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Modern Acupuncture Technique: Propagation of Needling Sensation, Tonification and Sedation

Author: Justin Phillips

This article discusses the aspects of needling that follow insertion and the elicitation of deqi, including propagation of needle sensation, tonification and sedation. It has been excerpted from the recently-published text, The Living Needle: Modern Acupuncture Technique (Singing Dragon, 2018)

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Acupuncture for Multiple System Atrophy: A Case Report

Author: Yun Jin Kim

Multiple system atrophy (MSA) is a rare and fatal progressive disorder, characterised by autonomic dysfunction and motor impairment. MSA patients exhibit neurodegenerative changes in the brain, involving the accumulation of the protein alpha-synuclein in glial cells. This case study describes a 65-year-old female diagnosed with MSA, who was treated with 192 sessions of acupuncture over a 15-month period. After a year of acupuncture treatment, the patient's condition, measured on the Unified MSA Rating Scale (UMSARS), Scale for the Assessment and Rating of Ataxia (SARA), Berg Balance Scale (BBS), and Hamilton Depression Scale (HAM-D), was found to have improved significantly. Furthermore, no side effects of treatment were reported. The results of this single clinical case study are encouraging and provide evidence supporting the positive effects of acupuncture treatment in reducing the symptoms of MSA.

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The Changing Qualities of Chinese Herbal Medicines

Author: JulieAnn Nugent-Head

In Chinese, the character 性 xing represents the complete character of a substance, which is not synonymous with plant name, genus, species or previously documented medicinal action or indication. Rather, 性 xing is the totality of what an individual herb actually is and therefore does in a patient's body at the moment of its use. It is important to recognise that the 性 xing of a natural substance is not static, but changes through location and climate, and continues to shift as a plant dries, ages, becomes mouldy, loses essential oils due to storage, is ground into powder, prepared into pills, steeped for minutes or cooked for hours. This article explores these aspects of Chinese herbal medicines, particularly in relation to clinical practice.

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The Trials and Tribulations of Clinical Research and Chinese Herbal Medicine Education: A Conversation between Andrew Flower and Peter Deadman

Author: Andrew Flower, Peter Deadman

 

Andrew Flower is a long-standing practitioner of Chinese medicine, a pioneering researcher into Chinese herbal medicine (CHM), and is in the process of creating new educational opportunities for a thorough grounding in the study and practice of CHM. This conversation was recorded in early 2018 and transcribed for publication.

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‘But where exactly is it?’ - The Pitfalls of Teaching and Learning Point Location

Author: Paul Johnson

This article addresses the thorny issue of how acupuncture practitioners go about accurately locating acupuncture points. It is based on the author's two decades of teaching point location and practising acupuncture.

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Constitutional/Conditional Acupuncture: Basic Theory and Clinical Practice

Author: Peter Eckman

 

This article presents the basic theories of the system of Constitutional/Conditional Acupuncture developed by the author. These are illustrated by case studies from a three-day clinical workshop on this approach to acupuncture held in Kunming in October 2017.

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The Importance of Releasing the Exterior While Harmonising the Spleen and Stomach in the Treatment of Gastrointestinal Disorders

Author: Lin Cheng

This article documents the clinical importance of simultaneously releasing the exterior whilst harmonising the Spleen and Stomach during the Chinese herbal treatment of gastrointestinal disorders. The explanation is based on three classical herbal prescriptions and Liu Wansu's theory of the 'xuanfu' (pores). The author concludes that to obtain superior therapeutic effects in the treatment of gastrointestinal diseases it is necessary to treat yin and yang - interior and exterior - together by including exterior-releasing herbs that open the 'xuanfu' to harmonise the Spleen and Stomach, clear dampness and return the Spleen to its proper function.

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Obituary: Giovanni Maciocia 1945 - 2018

Author: Peter Deadman

This article is an obituary in memory of the pre-eminent practitioner, author and teacher of Chinese medicine, Giovanni Maciocia. 

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Red Fermented Rice (Hongqu) – On the Topicality of a Traditional Chinese Medicinal Product

Author: Ute Engelhardt & Rainer Nögel

Red fermented rice (hongqu 紅麯, 紅麴, simplified characters 红曲) is cooked white rice that has been cultivated with the mould Monascus purpureus, thereby acquiring a red colour. It is obtained through an ingenious and complicated fermentation process and in China it has been used for centuries as a flavouring and colouring agent for foods. The first part of this article sheds light on the historical background and the methods of production as described in two Chinese encyclopaedias (from the 13th and 17th centuries respectively), and discusses the effects of red fermented rice as they are presented in dietetic and pharmacological works. The second part of the article presents red fermented rice as a traditional Chinese medicinal that can be classified under 'substances that relieve food stagnation' (xiaoshiyao 消食藥), which regulate digestion and the metabolic processes and invigorate blood. On these grounds, red fermented rice can be considered for application in differential diagnostic treatments with the modern biomedical diagnosis of hyperlipidemia. In addition to pharmacological research on both red fermented rice and synthetic statins - which are comparable in their clinical effect on increased cholesterol levels - the side effects and safety of red fermented rice are discussed, as well as its dosage. The article concludes with an illustrative case study.

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The Treatment of Meniere's Disease with Acupuncture and Chinese Medicine: A Case Study

Author: Lauren Salisbury, Yong Deng, Yasmin Hilmi & Jeffrey Langland

This article presents the use of acupuncture and Chinese herbal medicine to treat a case of Meniere's Disease. The patient presented with a five-month history of Meniere's disease which was caused by prolonged exposure to elevated temperatures. The patient had been evaluated by a head, ear, eye, nose and throat (HEENT) doctor, and a neurologist, along with being hospitalised weekly for severe episodes of vertigo. The patient had been treated with conventional medication, which did not resolve their symptoms. Over a period of ten weeks involving 14 acupuncture treatments and Chinese herbal medication, the patient's vertigo completely resolved and concomitant symptoms such as tinnitus and sensorineural hearing loss also improved. The patient also completely discontinued their meclizine, which at the beginning of treatment they had been taking every six hours.

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