Aryana Libris

Authors : Cheung Lily - Li Peng - Wong Cheng
Title : The mechanism of acupuncture therapy and clinical case studies
Year : 2001

Link download : Cheung_Lily_-_The_mechanism_of_acupuncture_therapy_and_clinical_case_studies.zip

Foreword. Acupuncture has been practiced in China for well over two thousand years. However, it was not until President Richard Nixon’s trip to China that acupuncture began to be accepted in Western countries, such as the United States and Europe. At this time, immigrants began flowing from China to these countries and the demand for acupuncture has increased steadily. Today, acupuncture is in its rightful place alongside Western therapies and payment for these services consumes a significant portion of our healthcare expenditures. Because of the increased demand for acupuncture and other alternative therapies, it is important for scientists and physicians to have a clear understanding of the mechanisms by which acupuncture can exert its beneficial effects. In 1979 the World Health Organization held an interregional seminar in which it defined a number of diseases for which acupuncture could be considered to be potentially helpful. These include the treatment of acute infections and inflammation, dysfunction of the autonomic nervous system, pain, several cardiovascular diseases, asthma, tinnitus, drug abuse, mood and behavior disorders and various central and peripheral neurological diseases. Evidence for success in these disease states largely comes from reports in the literature confirming some evidence of efficacy. However, to date there have been no largescale clinical trials. In November 1997, the National Institutes of Health published a consensus statement on acupuncture in which they examined a number of areas including public policy related to training and credentialing, adverse reactions, sham and the anatomy relating to meridians and acupoints. In addition, the National Institutes of Health indicated that there were a number of areas that should be devoted to future research in acupuncture. These include demographics, efficacy in various conditions, public policy and regulation and the biological basis underlying acupuncture’s regulation of body organs. As discussed in this monograph, pressure, heat and acupuncture needles have all been used in the form of therapy. Acupuncture needles either manipulated manually or stimulated with a low current and frequency have been best documented to induce beneficial effects. As discussed by Li, et al., there appears to be a neurophysiological basis with many central neural pathways currently mapped. These pathways interact in a number of regions of the brain, many of which, either release or are affected by the release of endogenous opioids. This system appears to modify the activity of the autonomic system during physiological conditions such as exercise or other reflex inputs into the central nervous system or in pathologic disease states in which there is disordered neural and autonomic activity. Although many regions have been defined and their neurotransmitters identified, specific mechanisms underlying the regulation of activity of either reflex or descending neural control is poorly understood and requires further investigation. The present work describes areas of our current knowledge and identifies gaps in our understanding. Hence, it provides a useful paradigm to educate both scientists and practitioners and to define areas of needed research for the future. The reader will find this monograph to be both informative and provocative since not only do the following chapters provide the status of our current knowledge but they also challenge scientists to better define acupuncture therapy. John C.Longhurst, M.D., Ph.D. Professor and Chair Department of Medicine University of California, Irvine USA. ...