Looking back upon the history of Japanese acupuncture and moxibustion from the Meiji era to the present day, this study (research paper) confirms the changes in Japanese acupuncture and moxibustion according to certain points of specific features such as the education system and the progress, and growth of medical study.

Four fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients with complaints of widespread pain, fatigue and difficulty sleeping received acupuncture therapy. The effects of acupuncture treatment were evaluated using a visual analogue scale (VAS), and a pain disability assessment scale (PDAS). After whole body acupuncture treatments, VAS and PDAS values were almost unchanged. However, VAS and PDAS values improved following a 3-treatment course of FMS-specific acupuncture treatments (electroacupuncture at the characteristic tender points of FMS). These results suggest that FMS-specific acupuncture treatment of fibromyalgia patients may relieve their commonly reported symptoms of pain, and fatigue.

The elderly comprise a high proportion of Japan's population (29% in fiscal year 2023), which is predicted to rise gradually into the future. The so-called '3Ms' are the factors considered to impair quality of life (QOL) in elderly persons, namely: "Mobility disorders: fall/non-ambulatory"; "Mentality disorders: cognitive disorder/dementia"; and "Micturition disorders：frequent urination/incontinence". Patients with micturition disorders are treated with drugs in Western medicine, but many still have complaints. The usefulness of acupuncture for the treatment of urination disorders will be reported based on the results of basic research using a pathology model. The clinical effect of acupuncture stimulation will be reported mainly for overactive bladder, a symptom characterized by the main complaints of frequent urination/feeling of urinary urgency. Basic research showed that acupuncture stimulation to the sacral area suppressed "non-voiding contractions (NVCs) not resulting in urination". Acupuncture stimulation of BL33/CV3 in patients with overactive bladder alleviated symptoms of urinary urgency/frequent urination/nocturnal frequent urination. Acupuncture stimulation of BL33 was postulated to relax tension of the bladder by improving bladder compliance.

[Objective]To evaluate the effectiveness of moxibustion treatment for patients with nocturia in a randomized controlled trial.
[Methods]Subjects were 36 patients with refractory nocturia, randomly allocated to a moxibustion group (n = 20) and a sham moxibustion group (n = 16). Moxibustion treatment to Chung-Chi (CV3) was performed three times/day for one week by the patients themselves. The average number of nocturia in the week before and the week during moxibustion treatment were compared between groups.
[Results]The average number of nocturia during moxibustion was significantly decreased in the moxibustion group compared to that before treatment. No significant change was seen in the sham moxibustion group.
[Conclusion]Moxibustion treatment appears to reduce the average number of nocturia. Moxibustion to Chung-Chi seems to represent an effective therapeutic option for nocturia.

The lower one-third point of a line connecting the posterior superior iliac spine and the middle of the lower margin of the ischial tuberosity is used as the acupuncture point to the pudendal nerve. The present study anatomically examined the positional relation between a needle inserted in the acupuncture point and the pudendal nerve as well as examined the projection region of the nerve to the body surface, using the bilateral pudendal nerves of 18 Japanese cadavers.
The needle inseted in the acupuncture point to the pudendal nerve missed the nerve caudally or laterocaudally in many cases, but with twelve cases directly pricking the caudal portion of the nerve. The pudendal nerve lying on the sacrospinous ligament was projected just on or lateral to a line connecting the posterior superior iliac spine and the medial edge of the lower margin of the ischial tuberosity, and in rostro-caudal direction the pudendal nerve was situated in a range 50 to 60% from the top of that line. The height of the sacral cornua corresponded to that of the rostral half of the pudendal nerve lying on the sacrospinous ligament or that more rostral than the rostral tip of the nerve, and the height of the lower tip of the coccyx corresponded to that more caudal than the caudal tip of the nerve.

We report a case of overactive type neurogenic bladder with detrusor sphincter dyssnergia (DSD) that was successfully treated with acupuncture. The patient had urinary dysfunction after laminectomy of Th11, Th12 and L1. The symptoms chart, the frequency volume chart and urodynamic study (UDS) were used to evaluate urinary disturbance and the effect of acupuncture treatment. After the treatment, those charts showed improvement of pollakisuria, urinary urgency, urge incontinence, sense of residual urine and voiding volume. The UDS showed increase of bladder capacity, decrease of residual urine volume and disappearance of DSD. These results suggest that acupuncture treatment for overactive bladder and DSD is therefore useful. However, it is considered that the treatment for neurogenic bladder patients should be required long-term examination because of the importance for long-dated clinical observation.

Artificial ureteral calculosis was produced by the injection of dental cement in anesthetized rats. EMG activities of body trunk and medial thigh muscles were recorded immediately after the operation using bipolar wire electrodes. Then vocalization thresholds were measured by electrical stimulation of the muscle using the same implanted electrodes. After the operation long-lasting periodic increases of the EMG activities were observed and decreases of pain thresholds were also observed in the same muscles.
These results suggest that artificial ureter calculosis rats are useful experimental model for the further study on the tender points formation.

Case Report : Acupuncture therapy for a fibromyalgia-like syndrome (FMS-like) patient. A 44-year-old woman complained of widespread pain, fatigue and poor quality sleep. Effects of acupuncture treatment were evaluated using a visual analogue scale (VAS), pain disability assessment scale (PDAS) and pressure pain thresholds (PPT) at tender sites of FMS. After 13 whole body acupuncture treatments PPT, VAS and PDAS were almost unchanged. However, three FMS-specific acupuncture treatments (eletroacupuncture at characteristic tender sites of FMS) increased PPT and improved VAS and PDAS. These results suggest that FMS-specific acu-puncture treatment may relieve widespread pain and fatigue symptoms in FMS-like patients.