There's no question acupuncture works on your brain. Just how it relieves pain in the brain is still up for debate.

Some medical skeptics believe acupuncture works only like a placebo, a sham treatment that persuades your brain and body it has produced a beneficial, therapeutic effect. Those same cynics may have a much harder time convincing themselves and others, however, after the results of a German study that measured the effect of acupuncture on 18 healthy patients.

Participants were given two sets of electric shocks in the left ankle, first without the benefit of acupuncture and a second time with needles inserted in three places on their right sides (below the knee, near the thumb and between the toes), while attached to functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) equipment that can monitor changes in the active parts of the brain.

Interestingly, acupuncture worked, not only as a physical treatment that significantly reduced the activation of some pain-processing areas in the brain, but a placebo in other regions regulating a patient's expectations of pain.

Personal note: My wife is investigating alternatives for treating unrelenting neck and back pain without meds, including acupuncture. We'll keep you informed in this space about her progress and success as it comes.

Health Imaging Hub November 30, 2010

The Telegraph November 30, 2010