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Acupuncture works – it’s official. Many people are sceptical of alternative therapies, and recent media reports on misleading comments by practitioners of alternative medicine have fuelled the public’s doubt. But a study published on Sunday in Nature Neuroscience may just prove the sceptics wrong. It turns out that acupuncture releases one of the body’s natural painkillers, making acupuncture a definite option for sufferers of chronic pain, whether it be from arthritis or a back injury.

The science behind the claim

Researchers at the University of Rochester’s Medical Centre found that adenosine was released in the area around acupuncture needles in mice. Adenosine is one of the body’s natural painkillers. It also helps regulate sleep and has anti-inflammatory properties. After an injury, adenosine is released by the body to reduce pain, and the scientists found that it was also released in deeper tissue treated by acupuncture.

East meets west

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The test, on mice, showed 24 times more adenosine released in animals treated with acupuncture than in those who weren’t. Making east meet west, the scientists then tested whether a common cancer-treating medication would increase acupuncture’s painkilling benefits. And the result: a resounding success. Acupuncture, combined with the drug deoxycoformycin, almost tripled the amount of adenosine in tissue, as well as tripling the length of pain relief.

According to the experts

Sceptics may be surprised by what the lead author of the study, Dr. Maiken Nedergaard, had to say in a press release: ‘Acupuncture has been a mainstay of medical treatment in certain parts of the world for 4,000 years, but because it has not been understood completely, many people have remained sceptical. In this work, we provide information about one physical mechanism through which acupuncture reduces pain in the body.’

So if electrotherapy and other pain management procedures aren’t working for you, and you’re worrying about the long-term effects of painkilling drugs on your body, it looks like giving acupuncture a chance could definitely work for you. Whether you’re one of the sceptics or not.

Tags: acupuncture, chronic pain, electrotherapy