Pain Relief Studies

Studies Confirm Acupuncture Relieves Pain (MRI scans provide objective evidence that treatment works)

By Michael Devitt, Managing Editor of Acupuncture Today, January 2000

For more than 2,500 years, acupuncture has been one of the world's most popular forms of health care. A 1998 study published in the Archives of Internal Medicine, for example, showed that medical doctors refer their patients to acupuncturists more than any other "alternative" care provider. The same study also revealed that 51% of medical doctors believe acupuncture to be efficacious and of value.

A pair of new studies -- one conducted at the University of Heidelberg in Germany, the other at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (umdnJ) 3,4 -- may have finally demonstrated acupuncture more effective than placebo.

In the Heidelberg study, 52 athletes suffering from shoulder pain were divided into a control group and an acupuncture group. Each group received eight 20-minute sessions over a four-week period. Based on the results, the authors concluded that "acupuncture with penetration of the skin is more effective than placing the needles on similar sites."

Acupuncture for Pain Relief

The New Jersey study was monitored using functional magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), a technology that reveals what parts of the brain are receiving increased blood flow. Increased blood flow to different areas of the brain indicates that those areas are being stimulated.

During 30 minutes of treatment, the patients rated their pain level on a scale of one to 10 every five minutes, with the MRI continually monitoring their brains. "We found activity subsided in 60 to 70 percent of the entire brain," said Wen-Ching Liu, an assistant professor of radiology at UMDNJ and a co-author of the study. The response was even greater among those who received electro-acupuncture. Pain-related brain activity decreased in all patients who received electrical stimulation, and those subjects showed a greater tolerance to pain than those who received traditional acupuncture treatment.

Footnotes:

Astin JA, Marie A, Pelletier KR, Hansen E, Haskell WL. A review of the incorporation of complementary and alternative medicine by mainstream physicians. Arch Intern Med 1998;158:2303-2310.
Kleinhenz J, et al. Randomized clinical trial comparing the effects of acupuncture and a newly designed placebo needle in rotator cuff tendonitis. Pain 1999;83:235-241.
Bowman L. Research quantifies value of acupuncture. Nando Media/Scripps Howard News Service, December 2, 1999.
Susman E. Bran scans show acupuncture dulls pain. Excite News, December 1, 1999.