Transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation (TEAS) is a type of acupuncture that uses electrical stimulation through the positioning of skin electrodes. Research out of Harvard Medical School and McLean Hospital suggests that TEAS may prove to be beneficial for people who are addicted to opioids.
Subjects who were addicted to opioids received either actual transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation, or they received placebo treatments.
After the research had been completed, 65 percent of those subjects who had been addicted to opioids who received placebo treatments began using opioids again. Only 29 percent of those who received the actual transcutaneous electric acupoint stimulation began using opioid drugs again.
"Further, participants who received active TEAS were more than two times less likely to have used any drugs than those who received simulated TEAS. In addition, patients in the active TEAS group reported they were less bothered by pain and that they experienced greater improvements in overall health."
http://nccam.nih.gov/research/results/spotlight/010410.htm?nav=rss