Mapping Acupuncture's Effects On The Brain

Just how does acupuncture work?

Modern brain imaging techniques are helping us understand the science behind this ancient practice.

The work, much of it out of Harvard University, involves a variety of technologies, including functional MRIs and Positron Emission Tomography. The results are considered the first step in determining why acupuncture is so effective.

An early - and logical - focus of this research is the nervous system, according to Vitaly Napadow, PhD. Napadow, a licensed acupuncturist and an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, wrote about this hot field in a recent article for The American Acupuncturist, the official publication of the American Association of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine. I would be glad to e-mail copies of this fascinating article.

Studies, he says, show acupuncture acts upon many areas of the brain. Not surprisingly, it stimulates somatosensory regions that pertain to our ability to consciously sense and respond
to environmental stimuli. However, studies make clear that acupuncture stimulates unconscious parts of the brain located in the brain stem, limbic system and cerebellum.

Acupuncture - Chinese Medicine in general - attempts to bring balance and harmony to the body. A modern medical term for this homeostasis. The nervous system is responsible for maintaining homeostasis throughout the body by maintaining hormonal levels, gaseous diffusion, water balance and nutrient absorption.

Writes Napadow:

"From the very early days of acupuncuture research, the brain was a prime target of investigators ... Since acupuncture has been applied to many different disorders, it is tempting (and logical) to think that acupuncture somehow taps into an overarching system in the body, which holistically mediates and regulates proper homeostasis in all the body's different organs. Thus when disease subverts this homeostasis, acupuncture can be used to restore proper bodily function. From decades of scientific research, the leading (but, of course, not only) candidate for such an overarching system of homeostasis is in fact the nervous system, which permeates or influences every organ and tissue in our body."

[In the article, Napadow says some of the best acupuncture have been achieved when the needler obtains the "deqi" sensation. This is the Chinese term for the zone - the moment - in which the Qi is accessed through acupuncture. It's different in every person. The reluctance of many American students and practitioners to access a real Qi sensation for fear of scaring patients is a pet peeve of mine. We must be careful not to cause pain. This takes practice. But if we are using Qi to treat people we have to learn to activate it for maximum results.]

Napadow himself points out that this research may be purely academic if it is not somehow compared to real life clinical outcomes.

He seems to be saying that through technology we can learn how the brain responds to acupuncture. What's most important, however, is understanding how the patient responds to the acupuncture and how this knowledge can be used to achieve results.

"Unfortunately, the relationship of this brain response to clinical outcome measures has been less readily studied, an important questions future studies need to address," he writes.

On a promising note, he says preliminary studies are already looking at acupuncture's neurological impact on stroke, fibromyalgia and carpal tunnel syndrome patients.