Pain + Acupuncture: a western medicine explanation
What is pain? It sounds like a silly question because we’ve all experienced pain countless times in our lives and the obvious answer is “an unpleasant and sometimes distressing feeling occurring at various sites around the body”. It is a warning signal, a protective mechanism that lets us know something isn’t right or there is damage to a body part. But what is happening on a physiological level? Our body is comprised of specialised nerves called nociceptors that send signals to the brain when there is change in temperature, pressure or chemical balance, i.e. these are like our ‘danger nerves’. When we experience pain from a broken ankle, pain isn’t actually produced at the ankle; the brain produces pain after evaluation of incoming information from nociceptors, our ‘danger nerves’. The process of pain perception is highly complex with the brain evaluating how dangerous the pain is and altering the body’s sensitivity accordingly. For example, if the brain perceives pain as being highly dangerous the danger transmission will become extra sensitive (AKA descending facilitation)…this is our body’s amazing protective and survival mechanism coming into play. Now I’ve carried on about the biological process of pain with a point in mind…how does acupuncture help to treat pain?
Acupuncture is used to treat a wide range of pain conditions such as headache, migraine, back and neck pain, period pain, nerve pain and pain post-injury or surgery. Much research has been performed in recent years to investigate the effectiveness of acupuncture on pain. One experiment worth discussing is that organised by acupuncturist James Whittle of North Carolina, USA and a group of researchers. They analysed MRI imaging of the brain before and during acupuncture. The results showed that with deep needling there is deactivation of neurological activity deep in the brain where the pain matrix is located. This is a significant finding as it shows that acupuncture not only stimulates frontal areas of the brain (which is normal response when someone has needles put in them) but it’s actually deactivating or calming deep areas of the brain where pain is experienced.
As acupuncturists who have studied Traditional Chinese Medicine, we know and appreciate that acupuncture has been used for thousands of years to treat pain. However, a bit of scientific evidence is always great to see and especially helpful for those who are a little sceptical about this age-old medicine or those who would like a ‘western’ explanation for how acupuncture works. I chose to write this article because I often have patients ask me to explain how acupuncture helps with pain. If you’ve had acupuncture before you are likely to agree that post-treatment you feel extra calm or even sleepy. I often explain that acupuncture helps calm the mind which based on the research discussed, couldn’t be more true.
If you have any concerns or questions about how acupuncture may help manage your pain, please do not hesitate to contact Shift Natural Medicine. If you have any serious concerns or worries in regards to severe pain, please contact your doctor as soon as possible. Better to be safe than sorry.
With gratitude,
Phoebe
(Acupuncturist)