blog

What if the best way to treat your chronic back pain is by retraining your brain? This is the premise of a novel approach to chronic pain, as reported by The Wall Street Journal on December 21, 2023.

However, this premise is not new; it forms the foundation of acupuncture and has been practiced for thousands of years.

According to the Journal, "Many people feel pain even after a physical injury has healed or when doctors can't find a physical cause. The approach, called 'pain reprocessing therapy,' tries to train the brain not to send false pain signals. Some early results are promising."

While this "new therapy" is still taking shape, its more mature sibling, acupuncture, has been proven effective for centuries.

There are many studies that support the efficacy of acupuncture for back pain, neck pain, chronic idiopathic and migraine headaches, knee pain, shoulder pain, arthritis, fibromyalgia, temporomandibular joint pain, postoperative pain, arthritis, fasciitis, epicondylitis, sciatica, and radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndromes.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the effectiveness of acupuncture analgesia has been established in controlled clinical trials, and the use of acupuncture to control chronic pain is comparable with morphine without the risk of drug dependence and other adverse side effects. Acupuncture is an effective treatment for many types of pain, is well tolerated by patients, and has a minimal likelihood of serious adverse effects.

Along with a growing body of research supporting the use of acupuncture as an evidence-based practice for pain management in human medicine, comes the question:

Pain is a sense triggered by illness of the body. There are no clear theories on how exactly acupuncture works. 

The currently understood mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia are complex and involve direct and indirect neurohumoral effects that block pain perception, reduce the pain response, relieve muscle spasms, and reduce inflammation. 

One of the theories is the Gate Control Theory of Pain, which states that specific nerve fibers transmit a pain signal to the brain via the spinal cord, and input of other nerve fibers can inhibit the pain signal transmission. Acupuncture is thought to stimulate inhibitory nerve fibers, which lowers the pain input and relieves the pain. 

This can explain the effectiveness of acupuncture in short term and acute pain conditions. 

However, this theory doesn't explain acupuncture's healing efficacy of chronic pains.

According to Dr Yang from Yi Acu Clinic:

"Most of the chronic pains you suffer from are related to malfunctions in your nervous system. 

"For instance, when you sustain an injury, your nervous system's initial response is to protect your body from bleeding by restricting blood flow to the injured area. 

"While the visible wound may appear to heal, if your nervous system continues to tightly control the blood flow to that area, the healing process remains incomplete. 

"This is what we refer to as 'mind-level pain.' 

"In essence, these pains are stored as memories within the central nervous system. 

"Acupuncture can ease the nervous system and rebalance blood flows, thus addressing the root causes.

"Our initial treatment can alleviate up to 30% of the pain you are experiencing.

"Chronic pain can be healed through several sessions."

Chronic pain causes long-term inflammation, which is detrimental to the body and can lead to various problems. Once again, it's important to focus on healing rather than suppressing it.