The aim of this study was to verify the validity and reliability of analgesia elicited by acupuncture stimulation in rabbits. Ninety-five experiments were performed using 21 adult animals. The reaction time of the avoidance response elicited by noxious heat stimulation on the snout, and the presence or absence of the start response elicited by pin-prick and clamping of the skin were studied. Bilateral electric acupuncture stimulation in the area of Tsu-san-li and Shang-chu-hsu points in the hind legs was used. The animals were either held in a soft bag, loosely attached by cords, or suspended in a hammock; the eyes were either free of blindfolded. On the basis of operational behavioral measurements, it was found that acupuncture stimulation did not produce analgesia in undisturbed, placid animals. However, during agitated or fighting periods and the immobility reflex-like state, sometimes associated with acupuncture maneuvers, long reaction times were observed. Pin-pricking and clamping stimulation of the skin were not reliable methods of noxious stimulation in the rabbit.
A course of 10 daily acupuncture treatments was given to 200 patients who suffered from chronic pain syndromes of at least one year duration and the result assessed at the end of the course of treatment and after an interval of at least 2 months. Treatments were individualized using needling of body loci distally and near the site of pain, and ear acupuncture. In 38 patients suffering from chronic headaches, including 13 cases of migraine-type headache, 81% reported an improvement in their condition, but only one patient was pain free for the 2-month observation period. In 162 patients with other chronic pain problems, 99 or 61% were improved or pain free at the end of treatment; in 69 of these a worthwhile degree of improvement persisted over the observation period of 2 months. Thirteen percent of all patients did not respond to acupuncture and in 26% the response was considered as transient only. Daily treatments are not more effecitve than weekly or biweekly treatments. Pain in the neck and shoulder region, in the knee and low back pain responded to acupuncture with prolonged improvement in over 50% of the patients treated. Facial pain syndromes and pain in the region of the trunk were least responsive and only 3 of 11 patients with post-herpetic neuralgia reported still having less pain after 2 months. Needling of effective loci and particuarly ear needling often causes an instantaneous reduction or disappearance of pain; the speed of this response can only be explained by a mechanism within the nervous system. Based on our experience acupuncture represents a useful therapeutic modality in the management of pain.
Acupuncture loci of the ear were used in 27 patients with chronic intractable pain due to malignancy, neuralgia, arthritis, sciatica and amputation phantoms. A significant degree of pain was present at the time of acupuncture. All patients responded to insertion of the needles into sites related to the particular body area. Unrelated loci did not seem to be effective. The response was immediate; in some patients the pain was completely abolished, others reported only modification of the pain perceived in degree of location. The effect lasted in all patients while the needle was in place and persisted in some for over twenty-four hours. Six cases are presented where auriculo-acupuncture contributed significantly to the management of the patient's pain syndrome, and the technique of auriculo-acupuncture is discussed.
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