How acupuncture can help heal pain by targeting the brain and nervous system

Did you know that the most common condition people seek an acupuncturist for is pain? Pain is both what you feel (subjective) and a physical change in the body (objective). If you twist your ankle, you feel pain and see marked redness and swelling. Pain is your body's way of saying something is wrong, so pay attention. Would you ignore your gas light coming on? No, you would fill your tank before you run out of gas. Taking pain meds disrupts various signals that stop inflammation, either locally or in the brain, and turns the warning light off. Both the feeling of pain and the physical change originates from one place—our brains. Acupuncture has been dubbed a modality with the ability to help patients "heal themselves" for centuries. And that is in no way incorrect. Instead of masking the pain, this therapy has the incredible benefit of actually healing your pain using your own body's resources.

Medical acupuncture is simply a therapy that targets many different areas and processes in the brain and nervous system. The brain is our master control center. There are two pathways of the brain—the one that goes to the brain and the one that goes away from the brain (afferent and efferent nerve pathways). Acupuncture directly changes the signal to the brain. Once that signal is changed, the signal back to the sensation is obviously altered. Acupuncture points have been found to match the exact location of microscopic fibers called C fibers, which are nerve endings that send signals to and from the brain. C fibers are responsible for telling the brain when a sensation is detected of either temperature, touch, body position change or pain (nociception). The pathways that C fibers travel along to send their message to the brain are along the spinal cord, brain stem, insular cortex and the thalamus and hypothalamus.

A large study was done with three groups of patients. The first group was aware they were not receiving real acupuncture and a needle simply touched the skin. The second group thought they were receiving real acupuncture, however trick needles were used, which touched the skin and appeared to puncture the skin but did not. The third group received real acupuncture. Looking at a brain scan (PET scan), scientists found that the second group all had areas of their brain stimulated where natural opiates and endorphins are produced (in the hypothalamus); opiates and endorphins are responsible for the feeling of decreased pain, sedation, overall well-being and euphoria, and are often supplemented through recreational drugs to produce this powerful feeling. The brain scans of the third group who had real acupuncture also had areas of opiate/endorphin production light up on their scan, but the insular cortex was heavily affected as well. The insular cortex is an area in the brain responsible for the following (to list just a few): emotions (including love, anger, fear, sadness, happiness, sexual arousal, disgust, aversion and unfairness), motor control, self awareness, cognitive functioning, perception, interpersonal experience, sense of inner body, blood pressure, warmth and coldness, motivation, food/drug cravings, formation of memories, and balance of your 'fight or flight' and 'rest and digest' responses (sympathetic and parasympathetic).

Not only does acupuncture help with the feeling of pain, but it actually helps heal and rebuild tissue faster. Inserting an acupuncture needle mobilizes your body's own defense mechanisms. Acupuncture stimulates an amino acid called Calcitonine Gene-Related Peptide, or CGRP, which has the ability to both prevent and promote inflammation. CGRP works in close contact with Substance P, which is responsible for any swelling or edema and contains the injury to one area, bringing white and red blood cells to the site. Acupuncture has also been found to stimulate beta-endorphins, which are specific to decreasing the sensation of pain. Cytokines are also released, which are composed of white blood cells that provide an immune response and spark cellular growth.

We know that the insertion of acupuncture needles into specific areas at specific depths has the effect of releasing opiates and endorphins, changing the feeling or sensation of the pain and helping the immune system and the inflammation process to help the body heal itself.

The two most important notes I always tell people who are interested in medical acupuncture are: 1) Because this is a natural therapy, it takes longer than synthetic drugs to work—that is just the reality. Medication and acupuncture are two separate classes and cannot be compared, apples-to-apples. And 2) medical acupuncture can stimulate what is called an "Opioid Peptide Metabolism," or a metabolism in your brain. After a few sessions of acupuncture, your brain will start to stimulate the anti-inflammatory process we had been asking it to on its own. This is how and why patients can come in for 6 to 10 sessions and begin to have longterm or permanent effects. This metabolism effect is also unique to acupuncture, not to dry needling. Patients often get confused thinking they are the same therapy, and while dry needling is almost always used in conjunction with medical acupuncture, dry needling by itself will not stimulate this Opioid Peptide Metabolism!

Another note is that, because this therapy requires your own body's resources, sometimes it is imperative to follow our lifestyle, diet, supplemental, or exercise recommendations to get the best results.

We see a majority of our patients for pain, which includes pain anywhere in the body, from anything (injury, surgery, chronic or overuse issues, autoimmune, pain triggered from emotions, etc.). So, when people ask us if we can treat a left ankle injury, or rib pain from an acute cough, or low back pain that's been going on for a decade, or pain from menstruation, the answer is YES! That is our job, and what we do every day. We love to help people live pain-free lives! We are also open six days per week and take same-day appointments.