| Acupuncture
Research
Listed below are health
problems for which Acupuncture has been shown to help. For full details,
please click on the health problem.
Acupuncture
& Apoplexy patients
In order
to delve into the mechanism governing the treatment of apoplexy by
acupuncture at yangming channel points as main points, we observed
the changes in the endothelin (ET) level in plasma, TXB2 and
6-Keto-PGF1 alpha levels in urine in convalescent apoplexy patients
during acupuncture treatment. The results showed that the ET level
in plasma in convalescent apoplexy patients was significantly higher
than that in healthy subjects (P < 0.05), and the ET level in
plasma in patients was decreased after one course of acupuncture
treatment. It was found that before treatment the TXB2 level in
urine in apoplexy patients was significantly higher than in healthy
subjects, and the 6-Keto-PGF1 alpha level in urine in the patients
was significantly lower than that in healthy subjects, with an
increased ratio of TXB2 to 6-Keto-PGF1 alpha. After acupuncture
treatment, the TXB2 level in urine was lowered with a decrease in
the ratio of TXB2 to 6-Keto-PGF1 alpha. All this indicated that one
of the mechanisms governing acupuncture treatment of apoplexy
acupuncture at yangming channel points as main points was that
acupuncture could produce therapeutic effects by adjusting the
imbalance of important vaso-active substances, ET, TXA2, and PGI2.
PMID: 10453582, UI:
99382958 J Tradit Chin Med 1999 Mar;19(1):39-43 Zhang S, Ye X, Shan
Q, Zhang W, Ye L, Cui Y Shandong University of Traditional Chinese
Medicine and Pharmacy, Jinan.
return to top
Acupuncture
& Bronchial Asthma
The
clinical observation revealed that the asthmatic symptoms in most of
the patients began to be improved after several acupuncture
treatments with the dosage of the drug gradually reduced. Generally,
the dose of cortisone per os was decreased by 2 mg every 10 days,
while that of aerosol was controlled by the patients themselves
according to the condition of the disease.
The symptoms in most of the patients were
markedly improved after 15 treatments, but the treatment should be
continued for another 10 times to consolidate the curative effect.
Thus, each asthmatic patient needs to receive approximately 30
sessions of acupuncture treatment, lasting about 3 months.
Thereafter, in order to prevent its relapse, the treatment should be
administered 10 times each year in the summer season. It is worthy
to be mentioned that, in this series, there was a female patient who
suffered from anaphylactic asthma induced by dog's hair. She
received 10 sessions of acupuncture treatment with no any
improvement. In this case, the acupuncture treatment should not be
given any longer. There were another two children patients aged 5
and 7 years respectively, for them the above method of acupuncture
treatment was difficult to be used. Therefore, the auricular
pressing method combined with cupping was adopted instead. The
auricular points selected were Shenmen, Lung, Large Intestine,
sensitive point, Pingchuan, Subcortex, and Kidney. 5 points were
used each time, and pressed with the seeds of Vaccaria which were
changed every 3 days. The patients were asked to press each of the
points themselves 3 times a day (each time by 20 pressings). And
Dazhui (Du 14), Feishu (UB 13), Pishu (UB 20) and Shenshu (UB 23)
were cupped for 5 min. each time.
The auricular pressing and cupping
therapies may also be added for adult patients to strengthen the
curative effect. The 25 cases of hormone dependent bronchial asthma
were treated by acupuncture, yielding a markedly effective rate of
56% with a total effective rate of 96%, indicating that good
therapeutic results can also be expected in the western countries
for those cases who have already been treated with
hormones.
J Tradit Chin
Med 1998 Mar;18(1):27-30 Hu
J Institute of Acupuncture
and Moxibustion, China Academy of Traditional Chinese Medicine,
Beijing.
return to top
Acupuncture
& Cerebral Infarction
In
order to evaluate the clinical value of the describes in the
Standard Nomenclature of Scalp Acupuncture Lines, 105 patients
suffering from cerebral infarction (dead tissue in the brain
resulting from a brain haemorrhage or stroke) have been treated by
needling along the anterior and posterior oblique lines of
vertex-temple, and the line 1 and line 2 lateral to vertex. The
markedly effective rate was 71.43%, and the total effective rate
88.57%. After treatment, such symptoms as hemiplegia, lingual
dysfunction, facial and tongue paralysis, and the laboratory indexes
of blood fat, fibrinogen and hemorrheology were obviously improved.
The therapeutic effect of scalp acupuncture was obviously better
than that of Western medicine.
J Tradit Chin
Med 1997 Sep;17(3):194-7 Zhou
J, Zhang F. Affiliated Hospital of Sichuan Academy of Traditional
Chinese Medicine, Sichuan.
return to top
Acupuncture
& Chronic neck pain
OBJECTIVE:
To evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture, as compared with
physiotherapy, in the management of chronic neck pain.
DESIGN: Seventy adult patients with non-inflammatory neck pain of
>6 weeks duration and with no abnormal neurology were randomly
assigned to receive either of the treatments. Thirty-five patients
were included in each group.
OUTCOME MEASURES: Pain by visual analogue scale and neck pain
questionnaire, improvement in range of movement of neck relative to
baseline, and well-being (general health questionnaire).
Measurements were recorded at the start of treatment, at 6 weeks and
at 6 months.
RESULTS: Both treatment groups improved in all criteria. Acupuncture
was slightly more effective in patients who had higher baseline pain
scores.
CONCLUSIONS: Both acupuncture and physiotherapy are effective forms
of treatment. Since an untreated control group was not part of the
study design, the magnitude of this improvement cannot be
quantified.
Br J Rheumatol 1998
Oct;37(10):1118-22 David J, Modi S, Aluko AA, Robertshaw C,
Farebrother J Royal Berkshire Hospital NHS Trust and University of
Reading.
return to top
Acupuncture
& Chronic spinal pain syndromes
OBJECTIVE: To
compare needle acupuncture, medication (tenoxicam with ranitidine), and
spinal manipulation for managing chronic (>13 weeks duration) spinal
pain syndromes. DESIGN: Prospective, randomized, independently assessed
pre-intervention and post-intervention clinical pilot trial.
SETTING: Specialized spinal pain syndrome out-patient unit at Townsville
General Hospital, Queensland, Australia.
SUBJECTS: Seventy-seven patients (without contraindication to manipulation
or medication) were recruited.
INTERVENTIONS: One of three separate, clearly defined intervention
protocols: needle acupuncture, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory medication,
or chiropractic spinal manipulation.
MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Main outcome measures were changes (4 weeks vs.
initial visit) in the scores of the (1) Oswestry Back Pain Disability
Index, (2) Neck Disability Index, and (3) three visual analogue scales of
local pain intensity.
RESULTS: Randomization was successful. After a median intervention period
of 30 days, spinal manipulation was the only intervention that achieved
statistically significant improvements (all expressed as percentages of
the original scores) with (1) a reduction of 30.7% on the Oswestry scale,
(2) an improvement of 25% on the neck disability index, and (3) reductions
on the visual analogue scale of 50% for low back pain, 46% for upper back
pain, and 33% for neck pain (all P<.001). Neither of the other
interventions showed any significant improvement on any of the outcome
measures.
CONCLUSIONS: The consistency of the results provides, in spite of several
discussed shortcomings of this pilot study, evidence that in patients with
chronic spinal pain syndromes spinal manipulation, if not contraindicated,
results in greater improvement than acupuncture and medicine.
J Manipulative Physiol Ther 1999
Jul-Aug;22(6):376-81 Giles LG, Muller R National Unit for
Multidisciplinary Studies of Spinal Pain, Townsville General Hospital,
Queensland, Australia.
return to top
Acupuncture
& Dental Pain
Acupuncture
is increasingly being used by the general population and investigated by
conventional medicine; however, studies of its effects on pain have been
criticised for inadequate control procedures.
Researchers at the Department of Family Medicine,
School of Medicine, University of Maryland at Baltimore evaluated (1) the
efficacy of Chinese acupuncture in treating postoperative oral surgery
pain, (2) the validity of a placebo-controlled procedure, and (3) effects
of psychological factors on outcomes.
In a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled
trial conducted at the Dental School Outpatient Clinic, University of
Maryland at Baltimore, thirty-nine healthy subjects, aged 18 to 40 years,
assigned to treatment (n=19) and control (n=20) groups.
Scores were assessed through the patients'
self-reports of time until moderate pain, time until medication use, total
pain relief, pain half gone, and total pain medication consumption.
The results revealed that the average (mean)
pain-free postoperative time was significantly longer in the acupuncture
group (172.9 minutes) than in the placebo group (93.8 minutes) (P=.01), as
was time until moderate pain (P=.008). Mean number of minutes before
requesting pain rescue medication was significantly longer in the
treatment group (242.1 minutes) than in the placebo group (166.2 minutes)
(P=.01), as was time until medication use (P=.01). Average pain medication
consumption was significantly less in the treatment group (1.1 tablets)
than in the placebo group (1.65 tablets) (P=.05). There were no
significant between-groups differences on total-pain-relief scores or
pain-half-gone scores (P>.05). Nearly half or more of all patients were
uncertain of or incorrect about their group assignment. Outcomes were not
associated with psychological factors in multivariate models.
CONCLUSIONS: Acupuncture is superior to the placebo in preventing
postoperative dental pain; noninsertion placebo procedure is valid as a
control.
Arch Otolaryngol Head Neck
Surg 1999 May;125(5):567-72 Lao L, Bergman S, Hamilton GR, Langenberg P,
Berman B Department of Family Medicine, School of Medicine, University of
Maryland at Baltimore, 21207-6697, USA
return to top
Acupuncture,
Moxibustion therapy & Female Urethral Syndrome
Among 180
patients with female urethral syndrome, 128 were treated by acupuncture
and moxibustion and 52 by western medicine as controls. The short-term
effective rate in the acupuncture and moxibustion group was 90.6% and the
long-term effective rate, 80.4%; whereas the short-term effective rate of
the control group was 26.9%. The maximal uroflow rate increased by an
average of 4.6 ml/s, after acupuncture and moxibustion treatment and the
mean uroflow rate increased by an average of 3.1 ml/s; on the contrary, no
changes were found in the control group. Sixty-nine cases from the
acupuncture and moxibustion group and 39 from the control group were
subjected before and after treatment to determinations of the maximal
bladder pressure, maximal abdominal pressure, bladder-neck pressure, and
maximal urethral closure pressure during urination.
The results revealed that all the above indexes
were decreased remarkably in the acupuncture and moxibustion group, while
no changes were observed in the control group.
J Tradit Chin Med
1998 Jun;18(2):122-7 Zheng H, Wang S, Shang
J, Chen G, Huang C, Hong H, Chen S Department
of Clinical Research, Shanghai Institute of Acupuncture, Moxibustion
and Channels.
return to top
Acupuncture
& Post-operative nausea and vomiting
Post-operative nausea and vomiting remains a major contributing factor to
post-operative morbidity with an incidence of over 85% in Gynaecological
surgery.
The efficacy of acupressure
at the pencardium 6 (PC6) point in relieving postoperative nausea and
vomiting is well documented. Whilst lengthy manual manipulation of needles
or electrostimulation of acupoints is in-convenient and costly, researchers
at the Department of Anaesthetics, Northern General Hospital, Sheffield UK,
investigated the use of semi-permanent acupuncture needles (SPANs) as a
cheaper, more convenient method of administering acupuncture in the first 48
hours following Gynaecological surgery.
Thirty-six patients who had
total abdominal hysterectomies participated in a randomised,
placebo-controlled trial. The patients in the treatment group had SPANs
inserted on the PC6 points on both wrists, and the patients in the placebo
group had SPANs inserted into sham acupoints on their forearms.
The results showed that there
was no difference in the median nausea scores between the groups in the
first 24 hours following surgery; however, six of the patients in the
placebo group suffered moderate or severe nausea during the second 24 hour
period following surgery whereas none of the patients in the treatment group
experienced those symptoms. Furthermore, the nausea score between 8 and 24
hours for patients who had previously experienced nausea and vomiting was
lower in the treatment group than in the control group.
The researchers concluded
that, whilst the use of SPANs does not reduce the incidence of nausea and
vomiting, it does appear to reduce the severity of nausea in the second day
following surgery, and has a greater effect on patients who had suffered
nausea and vomiting after a previous anaesthetic.
(1) Rust M, Cohen LA (1994)
Anaesthesia. 49 (supplement): 16-23
(2) Andrzejowski j, Woodward D. Semi-permanent acupuncture needles in the
prevention of post-operative nausea and vomiting. Acupuncture in Medicine
November 1996 Vol. 14, No 2 68 70
return to top
Acupuncture
& Postoperative vomiting in children
Researchers
at the Department of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Leopold
Franzens University of Innsbruck, Austria conducted a double-blind,
randomized, placebo-controlled study to investigate the effectiveness of
P6 acupuncture on postoperative vomiting in children undergoing strabismus
surgery.
Acupuncture was performed by laser stimulation
with a low-level laser. Laser stimulation of P6 was administered 15 min
before induction of anaesthesia and 15 min after arriving in the recovery
room. In the laser stimulation group, the incidence of vomiting was
significantly lower (25%) than that in the placebo group (85%).
Br J Anaesth 1998
Oct;81(4):529-32 Schlager A, Offer T, Baldissera I Department of
Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Medicine, Leopold Franzens University of
Innsbruck, Austria.
return to top
Acupuncture
& Stomach Carcinoma Pain
Clinical
observation on 48 cases of stomach carcinoma pain indicated that
acupuncture including filiform needle group and point-injection group had
better therapeutic effects in treatment of stomach carcinoma pain when
patient's mind was concentrated at the site of disease.
After treatment for 2 months, the long-term
effective rates of analgesia in both the filiform needle group and the
point-injection group were similar to that in the western medicine group,
all being about 81%. While the long-term markedly effective rates in the
two groups were superior to that in the western medicine group. Life
quality of the patients in all the groups were improved. The toxic action
and side effects caused by chemotherapy were prevented, the high viscous
state showed by indexes of blood rheology was improved, and the lowered
Cu-Zu-SOD activity in erythrocytes in patients of stomach carcinoma was
increased in the filiform needle group and the point-injection group.
Based on the results of clinical study, the researchers concluded that
acupuncture analgesic effect on stomach carcinoma is related to the
increase of PLEK, improvement of cellular immune function and the
elevation of life quality after acupuncture.
J Tradit Chin Med
1998 Mar;18(1):31-8 Dang W, Yang J Chengdu
College of Traditional Chinese Medicine.
return to top
Acupuncture
and substance abuse
Researchers
at the North Shore University Hospital, USA investigated the use of
auricular acupuncture to help treat substance abuse. Patients with
comorbid substance abuse problems who were admitted to a psychiatric unit
of a general hospital over an 11-month period were offered treatment with
auricular acupuncture.
Subsequently and retrospectively, the medical
records of the patients were examined to assess compliance, side effects,
impact on course, and acceptance of discharge recommendations. The patient’s
continuation of treatment in destination pro-grams was also followed.
All-in-all, seventy-seven patients were offered
acupuncture: 30 patients refused or had four or fewer treatments (and were
therefore used as a control group), and 47 patients had five or more
acupuncture treatments.
The results showed that those patients in the
treatment group did significantly better than the control group as
indicated by the following findings:
- compliance with psychiatric/sub-stance abuse
treatment on the unit was 75% in the treatment group vs. 20% in the
control group,
- noncompliance or AMA discharge rate was 2% in
the treatment group vs. 40% in the control group,
- acceptance of staffs discharge recommendations
was 77% in the treatment group vs. 37% in the control group, and
- 58% of the treatment group patients remained
in follow-up treatment for at least 4 months, vs. only 26% of the
control group patients.
Side effects in the treated patients were
negligible, and the researchers concluded that ‘auricular acupuncture
appears to be a safe and inexpensive treatment modality that is easily
administered and produces significant results’ and went on to recommend
‘its wider application in substance abuse treatment’.
Gurevich MI; Duckworth D;
lmhof JE; Katz JL. Is auricular acupuncture beneficial in the inpatient
treatment of substance-abusing patients? A pilot study. J Subst Abuse
Treat (UNITED STATES) Mar-Apr 1996, 13 (2) p165-71
return to top
Acupuncture
& Frozen shoulder
Frozen
shoulder (capsulttis) is generally considered to be a spontaneous,
progressive pen-arthritis over the shoulder joint. The exact causes of this
condition are still not fully under-stood, and conventional treatments
include cortisone injections and physiotherapy, neither of which are
particularly successful in the majority of cases. For this reason,
researchers at the Department of Anaesthesiology, Taipei Municipal Chung-Hsing
Hospital con-ducted a study to determine the relative pain relief effect of
electroacupuncture (EAP), regional nerve block (RNB) and the combination of
EAP + RNB for frozen shoulder.
One hundred and fifty
patients with newly diagnosed frozen shoulder were randomly divided into 3
equal groups. Group I patients had RNB with stellate ganglion block and
suprascapular nerve block by 1% xylocain 10 ml. Group II patients had EAP
with local acupoint Chien-Yu, Chien-Ching, Chien-Nei-Ling, Ah-Shih Hsueh
treatment and Group III patients had RNB+EAP performed with acupuncture
first, then followed by the regional nerve block.
Range and mobility of the
patients’ shoulder movements were checked in all methods, and pain
assessed using the four graded Bromage score for pain assessment- Grade I
for completely pain-free; Grade 2 for slight pain (i.e. pain on motion);
Grade 3 for moderate pain (i.e. pain on silence)and Grade 4 for severe pain
(i.e. need analgesics).
The range of shoulder joint
was also re-corded. Patients were requested for second treatment if pain
recurred. The onset (time from injection to maximal pain relief), duration
(time from injection to grade 3) Bromage score and side effects were also
recorded.
The results showed that the
combined electroacupuncture and RNB had significant high pain control
quality, longer duration, and better range of movement of the shoulder joint
than that of electroacupuncture or RNB performed alone. The results show how
conventional and complementary medicines can work side by side to produce a
superior therapeutic effect than either one can by itself.
(1) Rust M, Cohen LA (1994)
Anaesthesia. 49 (supplement): 16-23
(2) Andrzejowski j, Woodward D. Semi-permanent acupuncture needles in the
prevention of post-operative nausea and vomiting. Acupuncture in Medicine
November 1996 Vol 14, No 2 68 70
return to
top
Acupuncture
& Tennis elbow
Many
non-conventional therapies are being increasingly integrated into
orthodox medicine. One interesting development is the use of
acupuncture which, when combined with steroid anti-inflammatory
treatment by injection enables the patient to receive a much lower
amount of cortisone than would otherwise be the case if acupuncture
was not used.
In a controlled study, a group
of 16 patients from a North of England general practice received
acupuncture treatment for tennis elbow, followed by a small dose of
corticosteroid with lignocaine to a residual tender spot at the elbow.
These patients were compared with a similar group of 19 who received a
larger dose to a tender spot at the lateral epicondyle, without any
initial acupuncture treatment.
In the acupuncture with steroid
group, 13 patients had benefited following two treatment sessions, two
after three sessions and one was no better at the end of the permitted
three treatments. In the steroid only group, 13 had had benefit after
two sessions, three after three and three were unsuccessful.
The results suggest a trend
towards increased and more rapid success in the acupuncture with
steroid group, but once again the small number of patients precluded
meaningful statistical analysis. The physical advantage in using
acupuncture before administering local corticosteroid injection is
that it allows a much lower dose of steroid to be used, with
consequent reduction in the risk of tissue necrosis and inflammatory
reaction.
S A Chilton. Tennis
Elbow: A Combined Approach Using Acupuncture and Local Corticosteroid
Injection. Acupuncture in Medicine. November 1997 Vol 15 No. 2 - Page
77
return to
top
Acupuncture
& Wound healing
Based on
previous experimental evidence suggesting improved healing of wounds treated
with electrical stimulation, we conducted a clinical trial with patients
seeking alternative medicine after unsuccessful conventional medical
treatment. Electricity was delivered in two forms: (1) For wounds with
extensive loss of tissue and/or those that had failed to heal spontaneously,
electrical stimulation was delivered via subcutaneously inserted needles
surrounding the wound edges and applying a dose charge of 0.6
coulombs/cm2/day; (2) in second degree burn injuries, lesions were covered
with gauze soaked in a 10% (w/v) sterile saline solution and the same dose
of electricity was applied as for (1). Forty-four patients were treated with
electrical stimulation of the skin; 34 in group (1) and 10 in group (2).
Following electrostimulation in all patients in both groups healing
proceeded in a thoroughly organized manner, almost regardless of the
severity of the type of wound or burn treated. Advantages and limitations of
this technique are discussed.
Am J Acupunct
1999;27(1-2):5-14, Sumano H, Mateos G, Department of Physiology and
Pharmacology, School of Veterinary Medicine, National Autonomous University
of Mexico, Mexico City. sumanoh@prodigy.net.mx
return to
top
|
