In this documentary for BBC Two, the scientist Professor Kathy Sykes from Bristol University,  demonstrates a double blind study that shows that Acupuncture is not a placebo effect.

Using brain scanning techniques the real acupuncture treatments show statistical evidence of acupuncture’s effectiveness to treat pain. (This is part two of three video clips, where Kathy shows the science behind the study.)

Part Three is here:

Acupuncture theory is a map of the fascia. Never heard of it? Then you are not alone. Fascia has been the ignored organ in the body for many decades with only a few researchers and scientists dedicating their work towards understanding it. Finally their work is uncovering answers to many unanswered questions – like ‘Why do some people suffer pain when their internal structure looks fine?

Fascia is where all the acupuncture points are in the body. The acupuncture meridians and internal connections are essentially a map of the fascia. Finally, (only in the last fifteen years), research is being done on the fascia to understand this amazing, and largely ignored, part of our body!