Acupuncture works and that is why it has stayed as a useful tool for thousands of years. But how does it work? Acupuncture is based on inserting very fine needles into a specific point on the body and stimulating that point either by rotation of needle, heat or a small electrical current. In the traditional Chinese Acupuncture, the philosophy of treatment is to stimulate certain points based on body map that can unblock the flow of energy (Chi or Qi) through some paths, or Meridians.Although we have not found evidence of these meridians by our scientific methods of evaluation, million of patients report improvement in different conditions, including pain using acupuncture each day. Today many neuroscience experts believe that the sensory stimulation of acupuncture needle releases some neurotransmitters in our body that have inhibitory effects on pain transmission.We all rub our knees when we bang our knee to a hard object and feel pain. We do that because we get relieve with creating a sensory message that on it’s way going to our brain, can somehow block the passage of the knee pain message to brain. Scientists think that the Acupuncture method of effect maybe similar to this.There are some natural pain killers (endorphin) that our body make with relaxing and relieving effects. Acupuncture may be effective in increasing the secretion of this natural pain killer.
Although Acupuncture is a practically safe method of treatment, it should be only practiced by trained and experienced professionals to avoid adverse events. If properly and safely used, it can be a good addition to your comprehensive inter-disciplinary method of pain management.
