INTRODUCTION : It has been suspected that the BL40 (Weizhong, Ichu) point could be used as a remote acupuncture stimulation point for the effective treatment of lumbago, because traditional remote acupuncture stimulation has shown, on occasion, dramatic effects for relieving chronic pain, especially lumbago, headaches and shoulder pain. We have reported that remote acupuncture point stimulation, such as “BL40-to-BL23 (Shenshu, Jinyu)” might be useful in the treatment of lumbago. An experiment was designed to identify the most effective points on the Bladder Meridian.
METHODS : We tested the electrical stimulation of BL57 (Chengshan, Shozan), BL58 (Feiyang, Hiyo) and BL60 (Kunlun, Konron) as far-points on the BL23 (Shenshu, Jinyu) in patients with slight to mild cases of lumago (24 adults, average age 31.2 y-o), who had given their informed consent beforehand. RESULTS : It was found that the respondent value (96.4 ± 4.8V, n=12) of BL40 on pre- stimulation in the male group was lower than that in the female group (86.1± 4.7V, n=12; p=0.07). When BL57 of lumbago patients was stimulated, the responsiveness of BL23 increased significantly in the male group (y=-0.04x+94.99; r=0.35, p<0.05), but declined in the female group (y=0.07x+102.55; r=0.44, p<0.01). When BL58 was stimulated, it had no apparent effect on the responsiveness of the male group, but that of the female group was reduced (y=-0.13x+99.00; r=0.85, p<0.001). In contrast, the responsiveness of BL23 to BL60 stimulation did not change in the male group but increased in the female group (y=0.12x+100.24; r=0.71, p<0.001). These results indicate that the stimulation on BL57, BL58 and BL60, which are far-points from BL23, had widely different effects on the responding pattern of BL23 in patients with lumbago.
CONCLUSION : The results confirm that remote acupuncture point stimulation might be valuable in the treatment of lumbago.