Acupuncture has been increasingly used as an integrative or complementary therapy for pain. It is well-tolerated with little risk of serious adverse effects. Multiple factors may contribute to variability in acupuncture's therapeutic effects, including needling technique, number of needles used, duration of needle retention, acupuncture point specificity, number of treatments, and numerous subjective (psychological) factors. (Keely and Willis, 2019)
Electroacupuncture blocks pain by activating a variety of bioactive chemicals through peripheral, spinal, and supraspinal mechanisms. These include opioids, which desensitize peripheral nociceptors and reduce proinflammatory cytokines peripherally and in the spinal cord, and serotonin and norepinephrine, which decrease spinal N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor subunit GluN1 phosphorylation. (Zhang et al., 2014)
Based on the most recent evidence, migraine and fibromyalgia are two conditions with the most favorable outcomes after acupuncture. At the same time, abdominal pain has the least evidence for the use of acupuncture. Acupuncture is efficacious for reducing pain in patients with low back pain, and for short-term pain relief for those with neck pain. (Patel et al., 2020)
Kelly RB, Willis J. Acupuncture for Pain. Am Fam Physician. 2019 Jul 15;100(2):89-96. PMID: 31305037.
Zhang R, Lao L, Ren K, Berman BM. Mechanisms of acupuncture-electroacupuncture on persistent pain. Anesthesiology. 2014 Feb;120(2):482-503. doi: 10.1097/ALN.0000000000000101. PMID: 24322588; PMCID: PMC3947586.
Patel M, Urits I, Kaye AD, Viswanath O. The role of acupuncture in the treatment of chronic pain. Best Pract Res Clin Anaesthesiol. 2020 Sep;34(3):603-616. doi: 10.1016/j.bpa.2020.08.005. Epub 2020 Aug 8. PMID: 33004170.
https://www.health.harvard.edu/healthbeat/relieving-pain-with-acupuncture
Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2RYmd5wG6SaZ5do4NPo0q4?si=1df7f00cea4d47aa