MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) has proved beneficial in so many ways and, here is another. Researchers were able to watch the brain respond to real and sham acupuncture. Investigators compared two acupuncture points on the foot with a nearby sham acupuncture point and found that true acupuncture points consistently elicited specific brain responses that TCM practitioners have always believed to be medically indicated in order to produce therapeutic effects. I hope that studies like these – Western medicine confirming Eastern medicine –  will encourage greater acceptance and use of acupuncture. You can read more about this study here.