Yokukansan (YKS), one of the traditional Japanese “Kampo” medicines, is a mixture of extract powders from seven kinds of medicinal herbs (Atractylodis Lanceae Rhizoma, Hoelen, Cnidii Rhizoma, Uncariae Uncis Cum Ramulus, Angelicae Radix, Bupleuri Radix, and Glycyrrhizae Radix). YKS has been administered to fragile habitus patients who show symptoms such as emotional irritability, neurosis and insomnia, and to infants who suffer from night crying and convulsions. In recent years, YKS has been reported to be effective against pain disorders such as headache and chronic pain, but the mechanism underlying these beneficial effects is still unclear. In this study, the effect of YKS on chronic inflammatory pain and stress caused by pain were investigated using rats with adjuvant arthritis.
Male Wistar rats were injected with complete Freund's adjuvant into the plantar surface of the right hindpaw, and then pain thresholds and stress markers were measured. The thermal pain threshold measured with the plantar test significantly decreased, and the level of salivary chromogranin A (CgA), which is used as a mental stress marker, was significantly increased in this model. The administration of YKS controlled the activation of spinal microglia involved in the expression of chronic pain, and significantly reduced a decrease in the pain threshold. Moreover, an increase in the level of salivary CgA was significantly inhibited. The authors concluded that YKS has effects in reducing chronic inflammatory pain and the stress caused by pain.

We have conducted acupuncture treatment for prevening the relapse of recurrent tonsillitis. We previously noted the effectiveness of this treatment in 121 of 239 patients treated in 1980, especially in elementary school children. In the present study, we compared the annual days of absence from school and the body dimensions of children with tonsillitis given acupuncture treatment with those having tonsillar hypertrophy chosen by a school study, although there is a question on the latter's propriety as a control group in a strict sense, in order to investigate the degree of spontaneous healing included in the preventive effects of acupuncture treatment on the relapse of recurrent tonsillitis.
By May 1983, our reseach was completed in 22 children with tonsillitis given acupuncture treatment and 19 with tonsillar hypertrophy not given such therapy. In children with tonsillitis given acupuncture treatment, the average annual days of absence from school before treatment was 14.0, which was more than that for all children in the S elementary school, and that in the year after treatment was 6.5, approximating that for all children in the school. In children with tonsillar hypertrophy not given acupuncture treatment, the average number of days of absence was close to that for all children in the S elementary school in both years.
Among 14 children with tonsillitis given acupuncture treatment, lower values of height and weight were noted in eight and 12 children, respectively, at the beginning of treatment, as compared with the national averages. The body dimensions of children with tonsillar hypertrophy not given acupuncture treatment were similar to the national averages. Of 14 children with tonsillitis given acupuncture treatment, an increase to a value exceeding the national average was observed with both the height and weight in six children, the height in two and the weight in one within the year after treatment.
The above results show that children with tonsillitis have a problem from the educational and developmental standpoint, even if they do not have a focal tonsil. We think that acupuncture treatment is worth attempting prior to tonsillectomy, although it is not so surely effective as tonsillectomy, when the severity of operative stress on the living body due to tonsillectomy and the burden of medical expenses and the load on the patient's family caused by hospitalization are taken into consideration.