Acupuncture improves school success in children with various conditions, including ADHD

Acupuncture therapy has improved mathematics, social studies and Turkish language in children with various conditions; many of them are with attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Children’s development and achievement in the school are affected by many factors including their physical and mental conditions. Helps from health care professionals may assist the children with various conditions to improve their school success.

Based on the reports from the patents of children receiving acupuncture treatment that suggested a decrease in symptoms, researchers in Ulus State Hosptial, Turkey conducted a study to assess the effect of acupuncture on school success in children with various conditions including ADHD (21 cases), enuresis nocturna (8 cases), migraine (2 cases), obesity (2 cases), atopic dermatitis (1 case), alopecia areata (1 case) and Tourette’s syndrome (1 case). Total 36 children aged from 7-16 year old were treated with acupuncture for 20 min/session, twice a week for the first two weeks, then once a week for following 6 weeks. While children with ADHD were treated at acupoint GV20, LI4, HT7, PC6, ST36, LV3, EX-HN-3, children with other conditions were treated with acupuncture according to their symptoms.

The grades in math, social studies and Turkish shown on report cards of the patients before acupuncture and 10-week after acupuncture were compared. It was found that after acupuncture treatment there was a statistically significant improvement in average grades in all three courses compared with the grades obtained before acupuncture. For 21 children with ADHD, there was a statistically increase in school success when their grades were compared. No adverse effect was reported by the end of acupuncture treatment.

The study suggests that acupuncture has a positive effect on learning and recollection. It confirms the results from other studies that acupuncture positively affect memory and ability to learn.

Reference:

Tas D, Acar HV., Does acupuncture have a positive effect on school success in children? J Tradit Chin Med. 2014 Aug;34(4):450-4.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25185363

How does acupuncture help heal tendon injury?

Acupuncture therapy increased the diameter and reorganization of tendon fibrils during tendon healing in a rat model.

Many people participating in physical and recreational activities experienced some forms of soft tissue injuries, including tendon laceration or rupture. In many cases surgical intervention is required to direct the natural process of healing which is a slow and complicated process.

Acupuncture has been used to treat tendon injury for pain relieving. Many studies showed that acupuncture stimulation increases releasing of analgesic substance such as adenosine locally and endorphin in the brain. It is also believed that acupuncture increase local blood flow and nutrients which enhances healing process.

Recently Dr. de Almeida and Colleagues in Brazil conducted an experimental study to assess the effect of acupuncture on the changes in collagen fibrils in rat tendon injury model. The model subjects were given manual acupuncture at acupoints ST36 or BL57, or ST36+BL57, or electroacupuncture at ST36+BL57 acupoints once a day for 21 days. The concentration, mass-average diameter and the reorganization of collagen fibril diameter were measured at 7, 14 and 21 days after acupuncture. It was found that acupuncture increased the concentration, mass-average diameter and reorganization of collagen, indicating the strengthening of tendon structure.

The authors suggest that acupuncture may offer the therapeutic benefits for tendon injury by increasing concentration of collagen and by inducing a better organization of collagen fibres, which may improve the mechanical strength of the tendon after injury.

Reference:

De Almeida MD et al., Acupuncture increases the diameter and reorganisation of collagen fibrils during rat tendon healing. Acupunct Med. 2014 Aug 19.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25138672

Acupuncture help relieve pain and improve bone density in postmenopausal osteoporosis

Acupuncture treatment relieves pain, improves bone density and rebalances immune responses in postmenopausal osteoporosis according to a study published in journal Zhongguo Zhen Jiu (Chinese Acupuncture and Moxibustion).

Postmenopausal osteoporosis is one of most common of osteoporosis. It is closely associated with the changes in the hormone. Hormone replacement therapy is effective in relieving osteoporosis but it has many unwanted effects. Acupuncture is used to treat the condition but the mechanism of its action is not clear.

Scientists in China conducted a randomized clinical study to compare the efficacy of different acupuncture techniques with conventional treatment. Patients with postmenopausal osteoporosis were divided into three groups: warm acupuncture, electroacupuncture and medication groups (n=30 each group). The subjects were given warm acupuncture or electroacupuncture at acupoints BL11, BL23 and GB 39 for 30 mins daily for 30 days. Bone density value, Visual Analogue Scale and inflammatory indicators such as interlukin-6 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha were measured before and after treatment.

Although pain was markedly reduced in three groups warm acupuncture was significantly more effective than other modalities. Warm acupuncture also produced a significant increase in bone density value and anti-inflammatory effect, followed by electroacupuncture and medication.

The study suggests that warm acupuncture has better efficacy in relieving pain and improving bone density than electroacupuncture and conventional medication.

Reference:

Cai GW et al., [Clinical research on warm acupuncture therapy for pain in postmenopausal osteoporosis]. Zhongguo Zhen Jiu. 2014 Jan;34(1):25-7.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24673048

How does acupuncture improve symptoms of multiple sclerosis?

Acupuncture has been shown to improve symptoms of multiple sclerosis or even helped a patient remission for over 2 years in a case study reported here before. However the mechanism of acupuncture’s effect is not clear. Recently it was reported that anti-inflammatory effect of acupuncture was associated with the release of β-endorphin that balances immune cell response in a multiple sclerosis model.

Multiple sclerosis is caused by the dysfunction of immune system that attacks the myelin sheath of nerve fibre in the nervous systems leading to the symptoms occurring in multi body systems. It is believed that acupuncture therapy is able to modulate immune responses to relieve the symptoms. However the mechanism of its action is not clear.

Researchers in China conducted a basic research to explore the possible mechanism of acupuncture on a model of multiple sclerosis. They found that β-endorphin, a neuropeptide with immune modulatory and analgesic properties, was significantly reduced in the multiple sclerosis models. Acupuncture stimulation in the model once a day for 21 days attenuated the symptom-like severity and reversed the decreased β-endorphin levels and increased the levels of adrenocorticotropic hormone in the brain. Further studies found that β-endorphin modulated the abnormal ratios of immune T subtype cells back to normal levels in the lymphocytes.

Authors suggest that acupuncture stimulation in the multiple sclerosis model increased β-endorphin expression and adrenocorticotropic hormone level leading to rebalance immune T cells response and attenuated the symptoms.

Reference:

Liu Y et al., The mechanism of effective electroacupuncture on T cell response in rats with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis. PLoS One. 2013;8(1):e51573.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23382807