Why does acupuncture relieve pain?
In the musculoskeletal field, acupuncture and moxibustion can be used to treat chronic pain, degenerative arthritis, sports trauma, or even acute injuries.
Generally, doctors analyze the pain symptoms, including tingling and arthralgia, and examine the local musculoskeletal system to determine the best acupuncture treatment guideline and course.
As for the principle of acupuncture pain relief, according to modern physiology research, it mainly has two aspects, including neural mechanism and chemical mechanism. In terms of neural mechanism, studies have shown that the central nervous system changes when tissues are inflamed or peripheral nerves are injured. This leads to a decrease in the neuralgic threshold, which triggers the usual tactile stimuli that do not cause pain but can produce it.
Physiological experiments have shown that acupuncture can regulate and increase the pain threshold of the central nervous system, resulting in an analgesic effect. In terms of chemical mechanism, physiological studies have shown that low-frequency and high-frequency electroacupuncture stimulation can produce various pain-relieving substances. The endorphins produced include beta endorphin, endphalin, endomorphin and dynorphin. Certainly, due to the improvement of research technology, there will be more research results in the future to further explain the principle of acupuncture pain relief.
