With the development of pain study

researchers gradually recognized that pain is composed of three main dimensions

namely"sensory-discriminative""affective-motivational"and"cognitive-evaluative"which influence each other and are also independent from each other.Pain study has shifted away from focusing on the single mode of nociception to the multi-dimensional mode of sensory-affection-cognition.It is held early in traditional Chinese medicine that"when there is a stoppage

there is apain"and a worsening disease may induce depression

which has already shown a multi-dimensional recognition about pain.Acupuncture therapy has been considered to be an effective adjuvant approach for relieving pain.In the present paper

the authors introduced applicability of acupuncture analgesia by modulating the abovementioned multi-dimensions of pain from the following 4aspects:1)multi-dimensions of pain and related brain regions;2)recognitions of traditional Chinese medicine about pain;3)development of researches on acupuncture analgesia

including a)balancing activities of endogenous analgesic and algogenic substances

and triggering intracellular mitogen-activated protein kinase(MAPK)signaling to reduce algesia

b)improving psychological symptoms of patients with depression

anxiety

insomnia

etc.

c)modulating functional activities of some common brain regions(as hippocampus

anterior cingutate

frontal lobe of cerebral cortex

etc.)sharing both pain information and learning-memory processing.Hence

the authors hold that if the clinical study and application and experimental researches conducted on the underlying mechanisms of acupuncture analgesia extend towards the multi-dimensions of pain

a series of new concepts or thoughts will be brought out

thereby possibly opening a bright applicable prospect for acupuncture analgesia.