Association between acupuncture analgesia and placebo effect: a review of literatures

As a traditional Chinese medicine practice, the analgesic effect of acupuncture therapy is definite and has been accepted in western culture and even around the world. But there is rare systematic discussion about the difference between acupuncture analgesia and the placebo effect in neurophysiology. To demonstrate the exact analgesic effect of acupuncture rather than a simple placebo effect, this article reviews the literatures on neuroimaging researches about their relationship in recent years. Key words: Acupuncture analgesic; Placebo effect; Neuroimaging; Analgesic mechanism