Acupuncture is one of the oldest and most common treatment methods in the world, even in light of the medical developments of recent centuries. It is based on activating "acupuncture points" using needles, where each point seemingly affects another area or function of the body and helps improve it and treat pain. But does it really help? Perplexity analyzes a doctor's paper to understand the current scientific relationship to the method of treatment.
In the past, Western doctors and scientists rejected acupuncture as a mere placebo effect, but a recent study has found that acupuncture may actually help with certain conditions, including chronic pain. The data is so promising that in 2020, the U.S. government health insurance began covering acupuncture treatments for chronic lower back pain. Clinical trials over the past few decades have shown that acupuncture may also be beneficial for other conditions, such as chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and constipation.
To determine if acupuncture really works, researchers compared it to "dummy" acupuncture. In simulated acupuncture, the acupuncturist inserts needles, but deliberately avoids the established acupuncture points. It's not a perfect double-blind system (where researchers and subjects don't know who's getting real and who's getting simulated treatment), but from the patient's perspective, the experience is the same. If the benefits of acupuncture were due to a placebo effect, real and simulated acupuncture would produce similar results.
A 2018 meta-analysis of 39 randomized controlled trials with more than 20,000 patients found that acupuncture was preferable to both sham acupuncture and non-acupuncture for back or neck pain, osteoarthritis, headaches, and shoulder pain. These results usually persisted over time, even after 12 months of treatment.
The scientists began to figure out how acupuncture works: they found that it changed brain activity in terms of activating the receptors that connect to opioids, which help control pain in the body. Electroacupuncture, in which the needles also transmit light electrical currents, also affected the way different parts of the brain were connected, essentially rewirering the brain's pain network.
Acupuncture is considered safe when done by a trained therapist. Complications and death due to such treatment are extremely rare. Fainting or pain at the site of insertion of the needle is also rare. Therefore, it seems that this is a treatment method that indeed has a scientific basis for its use.
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