Acupuncture does work as it stimulates a natural pain killer, scientists find

[FarCenter]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/7785824/Acupuncture-does-work-as-it-stimulates-a-natural-pain-killer-scientists-find.html

Acupuncture works by stimulating a natural painkiller in the body that swells arteries and allows more blood to flow through, scientists have discovered.

By Richard Alleyne, Science Correspondent
Published: 6:00PM BST 30 May 2010

The identification of the chemical adenosine as a central player could also make the ancient Chinese therapy even more effective at relieving pain.

Scientists were able to triple the beneficial effects of simply sticking needles in mice by adding a leukaemia medication that increased their amounts of the molecule.

Dr Maiken Nedergaard, a neuroscientist at the University of Rochester, New York, said: "Acupuncture has been a mainstay of medical treatment in certain parts of the world for 4,000 years, but because it has not been understood completely, many people have remained sceptical.

"In this work, we provide information about one physical mechanism through which acupuncture reduces pain in the body.

"What we found is that adenosine, a natural pain killer, is released during acupuncture and that adenosine may be the primary way acupuncture reduces pain.

"The most important observation is that acupuncture worked almost three times as long if we gave a drug that slow down the removal of adenosine."

Adenosine, which also helps to regulate sleep and keep the heart healthy, becomes active in the skin after an injury to inhibit nerve signals and ease pain.

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[closeupready]

1. Impossible. It wasn't created by white men, therefore,

it can't be real. :sarcasm:

[TheDebbieDee]

4. Don't you mean that it was created by white men in a pharmaceutical

lab and made into pill form after years of exhaustive and extremely expensive research, research that will be paid for by those patients wealthy enought of afford it?

Also, this pill causes several potentially lethal side effects.......which can also be treated by a pill manufactured by the same pharmaceutical company.

I'm sure you meant to say that, too! :sarcasm:

[closeupready]

5. If there's a connection with someone named "Wu" (or is it 'woo'?), it must be quackery.

:rofl: :hi:

[BrklynLiberal]

2. I have had incredible success in the use of acupuncture to relieve my pain.

I am a strong believer in its effectiveness.

[Warpy]

3. I'm the biggest skeptic in the world

but I didn't want to sleep my life away on narcs so I was driven by desperation to try it.

Yeah, it works, whether or not you believe it.

PET scans have shown that pain receptor areas on the brain are shut down during and after acupuncture.

What is unclear at this point is whether the Chinese system of meridians is truly necessary, whether random needling works as well. That's what they're working on now.

For the record, I was involved in clinical trials of it many years ago when it was found it had negligible effect on stroke, head injury, and spinal cord injury patients beyond relieving discomfort.

[NobleCynic]

6. Interesting, so the study you were in found the pain relief to be real

but the claims that it was a panacea to be unfounded.

That sounds to be a realistic middle ground, as I've heard several theories as to the mechanism for pain relief that sound plausible, but no plausible theories for anything beyond just acting as an anesthetic.

[Warpy]

7. No, I did data collection on other studies.

The jury is still out on any effect on most body systems. I can just report that where there was neurological damage, there was no improvement.