Let's see what the needles can do for you

Imagine lying still while multiple needles are sticking into your face and body. That doesn’t sound pleasant? Now imaging that you are paying someone to stick them in you. Does that sound better? Odds are that you know what I am talking about. That’s right folks—acupuncture. Acupuncture is the act of sticking needles into certain pressure points of the body in order to heal or positively affect another part of the body. This technique has been in use for centuries, but does it actually work? That is what some scientists writing for Human Brain Mapping tried to find out.

Their experiment was designed to test if two specific acupoints in the leg, named UB 60 and GB 37, had any effects on vision. In order to visualize how these needles affected the subjects, they were placed in an fMRI machine for six separate sessions and activity in the occipital lobe of the brain (the area that controls vision) was monitored. These six sessions were spread out over various time intervals in order to show that the mri scans were reliable throughout various time spans. Through the research, Kong et. all noticed a decrease in signals known as BOLD. This unfortunately does not provide any proof, though, since previous experiments have found increases in these signals as well as lack of change. In turn, individuals have been seen to have positive and negative changes as well as a lack of change of the BOLD signal throughout multiple trials. This research in turn is inconclusive since none of the data supports or denies the idea that these acupoints create an effect that is beneficial to vision.

Basically, don't throw your cards down on the table just yet. Even though this particular study doesn't prove that acupuncture works for vision, it doesn't rule it out. Acupuncture is proven to work for other areas of the body and brain; we just need a few more studies before this particular effect of acupuncture can be proven or not. So if you go to your nearby acupuncturist to cure a toothache, why not go ahead and ask them to test out your UB60 or GB37? Maybe a personal experience is all you need to see how this affects your vision.