As interesting results were obtained upon testing the responses in healthy adult males (age 20-54) of cutaneous touch, pain and heat sensitive points due to pressure stimulation and acupuncture stimulation at LI-4, and cutaneous touch and pain point reactions to acupumcure stimulation at St-36, we present the following report.
Previously it was discovered that pressure at LI-4 results in 1 decrease in the touch and pain point populations on the upper extremities on the stimulated side with the numbers returning to normal when stimulation ceased. With acupuncture stimulation, during stimulation the numbert of sensory points on the arm, thoracic and shoulder of stimulated side showed a remarkable decrease in the number of pain points. Very little change occured in thenumber of touch points however. Similar results were also reported on the abdominal area of the stimulated side with stimulation at ST-36. As for acupuncture stimulation and the cutaneous sensory point populations on the opposite side, cases of demhease in the number of sensory points and cases of no change were reported. Also it was reported that during acupuncture stimulation at LI-4 the number of heat points decreased and in 1 case returned to former levels when stimulation ceased.
For this study we increased the number of subjects and studied changes in the touch and pain sensitive point populations on the opposite side using acupuncture stimulation. We also examined changes in the number of heat sensitive points during acukuncture stimulation.
Stimulation on the opposite side produced nearly the same decrease in pain point population as did stimulation on the same side, with little change observed in the touch sensitive point numbers. The change in the number of heat sensitive points during acupuncture stimulation indicated a remakable tendency for decrease, similar to results observed with pain sensitive points. These results were obtained by studests during lab sessions.
We would like to find some clinical meaning in the administration of treatment on the opposite side.