This blog is to share the latest research and development of acupuncture and raise the awareness of alternative treatments for your conditions, and is for information only.

Wednesday 29 July 2015

Acupuncture alleviates some cancer-related symptoms

Scientist in the Integrative Medicine Service, Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre of the United States carried out many clinical trials to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture as an alternative therapy for many cancer-related symptoms. Recently they summarised their results to determine acupuncture’s role in managing cancer-related symptoms.

They reported that true acupuncture 1) significantly alleviated pain, reduced dysfunction and dry mouth after neck dissection in head and neck cancer patients; 2) markedly reduced lymphedema and arm circumference in the affected arm of patients with breast cancer; 3) obviously improved salivation production in dry mouth symptom; compared with sham acupuncture.

Both true acupuncture and sham acupuncture 1) significantly improved dyspnea of lung or breast cancer patients with dyspnea; 2) significantly reduced hot flash in patients with breast cancer; 3) significantly alleviated postoperative ileus in patients undergoing elective colectomy.

 Acupuncture was less effective in relieving fatigue after chemotherapy.

Authors suggest that acupuncture is a potential candidate for the treatment of some common cancer-related symptoms.

Reference:
B Javdan & B Cassileth, Acupuncture Research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. J Acupunct Meridian Stud 2015;8(3):115e121.    http://www.jams-kpi.com/article/S2005-2901(15)00052-7/abstract

Wednesday 22 July 2015

Can acupressure help to keep a positive mood?

Self-administered acupressure help get your mood better if you could keep this self-treatment a few time a day according to a report published in the Global Journal of Health Science.

As modern life is moving fast we all get stress sometimes. If the stress is building up it develops to anxiety and depression which affect our daily life and quality of life. How to maintain a positive mood and prevent the negative one is important for us.

Recently a group of scientists in Japan evaluated the effect of self-administered acupressure on the mood levels of university medical students. Fifty-four students were recruited for the study and they were divided into intervention group and control group. Students in intervention group were instructed to apply pressure on acupoint GB12, SI17 and LI18 on both sides for 5 seconds each 3 time a day for 2 weeks. Stimulating those acupoints is believed to have positive impact on the mood. Self-reported tension-anxiety, depression-dejection, anger-hostility, vigor, fatigue and confusion were measured before and after the study.

It was found that self-administered acupressure on GB12, SI17 and LI18 can significantly decrease the levels of tension-anxiety, depression-dejection, anger-hostility, fatigue and confusion and increase vigor.

The study suggests that self-administered acupressure on GB12, SI17 and LI18 can have a positive impact on the levels of mood. This can lead to a better quality of life.

Reference:
S Horiuchi et al., Mood Changes by Self-Administered Acupressure in Japanese College Students: A Randomized Controlled Trial. Global Journal of Health Science; Vol. 7, No. 4; 2015.   http://www.ccsenet.org/journal/index.php/gjhs/article/view/43413

Friday 17 July 2015

International Conference on Health, Healthcare and Eco-civilisation

International Conference on Health, Healthcare and Eco-civilisation

Venue: Keyworth Centre, Keyworth Street, London South Bank University, London SE1 6NG
Dates: 5-6 September 2015

The Conference will provide a dynamic forum for scholars, researchers, practitioners and policymakers to generate diverse cross-cultural, comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives in health and wellbeing; to examine the close relationship between public health and environmental conditions and changes; and to explore possible contributions that Chinese Medicine makes to personal wellbeing in the twenty-first century.

The conference programme will also include free consultations with highly regarded practitioners from China and Europe. The consultations will afford the participant with an invaluable  opportunity to learn more about how Chinese medicine ideas of self-care may be of benefit.
Demonstrations of health-enhancing activities such as tuina massage, Tai Chi, and Chinese tea culture will be staged alongside.

The goal of the Conference is to facilitate insightful and constructive engagements among subspecialities across the fields of health and wellbeing and environmental studies, and across Chinese and Western medical traditions, to help develop an understanding of health and wellbeing in relation to environmental challenges of the contemporary world.

Programme

5 September 2015
08:30 – 09:00  Registration / coffee & tea
09:00 – 09:30  Opening remarks
His Excellency Professor XU Jialu , President of China Academy of Culture, Vice Chairman of the Standing Committee of the 9th and 10th NPC
His Royal Highness, The Prince of Wales
Dr Michael DIXON, Chairman, NHS Alliance
CHEN Qiutu, President, China Energy Fund Committee
Professor David PHOENIX, Vice Chancellor, London South Bank University
 (Moderator: Professor Paul Ivey, Pro-Vice Chancellor, LSBU)

09:30 – 10:50
1.  Culture context and health: How does the cultural context influence understandings of health, and how health is managed and health care delivered in Chinese and/or European cultural contexts?
Wang Xinlu:  Cultural differences in health maintenance between China and the West
Nicola Robinson:  What is needed for an integrated approach to health and illness?
Ian Appleyard:  Threat and opportunity: Acupuncture and science
10:50-11:20  Tea break
11:20-12:20
Zhang Huamin: Cultural self-awareness and the promotion of Chinese Medicine
Hugh MacPherson:  Longer-term outcomes associated with acupuncture for chronic neck pain: The impact of traditional Chinese medical diagnosis, treatment and lifestyle advice
Paul U. Unschuld: Health care and economics: The transformation of health care delivery system in Germany

12:20-13:00  Q/A and discussion
13:00 – 14:00  Lunch

14:00-15:00
2.  Health of older people - As China and Europe are experiencing major demographic changes and an aging population, do their responses differ?
Wang Yanping: Positive roles of Chinese Medicine in the health of the elderly
Gerhard Litscher: The Sino-European high-tech acupuncture network – A contribution to the modernisation of TCM in view of the demographic changes of the 21st Century
Zhang Zhibin: Wellbeing in Chinese Medicine and healthcare of the elderly
15:00-15:30  Tea break
15:30-16:10
Luo Songping: Female healthcare and the issue of fertility in advanced age
Song Chunsheng: Wisdom on wellbeing in Chinese Medicine for elderly males
16:10-17:00  Q/A and discussion

6 September 2015
3.  Public health, healthcare and disease prevention: In the context of a rise in lifestyle-related diseases and communicable diseases, what can be learned from Sino/European responses?

9.30-10.30
Brigitte Winklehner: Understanding Chinese Medicine and maintaining health
Dai Jingang: The application of daoyin technique in Chinese Medicine to wellbeing  and healthcare
Vivienne Lo: From evidence to efficacy: The role of history in public health
10:30-11:00  Tea break
11:00-12:00
Jane Wills: How is rising obesity tackled in China and Europe?
Zhang Mingxue: Application of wellbeing theories in Chinese Medicine to CHD complication preventions
Duan Junguo: Eye diagnosis in Chinese Medicine and prevention and control of chronic diseases

12:00-13:00  Q/A and discussion
13:00-14:00  Lunch

4.   Sustainability, health and environment: Sustainable, secure and fair stewardship of food, water, biodiversity, energy, materials, and other ecosystem functions is a priority – are these issues addressed similarly in China and Europe?

14:00-15:00
Cao Hongxin:  “The oneness of man and nature” in relation to wellbeing and healthcare
Thomas Lundeberg: A novel technique for the assessment of volatile organic compounds in the environment and in human breath
Wang Aiping: Application of the fengfu point [Du16] for treating and preventing diseases
15:00-15:30  Tea break
15:30-16:30
Cui Meng: Eco-environment and healthcare
Ma Bo-Ying: Chinese Medicine is a Pan-Ecological Medical Theory and its Clinic Practice
Wang Xijun: The ecology of medicinal plants and healthcare

16:30-17:20  Q/A and discussion
17:20-17:40  Closing remarks by His Excellency Professor XU Jialu


Wednesday 15 July 2015

Acupuncture helped alleviate pain after thyroid surgery

Better management of postoperative pain in patients undergoing thyroid surgery is important for recovery. It was reported that acupuncture had a synergistic effect in relieving pain in patients after thyroidectomy according a study published in journal of Surgery.

Appropriate control of postoperative pain following thyroid surgery is essential for a speedy recovery. Conventional pain relief medications such as opioids and/or non-opioids normally are effective in relieving or stopping pain after surgery. However, they induced many unwanted side effects such as worsening of anesthetics-induced nausea and vomiting, sedation and slowing of gastric emptying and gastro-intestine motility and many more. Acupuncture has been reported to be effective in relieving postoperative pain in many conditions only with minimal side effect.

Dr. M Iacobone and colleagues in Italy performed a randomised, controlled clinical trial to assess the efficacy of acupuncture in reducing pain after thyroid surgery. One hundred forty patients with thyroidectomy were randomly divided into control group (n=79) and acupuncture group (n=70). Patients in control group were treated with analgesic acetaminophen, and patients in acupuncture group were treated with acupuncture plus acetaminophen. Acupuncture was give at acupoints LI4 and PC6, ca. 30 min before surgery and in the morning of postoperative day 1, for 30 min with or without electro stimulation. Pain was assessed according to the intraoperative pain measured by remifentanil consumption during anesthesia and postoperative pain, measured by Numeric Rating Scale, the McGill Pain Questionnaire, and acetaminophen consumption.

Overall, patients with acupuncture required less acetaminophen at day 2 and day 3 after operation compared with controls. Patients with electroacupuncture performed better than manual acupuncture. They required less remifentanil and acetaminophen than controls at day 2 and 3 after surgery and showed a trend toward better Numeric Rating Scale and McGill scores from day 1 to 3 after surgery compared with controls. Patients in acupuncture also experienced less side-effects than control group.

Authors suggested that acupuncture may be effective in reducing pain in patients following thyroid surgery.

Reference:
Iacobone M et al., The effects of acupuncture after thyroid surgery: A randomized, controlled trial. Surgery 2014;156:1605-13.   http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0039606014005406

Wednesday 8 July 2015

How does acupuncture help to prevent muscular dystrophy?

Muscular dystrophy has a profound effect on patient’s daily life, especially physical activities. How to prevent muscle atrophy is critical for maintaining quality of life. Acupuncture was reported to be able to partially prevent skeletal muscle atrophy in a basic research study, according to the results published in journal of Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications.

Muscular dystrophy is a group of muscle diseases that is characterised by the progressive muscle weakness, defects in muscle proteins and eventually death of muscle cells. It is a group of inherited genetic conditions due to the mutation of the specific genes that cause the changes in muscle structure and muscle dysfunction. Muscular dystrophy could happen in any age group depending on the genes affected. The common symptom of muscular dystrophy is gradually muscle weakness of affected part of body. There is no cure for the condition and conventional approaches are only temporarily symptom relief.

Researchers in Japan considered acupuncture in place of exercise training is an alternative non-pharmacological therapy that might prevent muscle atrophy and evaluated effects of acupuncture on skeletal muscle atrophy caused by hindlimb-suspension in mice, a model of muscular dystrophy. Acupuncture needles were inserted into gastrocnemius muscle of hindlimb-suspended mice with or without electro-stimulation for 30 min a day for 2 weeks. At the end of acupuncture biomedical techniques including molecular biology were employed to study the changes in affected muscle including the alterations in gene expression.

It was found that muscle mass was significantly reduced by hindlimb-suspension. Acupuncture especially electroacupuncture significantly improved muscle mass, although the level of improvement was insufficient compared with normal control. Acupuncture down-regulated the genes involved in muscle degeneration and up-regulated the genes involved in muscle protein synthesis.

Authors suggested that acupuncture partially prevented muscle atrophy due to its action to modulate the genes involved in muscle protein synthesis.

Reference
A Onda et al., Acupuncture ameliorated skeletal muscle atrophy induced by hindlimb suspension in mice. Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 410 (2011) 434–439.  http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21672518

Wednesday 1 July 2015

Can acupuncture alleviate myofascial pain syndrome?

Manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture are more effective in alleviating myofascial pain intensity, increasing cervical range of motion than sham acupuncture in women with myofascial pain syndrome. A clinical trial was reported in the Brazilian Journal of Physical Therapy.

Myofascial pain syndrome is a chronic pain disorder caused by multiple trigger points and fascial constrictions. Pressure on sensitive points in the muscle (trigger points) causes pain in seemingly unrelated parts of the body (referred pain), decreased range of motion, pseudo-weakness of the involved muscle. Myofascial pain syndrome normally occurs after a muscle has been contracted repetitively due to jobs, hobbies and stress-related muscle tension. The prevalence of myofascial pain syndrome in general population is reported to reach up to 85%. The conventional treatment includes physical therapy and pain medication but the outcome is not always satisfactory.

Dr. MBD Gavião and colleagues in Brazil assessed the effect of acupuncture for myofascial pain of upper trapezius and cervical range of motion in a double-blinded, randomized clinical trial. Seventy-two women patients with myofascial pain of upper trapezius and cervical range of motion were allocated to manual acupuncture (n=24), electroacupuncture group (n=25) and sham acupuncture group (n=23). Acupuncture was applied on acupoints GB20, GB21, LI4 and LV3 and two Ashi points for 30 min,  needles are with (electroacupuncture) or without (manual acupuncture) connection to small electrical current device. Sham acupuncture needles are applied 1 cm distal to acupoints. Pain Visual Analogue scale, fleximetry and the head and neck movements were evaluated before and after treatment and follow-up.

Both manual acupuncture and electroacupuncture markedly reduced myofascial pain intensity of upper trapezius and increased cervical range of motion after treatment compared with sham acupuncture. Follow-up assessment found the therapeutic effect of acupuncture was still maintained compared with sham acupuncture 28 days after treatment.

Authors suggest that acupuncture was superiorly effective in reducing myofascial pain and effect is sustainable compared with sham acupuncture treatment.

Reference:
MFM Aranha et al., Pain intensity and cervical range of motion in women with myofascial pain treated with acupuncture and electroacupuncture: a double-blinded,  randomized clinical trial. Braz J Phys Ther.      http://dx.doi.org/10.1590/bjpt-rbf.2014.0066.   http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25424524