Acupuncture has measurable effects on your brain!

13/08/2012

Since running The Pain Relief Clinic, I’ve endless success stories of people whose lives are transformed after treatment and go on to enjoy good health.

And yet, some people need convincing. Now, following recently published research which reviewed over 700 MRI scan studies, I can say stimulating acupuncture points definitely causes a response in certain areas of your brain.

From analysing brain images, it was discovered that sensory and emotional control centres in our bodies ‘light up’ when particular acupuncture points are stimulated.

Areas of the brain that are involved in learning also show reaction to acupuncture stimulus.

If you take a look at the research paper yourself and go to page 9 you can see a picture which amalgamates the research findings. It shows the brain’s response when 18 different acupuncture points have been used.

Many of my patients say how relaxing they find acupuncture and that they “feel better” or “more themselves” after treatment – this may be due to the activity of your brain’s emotional processing centre.

When people ask me about how many treatments they need, part of my explanation is often includes the point that repeated treatments help the body “hold onto” the message that the needles are giving – perhaps this is as a result of activity of cognitive brain processing – or in other words our ability to learn...

If you do check out the research paper and what to ask me any more questions about it, please do email me and I will do my best to answer!

Click here to read the original research paper.