| Acupuncture is a treatment that is growing in popularity in
the UK. In parallel, a number of recent high quality trials have provided evidence of
clinical effectiveness, and in some cases cost-effectiveness, for a range of conditions,
especially those associated with pain. Despite this growing body of evidence, there
are many sceptics who would like ‘objective’ evidence of acupuncture’s
impact on biological correlated. One new area of research where such ‘objective’
evidence has now become possible is in the mapping of the effect of acupuncture on
regionally specific structures within the brain. |
Area of brain that "lights up"
when needling an acupuncture
point on the hand.
|
| Interestingly, some recent research studies suggest the
remarkable possibility of correlations between classical acupuncture points for eye
diseases and cerebral activity in the visual cortex, even though there are no known neural
pathways to explain this. A research project being conducted by Hugh
MacPherson is mapping the effect of acupuncture on brain structures with both MRI and
MEG scanners at the newly opened York Neuroimaging Centre. In a pilot for this project we
have seen quite remarkable pictures of where acupuncture at a point on the hand
‘lights up’ the brain (see photo). If you are interested in finding out
more, contact Hugh MacPherson on hm18(at)york.ac.uk." |
Dr Aziz Asghar with Hugh
MacPherson with the MEG scanner |
