Issue 13 September/October 2011
Quantum
HEALTH
How Acupuncture Reduces Pain
The July/August 2011 issue of Science Illustrated featured the story “The Secret Behind Acupuncture” that reveals why acupuncture is successful at treating pain. While the pain- relieving benefi ts of acupuncture have long been recognized, there has not been a defi nitive explanation for the mechanism. Some skeptics have claimed it is the placebo effect; others speculate that when the brain registers the pricks of the acupuncture needles it causes the release of endorphins, which among other effects helps to dull pain. It took at 16-year-old American high- school student to fi nd out the real mechanism.
Nanna Goldman, the daughter of University of Rochester neuroscientist Maiken Nedergaard, decided to explore acupuncture and pain for a school project in 2008. She garnered the support of her mother and her mother’s research colleagues to launch a study using mice—to rule out the placebo effect—to fi nd out how acupuncture reduces pain. The answer: the cells around the site where acupuncture needles are inserted release adenosine, a substance made by stressed cells that dulls the signals sent by pain nerves to the brain. Adenosine has other functions besides dampening nerve pain signals, so it may be the mechanism for other ways
www.quantumhealthmagazine.com
that acupuncture is benefi cial, for example by reducing infl ammation (which can explain why acupuncture often helps conditions like arthritis) and dilating blood vessels (which may be why acupuncture helps some people to reduce their high blood pressure).
The pain-relieving effect of acupuncture was strongest immediately after needling, and wore off over time. In the mice, pain relief lasted for up to one hour after the needles were removed. To see if they could extend the effect, in follow-up studies Goldman and the university neuroscientists explored how the use of certain types of drugs might prolong the effect. While they found some drugs that did indeed extend the benefi t, they also noted that using pharmaceuticals always comes with the risk of adverse side effects. As one of the team members said, “Acupuncture has very few side effects and can be used without any concerns about risk to the patient’s health.”
Goldman is now a university student, and in 2010 presented her fi ndings at a science conference in Spain and was listed as fi rst author on the paper reporting on her experiments that was published in Nature Neuroscience. Her neuroscientist mother has applied for funding to further study the mechanisms behind acupuncture to “document its clinical effects and thereby increase support for acupuncture.”
For the full story, see “The Secret Behind Acupuncture,” Science Illustrated, July/August 2011: Vol. 4, No. 4, 48-53.
Quantum Health 27
Science in the News
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48