Acupuncture works on pain through a chemical compound on the skin. Its concentration increases during a session, soothing the patient.
Migraine, fibromyalgia, back pain… These three conditions share more than recurrent pain. They are also improved by acupuncture. However, the mystery hovers over the real effect of this ancestral technique, which came from China. A team from the Los Angeles Biomedical Research Institute (United States) provides an explanation in Evidence-Based Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
25 brave men agreed to be riddled with needles for the sake of this study. The researchers resorted to a moderate version of acupuncture. For 20 minutes, the manipulators alternated twisting the needles and pausing. A slight heat of electrical origin has also been sent to the needles.
An influx of nitric oxide
This strategy normally produces a feeling of heat around the needles. It is this phenomenon that soothes the pain. But the explanation of this mechanism comes at the microscopic level. The level of nitric oxide in the skin increases during the acupuncture session. Compared to other periods, it is twice as high.
This chemical compound tends to relax blood vessels, promoting blood flow. Thus, the influx of nitric oxide indirectly encourages the release of analgesic and sensitizing substances in the body. This is where the feeling of warmth and the benefits of the technique on pain come from.
To observe this, the researchers had to develop a tailor-made tool. “Our laboratory has developed a non-invasive and painless device composed of biosensors, capable of producing samples of human biomolecules in specific regions of the skin”, explains Sheng-Xing Ma, who signs this work.
Source : Evidence-based Complementary and Alternative Medicine
Use the right tools
In order to confirm their results, the scientists evaluated another technique used in acupuncture. Unlike the one that causes a feeling of hot, it makes you feel cold. “The reduction is achieved by performing a rapid rotating movement of the needle,” explains Sheng-Xing Ma. When implantation is more intense, the concentration of nitric oxide drops.
This information provides a more precise idea of how acupuncture works. But that’s not all. The researchers also believe that the results plead in favor of the use of adapted tools during studies on this ancestral method. Their absence may explain the patchy observations published in the past.
.
