
Acupuncture is an ancient Chinese treatment for illness,
pain or even addiction, which uses fine needles in
defined points of the body. The mechanism behind this is
far from understood, and clinical trials into acupuncture
have had mixed results. "It has worked in some trials, it
hasn't worked in others, it's very complicated," says Ted
Kaptchuk, an acupuncture researcher at Harvard University
in Boston, Massachusetts. Many studies have suggested
that the placebo effect accounts for most of the benefits
seen.
"This is the first brain imaging study that has shown
an effect beyond placebo."
- George Lewith
University of Southampton
Part of this confusion may be thanks to the use of badly
defined controls in acupuncture tests, experts say. Some
studies use needles in non-acupuncture points, for
example. But this may simply prove that needling is an
effective treatment.
Stage dagger
For a better placebo, Lewith's team used a retractable
needle that doesn't really penetrate the skin, but tricks
the patients into thinking that it does. "It disappears
into its handle like a stage dagger," Lewith says. This
tricked the patients into believing they were being
treated when they weren't.
The study group, which consisted of 14 patients with
arthritic pain in their thumbs, was also treated with
both real acupuncture, and with blunt needles that didn't
penetrate the skin. In the last case the patients were
told that the procedure should not have any effect.
The researchers then used positron emission tomography to
measure brain activity. Both placebo treatment and real
treatment activated the brain in areas known to respond
to opiates: painkillers released by the brain.
Insula effect
True acupuncture also increased activity in a different
brain area called the insula, which is part of the
cerebral cortex. It's not clear what this activity means,
says Lewith, but it indicates some sort of real effect.
"What we have demonstrated is that acupuncture is
partially modulated by expectation, but is probably also
modulated by a real treatment effect," he says. They
report their findings in the journal NeuroImage1.
Lewith adds that his own previous work has indicated that
expectation accounts for some of acupuncture's benefits.
In a study of people with chronic neck pain, they found
the placebo effect accounted for about 80% of pain
relief2.
Kaptchuk says that the study should help researchers to
design better clinical trials of acupuncture in the
future. "This study gives a clarification of the possible
mechanisms by which acupuncture works, and by
understanding the mechanisms we can design better
placebos," he says.
References
Pariente J., White P., Frackowiak , Richard S. J. &
Lewith G. Neuroimage, 25. 1161 - 1167 (2005).
Article
http://dx.doi.org/10.1016%2Fj.neuroimage.2005.01.016
PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...3&dopt=Abstract
White P., Lewith G., Prescott P. & Conway J. Ann. Intern.
Med., 141. 911 - 919 (2004). PubMed
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/...8&dopt=Abstract
More at:
http://www.nature.com/news/2005/050.../050425-12.html
Jai Maharaj
http://www.mantra.com/jai
Om Shanti
Hindu Holocaust Museum
http://www.mantra.com/holocaust
Hindu life, principles, spirituality and philosophy
http://www.hindu.org
http://www.hindunet.org
The truth about Islam and Muslims
http://www.flex.com/~jai/satyamevajayate
The terrorist mission of Jesus stated in the Christian bible:
"Think not that I am come to send peace on earth: I came not so send
peace, but a sword.
"For I am come to set a man at variance against his father, and the
daughter against her mother, and the daughter in law against her mother in
law.
"And a man's foes shall be they of his own household.
- Matthew 10:34-36.
o Not for commercial use. Solely to be fairly used for the educational
purposes of research and open discussion. The contents of this post may not
have been authored by, and do not necessarily represent the opinion of the
poster. The contents are protected by copyright law and the exemption for
fair use of copyrighted works.
o If you send private e-mail to me, it will likely not be read,
considered or answered if it does not contain your full legal name, current
e-mail and postal addresses, and live-voice telephone number.
o Posted for information and discussion. Views expressed by others are
not necessarily those of the poster who may or may not have read the article.
FAIR USE NOTICE: This article may contain copyrighted material the use of
which may or may not have been specifically authorized by the copyright
owner. This material is being made available in efforts to advance the
understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic,
democratic, scientific, social, and cultural, etc., issues. It is believed
that this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as
provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title
17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without
profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included
information for research, comment, discussion and educational purposes by
subscribing to USENET newsgroups or visiting web sites. For more information
go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml
If you wish to use copyrighted material from this article for purposes of
your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the
copyright owner.
Since newsgroup posts are being removed
by forgery by one or more net terrorists,
this post may be reposted several times.
|