Nicotine dependence (ND) is a global health problem with devastating outcomes (1). In the treatment of ND, in addition to pharmaceutical therapies, a range of therapeutic choices including acupuncture, psychotherapy, and education have been attempted.
By Geierunited (Sony Cyber-shot DCS-P93) [GFDL (http://www.gnu.org/copyleft/fdl.html) or CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/)], via Wikimedia Commons
To find out if acupuncture was affecting chronic stress, Eshkevari and a team of researchers looked at what happened in a key pathway in dealing with stress for both humans and rats: the hypothalamus-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA). It’s the same pathway targeted by some anti-anxiety drugs and antidepressants, Eshkevari says, and the HPA is involved in the production of the stress hormone cortisol.
Photo by Shutterstock 232755100. Image of acupuncture sourced from Shutterstock. Available here.
Acupuncture is effective for pain relief after surgery of the cervical spine. Researchers find electroacupuncture applied to acupoints Hegu (LI4) and Neiguan (PC6) safe and effective for achieving significant pain relief. Surgery on the anterior cervical spine is a complex procedure. Analgesics including fentanyl and sufentanil may be used to alleviate postoperative pain. However, due to concerns regarding respiratory depression, they are often prescribed at low dosages leading to only a partial painkilling effect. The results of the perioperative research finds acupuncture effective for pain relief and for stabilizing hemodynamics during surgery.
By 4028mdk09 (Own work) [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
The last two decades have seen "unprecedented advances" in the use of acupuncture to treat pain conditions, with a "rapid rise" in the number and quality of related published studies, according to a physician who is an experienced acupuncture practitioner.
"Right now, we have a pretty solid foundation for the efficacy of acupuncture" for headache, osteoarthritis (OA), and musculoskeletal conditions, said Farshad M. Ahadian, MD, clinical professor of anesthesiology, University of California, San Diego.
"I think it's fair to say that acupuncture is here to stay. It's going to be a permanent addition to our tool box."
Photo by Shutterstock 232755100. Image of acupuncture sourced from Shutterstock. Available here.
“In the dark, in the quiet, in the lonely stillness, the aggrieved struggle to rescue sleep from vigilance.” This arresting sentence introduces a new review of insomnia in Behaviour Research and Therapy that addresses a troubling fact observed in sleep labs across the world: poor sleep is not sufficient to make people consider themselves to have the condition… and poor sleep may not even be necessary. The paper, by Kenneth Lichstein at the University of Alabama, explores the implications of “Insomnia Identity”: how it contributes to health problems, and may be an obstacle to recovery.
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Clinicians, health insurers, and other stakeholders have initiated meetings that many pain experts hope will result in extending insurance coverage to include yoga, acupuncture, and other integrated approaches to pain management.
The first-ever Integrative Pain Care Policy Congress was launched here at the Academy of Integrative Pain Management (AIPM) 28th Annual Meeting
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The body clock - or circadian rhythm - is the reason we want to sleep at night, but it also drives huge changes in the way our bodies work. The research, published in the Lancet, suggests the heart is stronger and better able to withstand surgery in the afternoon than the morning. And it says the difference is not down to surgeons being tired in the morning.
By Garry Knight (Flickr: 4:06 PM) [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons
Plants behave in some oddly intelligent ways: fighting predators, maximizing food opportunities ... But can we think of them as actually having a form of intelligence of their own? Italian botanist Stefano Mancuso presents intriguing evidence.
Photo by Shutterstock 313843037. Image of dried gardenia fruit herbs used in treatments in Chinese medicine sourced from Shutterstock. Available here.
As we wrote earlier this year, the National Sleep Foundation recommends teenagers get between 8 and 10 hours of sleep nightly. Contrast that to the findings by researchers, who say that beginning in 2009 when smartphone use became widespread, there was a 17 percent increase of students reporting sleeping 7 hours or less per night, which sleep experts term as insufficient.
Photo by Shutterstock 130173548. Image of a snoring man and a young woman, couple sleeping in bed sourced from Shutterstock. Available here.
Our results suggested that both local and distal acupuncture improved median nerve function at the wrist. This suggests that the brain changes resulting from acupuncture might not just be a reflection of changes at the wrist, but could also drive the improved median nerve function directly by linking to autonomic brain regions that control blood vessel diameter and blood flow to the median nerve.
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We systematically searched four English language databases (Medline, Embase, CENTRAL (Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials), and AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine Database)) and one Chinese database (CAJ, China Academic Journals). Randomised trials of acupuncture compared with usual/routine care, sham interventions or active comparators in patients undergoing colorectal cancer resection were eligible for inclusion. Postoperative symptoms and quality of life (QoL) were the primary outcomes for the review.
An inquiry into the process of nature in repairing injuries of the intestines: illustrating the treatment of penetrating wounds and strangulated hernia. Year: 1812 (1810s). Authors: Travers, Benjamin, 1783-1858
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The programme of research found that acupuncture was more effective than usual care and sham acupuncture for chronic pain, that it was one of the more clinically effective physical therapies for osteoarthritis and that it showed benefits in the treatment of depression.
Photo by Shutterstock 194164250. Macro detail of an acupuncture needle inserted on skin sourced from Shutterstock. Available here.
In discussing hepatitis, it is best to base treatment on the classical approach. This is true for all diseases. We can treat modern diseases such as endometriosis, AIDS, and so on, but we still use the traditional method of differentiation, of treating the stage of the disease. Another way of saying this is that we treat the patient’s presentation, not the name of the disease.
Gray's Anatomy; edited by user Rao85. A plate from Gray's Anatomy, from the online edition of the 20th U.S. edition of Gray's Anatomy of the Human Body, originally published in 1918. Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Available here.
Research finds acupuncture combined with herbal medicine effective for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. Acupuncture combined with the herbal formula Dang Gui Si Ni Tang resulted in a total effective rate of 93.75%. The research demonstrates that acupuncture combined with the herbal formula has a “significant curative effect on rheumatoid arthritis….” While these findings are hopeful, the 93.75% total effective rate represents all clinically significant improvements and does not represent a cure rate.
The quality of life of patients with nystagmus is greatly dependent on the fluctuations of their nystagmus speed and velocity, and thus on the central fixation. Any attempt to stabilize their fixation, therefore, seems to be of benefit for them.
With this background in mind, we aimed at examining the effect of needle acupuncture on the body and the ears of nystagmus patients, following standardized acupuncture protocol. In addition, we evaluated which specific nystagmus patients the acupuncture drew greater benefit from the treatment.
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Stroke is a leading cause of death and long-term disability in adults worldwide (Goldstein et al., 2011; Cheng et al., 2013). More than 80% of strokes originate from ischemic damage to the brain caused by an acute reduction in the blood supply, causing neurological deficits and functional impairment (Przybylowski et al., 2014). The acute and subacute stages are the most important periods in the course of stroke rehabilitation (Lackland et al., 2014).
Photo by Shutterstock 232755100. Image of acupuncture sourced from Shutterstock. Available here.
The Mid-Autumn Festival celebrates the moon when it’s supposedly the roundest and fullest during the year. There are various origin tales for the holiday, but most of them center on the love story between the beautiful and intelligent goddess Chang’e and her husband, a renowned archer named Hou Yi, according to the book Handbook of Chinese Mythology by folklore experts at China’s Beijing Normal University and Chinese Academy of Social Sciences.
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The manual stimulation of acupuncture points has been combined with components of cognitive and exposure therapies into a clinical and self-help approach known as Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT). More than 40 clinical trials and four meta-analytic reviews of EFT treatments have demonstrated large effect sizes with a range of conditions, including pain, PTSD (in both civilian and military veteran populations), phobias, anxiety, and depression.
Shutterstock. (n.d.). [Young woman meditating indoors]. Shutterstock. Available here.
Antidepressant-induced sexual dysfunction (AISD) is a significant complication in the treatment of patients with mood and anxiety disorders, affecting more than half of patients who are taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs) or serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitors (SNRIs) [1], and has been associated with reduced quality of life, reduced self-esteem, and negative effects on mood and relationships [1]. Sexual dysfunction may affect any phase of the sexual response cycle including libido, arousal, and/or orgasm [2]. Because adequate sexual function is an integral aspect of quality of life, many patients whose depression is in remission as a result of taking antidepressant medication may elect to switch or discontinue their treatment, increasing their risk of complications from their underlying psychiatric disorder [3]. AISD is a major reason for medication discontinuation [4].
Katia Humala-Tasso Récolte de Maca à Belen (station expérimentale de la Faculté d'Agronomie de l'Université San Andrés de La Paz) près d'Achacachi (Bolivie) - 3 juin 2000. Photo: Pierre-Olivier Combelles. Image sourced from Wikimedia Commons. Available here.
To explain why the Triple Burner Back-Shu point is next to the Kidney's we need to explore the nature of the Triple Burner. The Triple Burner's nature has occupied Chinese doctors for centuries and there are different views of it; as usual in Chinese medicine, different view are contrasting but not necessarily mutually-exclusive ones. For centuries, Chinese doctors have been discussing whether the Triple Burner "has a form" (you xing) or not. The Chinese expression "has a form" means that the Triple Burner is an actual Fu organ; if the Triple Burner "has no form", then it is not like the other Fu but just a complex of functions "without form". Both these views are correct!
Photo by Shutterstock 281440808. Image of an acupuncturist pointing at BL17 on an acupuncture model sourced from Shutterstock. Available here.