You may recall a study we posted about the placebo effect on your brain and spine. One of the oldest healing treatments around -- acupuncture -- may work entirely in your brain to battle pain too.
British scientists discovered the drain of pain while they were scanning the brains of 17 patients during two rounds of acupuncture (a shallow treatment used by Japanese practitioners and deeper insertions, per the Chinese method).
As a patient receives acupuncture successfully, he or she experiences deqi, a composite of unique sensations connected with the clinical efficacy of the treatment. Out of the 17 patients treated, brain scans of the 10 who experienced deqi showed these sensations contributed to a deactivation of pathways in the brain that process pain.
Good to see that conventional medicine is testing complementary and alternative medical practices like acupuncture and tai chi, and paying closer attention to all the real benefits associated with them.
Brain Research, Vol. 1315, pp. 111-118, February 22, 2010
Telegraph.co.uk February 6, 2010
ScienceDaily February 5, 2010