So, how does sticking needles into my body cause health benefits?
Yes, indeed! You might wonder how sticking needles stops pain and creates many other health benefits. While there are a number of hypothesis on how acupuncture works we currently do not know what its specific mechanisms of action are. Attempts to explain its function range from the Gate Theory to the release of endorphins in pain related disorders, and to theories on electro-magnetic currents but there appears to be also an autonomic nervous system component in non-pain related diseases. One of the ways I like to explain it to my patients is that if you view your body as the equivalent of a petri dish filled with saline solution and you attach an electrode on either end we will get a measurable low-level electrical current between the electrodes. If we view the electrodes as needles we can draw conclusions that an electrical current is flowing between them in our body. By adjusting the electrical flow in your body health benefits occur. But just how this exactly works is not yet clear.
