The Influence of Acupuncture on the Impedance Measured by Four Electrodes on Meridians

Zhang, Weibo; Xu, Ruimin; Zhu, Zongxiang

doi:10.3727/036012999816356273

Cited by 36 publications

(29 citation statements)

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“…The patient with low back pain usually has a weak sympathetic nervous pulse in some meridian regions and also showed the worse conductance. This is the major reason why the conductance was lower in the low back pain area, with Furthermore, the electrical conductance (inverse of impedance) can be influenced by acupuncture or other stimulations [36]. After the AL-TENS treatment in this study, the electrical conductances of either meridians or acupuncture points increased with the decrease of VAS of the patients.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Using Electrical Conductance as the Evaluation Parameter of Pain in Patients With Low Back Pain Treated by Acupuncture Like Tens

Weng

Tsai

Yang

2004

Biomed. Eng. Appl. Basis Commun.

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This study was to objectively evaluate the treatment effect of acupuncture-like transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (AL-TENS) on patients with low back pain. Fifty patients suffering from low back pain for at least three months were involved in the study from Chang Gung Memorial Hospital. The subjects were treated with TENS (100 Hz) on acupuncture points (BL23 and BL25). Two electrodes were placed on two right acupoints and two electrodes on the left. Pulse duration of electrical stimulation was fixed at 0.1 ms. The intensity of stimulation was adjusted at a tolerable level for each subject. Patients were treated for twenty minutes per visit, three times a week for two weeks. Visual analog scale (VAS) was used to rank the degree of pain before and two weeks after the treatment. A device, the design of which is based on the Ryodoraku theorem, was used to measure the electrical conductance of 12 meridians and 2 acupoints (BL23 and BL25) on both sides of the subjects. The effect of age difference on the pain score was also evaluated with the electrical conductance. The correlation between the VAS and the electrical conductance in the patients before and after treatment of AL-TENS was determined by linear regression analysis. The results showed that: (1) after the AL-TENS treatment in this study, the electrical conductances of either meridians or acupuncture points increased with the decrease of VAS of the patients; (2) the correlation was higher in the acupoints than that in the meridians; (3) the correlation was higher in the younger group than that in the older group; (4) the effect of AL-TENS on the change of VAS is more related to the change of electrical conductances of acupoints than that of meridians. These findings suggest that electrical conductance of meridian or acupoint can be used to evaluate the degree of pain more objectively, especially in the younger patients.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 70%

Using Electrical Conductance as the Evaluation Parameter of Pain in Patients With Low Back Pain Treated by Acupuncture Like Tens

Weng

Tsai

Yang

2004

Biomed. Eng. Appl. Basis Commun.

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“…The interstitial fluid increases during the needling and blood capillary expansion which may be one of the mechanisms of acupuncture regulation. 17) Our result derived from laser Doppler flowmetry shows that SI8 and SI6 have larger amplitudes of heartbeat and vasomotion than the non-acupuncture point. The acupoints have a higher temperature.…”

Section: )mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Physiological Effect of DE QI during Acupuncture

Kuo

Chen

et al. 2004

JOURNAL OF HEALTH SCIENCE

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“…All environmental disturbances such as room temperature, relative air humidity, body temperature, skin moisture, electromagnetic devices, and noise were controlled. Temperature was set at [22][23][24] o C and humidity at 30-40%. Each point had an identification number.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Development and Evaluation of a Novel Four-Electrode Device System for Monitoring Skin Impedance

Rezaei

Zhu²,

Fen³

et al. 2012

Afr. J. Trad. Compl. Alt. Med.

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Qi, meridians, and acupoints are important issues in Chinese medicine. One of the theories claims that acupuncture points and meridians have unique electrical properties. The associations between acupuncture points or meridians and special electrical properties are still under debate. In the current study, we introduced and explained a device for this kind of research and evaluated the reliability of this device as well as effects of pressure, cleaning the skin by alcohol and exfoliation on electrical skin measurements. Fifteen subjects (10 female, 5 male) were recruited to participate in the study. An impedance meter based on the four-electrode technique was designed and fabricated specifically for this study. The effects of pressure, cleaning of the skin by alcohol, and exfoliation on electrical skin impedance were evaluated separately. The device repeatability was also evaluated 30 times in a 30 minutes period. Scale weight up to 200 grams, cleaning the skin with alcohol, and exfoliation didn't affect the performance of this device. The device performance didn't change significantly during the 30 minutes measurement either. The new system we evaluated can be a reliable tool for researches on electrical skin impedance in acupuncture, as its performance is fairly stable even in the presence of various confounding factors such as various pressures on the probe, cleaning the skin with alcohol and exfoliation.

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The Influence of Acupuncture on the Impedance Measured by Four Electrodes on Meridians

Cited by 36 publications

References 0 publications

Using Electrical Conductance as the Evaluation Parameter of Pain in Patients With Low Back Pain Treated by Acupuncture Like Tens

Using Electrical Conductance as the Evaluation Parameter of Pain in Patients With Low Back Pain Treated by Acupuncture Like Tens

The Physiological Effect of DE QI during Acupuncture

Development and Evaluation of a Novel Four-Electrode Device System for Monitoring Skin Impedance

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