Acupuncture is a technique that involves inserting and manipulating very fine needles into specific points on the body with the aim of relieving pain. Chinese Acupuncture has been used to treat pain for thousands of years in the Far East. Chinese Acupuncture is increasingly being used today but as demand for this therapy increases, there is also an increasing need to try and understand if and how the therapy works. By understanding the therapeutic effect of Chinese acupuncture it may be possible for scientists to develop more effective protocols that will be more acceptable within mainstream medicine.

Recently, a research team from the University of Michican used a brain imaging technique to try and understand how activity in the brain changes during Chinese Acupuncture. Twenty women who had Fibromyalgia related pain for at least 1 year were recruited to the study. Within this group half the women had the real acupuncture over an 8 week period whilst half received a control intervention. A PET scan was applied before and after the study to analyse the binding availability of different pain receptors in the brain.

Whilst both groups experienced a reduction in pain, the brain activity changes were different. Most notably, there was a change in the binding availability of opioid pain receptors in the Chinese Acupuncture group. Opioids are thought to work by activating these types of receptors and so a change in the binding availability of these types of receptors may alter the way these drugs work. Whilst more research needs to be done in this area, this small study does hint  that acupuncture may have a real physiological effect on pain receptor in the brain.