"Only the brain areas associated with the sensation of touch were activated when the volunteers were touched with the blunt needles.
During the trick needle treatment, an area of the brain associated with the production of natural opiates - substances that act in a non-specific way to relieve pain - were activated.
This same area was activated with the real acupuncture but, in addition, another region of the brain, the insular, was excited by the treatment.
This was a pathway known to be associated with acupuncture treatment and thought to be involved in pain modulation."
This extract from the BBC article is the definitive answer to some who have complained that the brain would respond anyway, to a needle being stuck into the skin.
Those who mentioned that the tests also should have been conducted outside the defined "pathway areas of the skin, have IMHO, made a good technical point.
Like all these extraordinary claims, the test methods are likely to be extremely difficult to get right first time, by virtue of the fact that the claimants themselves don't truly understand the basis of their claims(although they often argue that in fact, they do).
