Tweet Acupuncture may help some women conceive through in-vitro fertilization, according to a new analysis on past studies, however the true benefit remains unclear. Acupuncture is the traditional Chinese medicinal needle treatment for a range of health problems. Ten years ago, German researchers reported that acupuncture seemed to improve pregnancy rates in women undergoing IVF, but since then research on the topic has shown conflicting results. German studies have also showed in a series of imaging experiments that pain centers in participants’ brains were significantly calmer after researchers applied a few short electrical zaps to acupuncture needles that were pinned to the skin on their ankles. In the new meta-analysis,.
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2011
Tweet The effectiveness of acupuncture for pain relief has been backed up after scientists discovered it stimulates a natural painkiller in your body, which swells arteries, allowing more blood through. In April, acupuncture was in the headlines after researchers claimed it didn’t ease pain in labour for most mums. But now a different group of scientists have made a discovery that suggests the opposite could be true – that acupuncture does indeed help ease pain. “What we found is that adenosine, a natural painkiller, is released during acupuncture and that adenosine may be the primary way acupuncture reduces pain,” said Dr Maiken Nedergaard, a neuroscientist at the.