Category: Factual & Arts TV
Date: 21.01.2006
Printable version
An experiment conducted in the 大象传媒 Television series Alternative Medicine: The Evidence (大象传媒 TWO, 9.00pm, Tuesday 24 January 2006) - presented by scientist Professor Kathy Sykes from Bristol University - shows acupuncture has a powerful and measurable effect on the human brain.
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The effect is surprising, because scientists have previously predicted that parts of the cortex would be activated during acupuncture.
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This unique experiment suggests that, on the contrary, parts of the brain, beyond the cortex, are actually deactivated.
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The first programme in the three part series brings together a group of leading scientists including neuro-scientist Mark Lythgoe (UCL); neuro-physiologist Dr Aziz Asghar (Hull York Medical School); physician in clinical research Dr George Lewith (Southampton University); and acupuncturist Dr Hugh McPherson (University of York).
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Together they devise a rigorous scientific test to assess the neurological effect of acupuncture.
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Volunteers were subjected to a process acupuncturists call 'deep needling' and the findings were compared with a control group undergoing 'superficial needling'.
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'Deep needling' involves having needles inserted approximately one centimetre into the back of the hand at a well known acupuncture point and the needles are then rotated by the practitioner until the effect acupuncturists call de chi (pronounced "duh chee") is experienced - the subjects feeling a dull, achy or tingling sensation.
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Those undergoing 'superficial needling' have needles only inserted approximately one millimetre into a similar point.
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During these two procedures the volunteers underwent brain scans to see what, if any, effect there was in the brain.
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In the programme, when the results of the scans are analysed, the scientists discover that 'superficial needling' results in activation of the motor areas of the cortex, a normal response to touch or pain.
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With 'deep needling' and de chi, a deeper part of the brain is affected.
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This is within what is often known as the limbic system and, surprisingly, this part of the brain is deactivated with 'deep needling'.
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Professor Sykes says: "The particular area of the brain where MRI shows deactivation during acupuncture is part of the 'pain matrix' which is involved in the perception of pain - it helps someone 'decide' whether something is painful or not, so it could be that acupuncture in some ways changes a person's pain perception."
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The most up-to-date functional magnetic resonance imager (MRI) at York University was used - MRI is a relatively new technology that measures the changes in blood flow that result from brain activity.
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Neuroscientists are more familiar with interventions causing activations and this result seems to support anecdotal accounts of acupuncture - and some experimental studies - which indicate that the therapy is particularly effective in the management of pain.
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Professor Sykes goes on: "I'm just thrilled that we managed to do a real scientific experiment, shaped and run by scientists and run by acupuncturists together, where we found something quite unexpected; that acupuncture is having a measurable effect on the human brain."
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In Alternative Medicine: The Evidence, Professor Kathy Sykes examines three forms of alternative medicine - acupuncture, healing and herbalism - to see if there is any scientific evidence for their effectiveness.
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In the first programme on acupuncture, in addition to this neuroscience study, she travels to the United States and China where acupuncture is routinely used alongside conventional medicine in hospitals.
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In China she witnesses a conscious patient undergoing open-heart surgery with acupuncture being used without general anaesthetic.
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KC
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