This blog is to share the latest research and development of acupuncture and raise the awareness of alternative treatments for your conditions, and is for information only.

Thursday 19 June 2014

Long-term active acupuncture therapy modified brain pain circuitry for migraine

Chronic acupuncture stimulation at the active acupoints has potential effect of regulating some disease-affected brain regions and brain pain circuitry in patients with migraine, according to a report recently published in journal PLOS one.

Migraine attack is sometimes unbearable to the patients and the impact on their families is huge. Loss of productivity due to migraine is enormous to the society. Although the exact cause of migraine is still unknown it is regarded as a central nervous system disorder. Acupuncture is effective in relieving migraine but how it works is not well understood.  

Scientists in China conducted a randomized controlled clinical trial, using functional magnetic resonance imaging technique, to compare the difference in brain activation pattern elicited by active acupoints and inactive acupoints in 80 patients with migraine. Pain was measured by using Visual Analogue Scale prior to and following acupuncture treatment. It was found that acupuncture stimulation at active acupoints SJ5, GB20, GB34 and GB40 for 30 minutes once a day for 4 weeks produced a more extensive cerebral response, in particular in pain-related areas and cognitive components of pain processing. The changes in brain response are closely associated with reduction in pain rating scale. In contrast, stimulation at inactive acupoint SJ22, PC7, GB37 and SP3 induced much less brain responses in those pain-related areas and correlated to less reduction in pain rating.

Authors suggest that therapeutic effect of long-term acupuncture at active acupoint may be related to its enhancing the formation of psychophysical pain homeostasis in brain of patients with migraine.

Reference:
Zhao L et al., Effects of Long-Term Acupuncture Treatment on Resting-State Brain Activity in Migraine Patients: A Randomized Controlled Trial on Active Acupoints and Inactive Acupoints. PLOS one. 2014 Jun 10;9(6):e99538.    http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0099538

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