Research Archive

Electrostimulation of auricular acupuncture points can increase the activity of the vagus nerve, according to the results of a Swiss experiment. Fourteen healthy men participated in four examinations: a no-intervention control, a placebo control and manual and electro-acupuncture (EA) on the concha of the ear (where there is neuroanatomical evidence for vagal afferents). EA, but not manual acupunc ...

The results of a Korean study provide neurobiological evidence for acupoint specificity. Functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) of the brain was performed in 12 normal healthy subjects during electro-acupuncture stimulation (EA) of Yanglingquan GB-34 on the left leg and a sham point (belonging anatomically to the same L5 spinal segment) on the same leg. EA at the acupoint and the sham point ...

A team from the USA has found that the duration of electro-acupuncture treatment can affect its analgesic effect. Healthy volunteers were randomised to receive 0, 20, 30 or 40 minutes of electro-acupuncture stimulation (alternating 2/100 Hz at 5mA). Using a cold pain threshold test, the investigators found that 30 min of stimulation resulted in the most significant hypoalgesic effect, which was su ...

Korean researchers have found evidence that patients randomly assigned to treatment groups in acupuncture trials receive fewer health benefits from treatment than those who were non-randomly assigned. They carried out a systematic review of six partially randomised acupuncture trials and analysed the pooled data. They found that the randomised acupuncture group comprised patients with different de ...

More evidence for the neural specificity of particular acupuncture points comes from a Chinese study that used fMRI to investigate the effects of acupuncture at Neiguan P-6. fMRI was performed on the brains of 36 healthy subjects while they received acupuncture at Neiguan P-6 and two control points (Daling P-7 and Guangming GB-37). Needling at Neiguan P-6 caused extensive signal decreases (deactiv ...