Acupuncture is very effective in treating trigger finger

Trigger finger, also known as stenosing tenosynovitis, is a painful condition in which one of your fingers gets stuck as it bents towards the palm. Recently it was reported that acupuncture could significantly improve symptoms of trigger finger after a few sessions of treatment. The clinical study was published in the journal of Acupuncture in Medicine.

Trigger finger occurs when the affected finger's tendon sheath becomes irritated and inflamed that narrows the space within the sheath that surrounds the tendon in the affected finger. This interferes with the normal gliding motion of the tendon through the sheath, leading your finger become locked in a bent position. People whose work or hobbies require repetitive gripping actions are at higher risk of developing trigger finger. Treatment of trigger finger varies depending on the severity and includes avoiding activities that causes pain, a small splint to hold the finger at the night, local steroid injection and surgery. However, results of therapies are not all satisfactory.

Recently Dr. Inour and colleagues in Japan conducted a small clinical study to assess the effect of acupuncture performed at the synovial and ligamentous tendon sheath (A1 pulley site) on pain during snapping and the severity of the snapping phenomenon in patients with trigger finger. Acupuncture was performed on 19 fingers of 15 patients. Acupuncture needles were inserted into the radial and ulnar sides of the flexor tendon at the A1 pulley of the affected finger. Treatment was performed daily up to a maximum of five times. Before and after each treatment, pain during snapping and the severity of snapping were evaluated using a visual analogue scale (VAS).

It was found that VAS scores for pain and snapping severity were significantly improved immediately after the first treatment and reached statistical significance from the second treatment onwards. Similarly, a significant improvement in the severity of snapping was observed from the second treatment. Patients with clinically significant improvements had a significantly shortened duration of the disorder.

Authors proposed that acupuncture may reduce inflammation/swelling of the synovial membrane of the tendon sheath and could be effective alternative treatment for patients with trigger finger.

Reference

M Inour et al., Acupuncture for the treatment of trigger finger in adults: a prospective case series. Acupunct Med doi:10.1136/acupmed-2016-011068.   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27401746  

Acupuncture promoted activity of hippocampal neural stem cells in Alzheimer’s model.

Acupuncture stimulation at specific acupoints improved cerebral microenvironment and promoted the proliferation and differentiation of transplanted hippocampal neural stem cells (NSCs) and improved cognitive function of Alzheimer’s model. It has been reported in journal of Molecular Neurobiology.

NSCs, with the potential for neural regeneration, represent a promising clinical strategy for Alzheimer’s. However, under the influence of the host microenvironment, only few grafted NSCs survive, proliferate, and differentiate into functional neural cells, which eventually results in decreased anti-dementia efficacy.

Recently, Dr. Lan Zhao and colleagues in China conducted a study to evaluate whether acupuncture will improve host microenvironment grated with NSCs in Alzheimer’s model. Acupuncture stimulation was applied, 24 hrs after hippocampal NSCs transplantation, at CV17, CV12, CV6, and bilateral ST36 acupoints for 30 s daily for 15 days. Five days after acupuncture, behavioural tests showed that acupuncture significantly improved cognitive functions compared with control group. Biochemical studies revealed that acupuncture markedly increased expression of neurotrophic factors, such as basic fibroblast growth factor, epidermal growth factor and brain derived neurotrophic factor in the hippocampal tissues compared with control group, indicating that acupuncture improved hippocampal microenvironment leading to better survival, proliferation and differentiation of hippocampal NSCs, resulting in improved cognitive function.

Reference

Zhao L, et al., Acupuncture Improves Cerebral Microenvironment in Mice with Alzheimer's Disease Treated with Hippocampal Neural Stem Cells. Mol Neurobiol. 2016 Aug 24. [Epub ahead of print]      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27558235