Traditional Chinese acupuncture has a history of over 2500 years. It is effective in the treatment of many conditions with few side effects. The best known mechanism is via endogenous opiates and their receptors. In addition to opioids, researchers have focused on the role of central monoamimergic systems. Acupuncture therapy is used not only to relieve pain but also to treat various medical conditions in traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Some experiments have revealed a relationship between acupuncture and the autonomic nervous system (ANS). Besides, electroacupuncture (EA) can modulate the imbalance between innate and acquired immune systems. This review is focusing on the mechanistic studies of acupuncture that my colleagues and I have performed in Taiwan in recent years. We found that EA analgesia was closely related to not only the serotonergic neurons but also the adrenergic neurons in the central nervous system. The electrophysiological recordings suggested the involvement of the cerebral cortex in acupuncture. Local somatothermal stimulation inhibited the motility of sphincter of Oddi and internal anal sphincter through nitrergic neural release of nitric oxide. Mild local heat stress upregulated hepatic gene expression of heat shock protein 70 and protected the liver from subsequent ischemia-reperfusion injury. These studies supplement the knowledge of the mechanism of acupuncture.
Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Adrenergic Fibers ; metabolism ; physiology ; Animals ; Cerebral Cortex ; metabolism ; physiology ; Electroacupuncture ; methods ; Humans ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; Moxibustion ; methods ; Neurons ; metabolism ; physiology ; Pain Management ; Proteomics ; Serotonin ; metabolism ; Signal Transduction ; physiology ; Taiwan

BACKGROUNDPrevious studies have noted that there is a high utilization rate of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) services in Taiwan, China and in western countries, but few studies investigated factors associated with the utilization of TCM in Taiwan. This study analyzes the utilization rate and the factors associated with the utilization of TCM in Taiwan.

METHODSData for this study were from the 2002 HPKAP Survey that conducted the face-to-face questionnaire interviews of people aged 15 years and over from October 2002 to March 2003 in Taiwan. This study analyzed the utilization of TCM outpatient services, including admission to the hospital and clinic visits.

RESULTSA total of 26 755 participants completed the survey in the six-month period. The data revealed that 10.4% of participants had utilized TCM services in the past one month while 4.2% of participants utilized TCM only (without using Western medicine outpatient services (WM) or Folk therapy (FT)). The average visits of TCM services per patient was higher among people who had utilized TCM and FT services (2.68 visits) than among those who had utilized WM and FT services (2.15 visits) or TCM services alone (2.15 visits) during the previous one month. Younger people (odds ratio OR = 1.78, 95% CI = 1.47 - 2.16), women (compared with men), and people with higher education levels (OR = 1.58, 95% CI = 1.25 - 1.98) were more likely to visit TCM than compared groups. People with self-reported poor health status (OR = 2.07, 95% CI = 1.76 - 2.44) and people who exercise regularly (OR = 1.17, 95% CI = 1.07 - 1.27) had higher ORs to visit TCM service than comparison group.

CONCLUSIONSThere is a high utilization of TCM in Taiwan. Further studies are needed to investigate the related factors and determinants between the utilization of TCM and the utilization of FT in Taiwan.

Adolescent ; Adult ; Aged ; Aged, 80 and over ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; utilization ; Middle Aged ; Taiwan

Acupuncture, Ear ; Adult ; Boxing ; Humans ; Male ; Oxygen Consumption

BACKGROUNDAcupuncture has been shown to be effective in pain relief and anesthesia, and has been suggested for treating various kinds of functional disabilities in traditional Chinese medicine, including knee osteoarthritis (OA). The study aimed to investigate the immediate effects of acupuncture on gait patterns in patients with knee OA.

METHODSTwenty patients with bilateral medial knee OA were assigned evenly and randomly to a sham group and an experimental group. During the experiment, the experimental group underwent a 30-minute formula electro-acupuncture treatment while the sham group received a sham treatment. Before and after treatment, each subject was evaluated for their knee pain using visual analog scales (VAS) and then their performance of level walking using gait analysis. For all the obtained variables, the independent t-test was used for between-group comparisons, while paired t-test was used to investigate the before and after changes.

RESULTSAll the measured data before acupuncture treatment between the groups were not significantly different. The VAS scores were decreased significantly after acupuncture in both groups, and the mean change of the VAS values of the experiment group was 2 times greater than that of the sham group. After formula acupuncture stimulation, while no significant changes were found in all the gait variables in the sham group, the experimental group had significant increases in the gait speed, step length, as well as in several components of the joint angles and moments.

CONCLUSIONSThe results of the study suggest that significantly improved gait performance in the experimental group may be associated with pain relief after treatment, but the relatively small decrease of pain in the sham group was not enough to induce significant improvements in gait patterns. Gait analysis combined with the VAS can be useful for the evaluation of the effect of acupuncture treatment for patients with neuromusculoskeletal diseases and movement disorder.

Acupuncture Therapy ; Aged ; Biomechanical Phenomena ; Female ; Gait ; physiology ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Models, Biological ; Osteoarthritis, Knee ; therapy ; Treatment Outcome

BACKGROUNDBoth athletes with intensive exercise and aged people may have weakened immunity against virus infection. This study aimed to evaluate whether people undergoing aerobic exercises including competitive cyclists with moderate training (CMT) and middle-aged people practicing Tai Chi Chuan (TCC) exercise have higher immunity against hepatitis B virus than age-matched sedentary controls including college students (CSC) and middle-aged people (MSC).

METHODSHuman peripheral blood mononuclear cells from competitive cyclists and sedentary controls were stimulated by phytohemagglutinin (PHA) to prepare conditioned medium (MNC-CM) for the assessment of inhibitory effects on hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) expression in human hepatoma Hep3B cells.

RESULTSThe inhibitory effects on the relative HBsAg expression of CMT's and TCC's MNC-CM were greater than those of the controls. The CMT's MNC-CM prepared from 5 microg/ml PHA decreased HBsAg expression to 61.5%, whereas that of CSC remained at 83.8%. Similarly, this expression by treatment of TCC group' MNC-CM was 68.4% whereas that of MSC group was 84.3%. The levels of cytokines such as interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), IFN-alpha and interleukin-1beta (IL-1beta) in the MNC-CM from the CMT and TCC groups were greater than those in the controls. Antibody neutralization of CMT's MNC-CM and addition of recombinant cytokines into CSC's MNC-CM indicated that IFN-gamma, TNF-alpha and IFN-alpha had synergistic effects against HBsAg expression. Similar blocking effect was noted in TCC versus MSC groups.

CONCLUSIONThese results suggest that the immunomodulatory response to suppress HBsAg expression in CMT and TCC with moderate aerobic exercise is greater than that in age-matched sedentary controls.

Adult ; Exercise ; Hepatitis B Surface Antigens ; analysis ; Humans ; Interferon-gamma ; physiology ; Male ; Oxygen Consumption ; Tai Ji ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha ; physiology

BACKGROUNDThe onsets of needling sensation introduced by acupuncture stimulus can vary widely from subject to subject. This should be explicitly accounted for by the model blood oxygenation-level dependent (BOLD) time course used in general linear model (GLM) analysis to obtain more consistent across-subject group results. However, in standard GLM analysis, the model BOLD time course obtained by convolving a canonical hemodynamic response function with an experimental paradigm time course is assumed identical across subjects. Although some added-on properties to the model BOLD time course, such as temporal and dispersion derivatives, may be used to account for different BOLD response onsets, they can only account for the BOLD onset deviations to the extent of less than one repetition time (TR).

METHODSIn this study, we explicitly manipulated the onsets of model BOLD time course by shifting it with -2, -1, or 1 TR and used these temporally shifted BOLD model to analyze the functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data obtained from three acupuncture fMRI experiments with GLM analysis. One involved acupuncture stimulus on left ST42 acupoint and the other two on left GB40 and left BL64 acupoints.

RESULTSThe model BOLD time course with temporal shifts, in addition to temporal and dispersion derivatives, could result in better statistical power of the data analysis in terms of the average correlation coefficients between the used BOLD models and extracted BOLD responses from individual subject data and the T-values of the activation clusters in the grouped random effects.

CONCLUSIONSThe GLM analysis with ordinary BOLD model failed to catch the large variability of the onsets of the BOLD responses associated with the acupuncture needling sensation. Shifts in time with more than a TR on model BOLD time course might be required to better extract the acupuncture stimulus-induced BOLD activities from individual fMRI data.

Acupuncture ; Adult ; Female ; Hemodynamics ; physiology ; Humans ; Magnetic Resonance Imaging ; Male ; Oxygen ; blood ; Young Adult

BACKGROUNDPost-operation pain is a very subjective phenomenon. The aim of this study was to find out the effects of acupuncture or electro-acupuncture on post-cesarean pain.

METHODSSixty women, who had had spinal anesthesia during cesarean section at the Department of Obstetrics of China Medical University Hospital, were randomly assigned to the control group, the acupuncture group, and the electro-acupuncture group. After the operation, we applied subjects with acupuncture or electro-acupuncture on the bilateral acupuncture point, San Yin Jiao (Sp6), and the patient controlled analgesia (PCA). The first time of requesting morphine, the frequency of PCA demands in 24 hours, and the doses of PCA used were recorded double blindly. In addition, monitoring the subjects' vital signs, the opioid-related side effects, and the pain scores was done.

RESULTSThe results showed that the acupuncture group and the electro-acupuncture group could delay the time of requesting morphine up to 10 - 11 minutes when compared with the control group. The total dose of PCA used within the first 24 hours was 30% - 35% less in the acupuncture group and the electro-acupuncture group when compared with the control group, which was indicated in statistical significance. However, there was no significant difference between the acupuncture group and the electro-acupuncture group. The electro-acupuncture group's and the acupuncture group's pain scores were lower than the control group's within the first 2 hours. Both were statistically significant. However, two hours later, there were no significant differences of the visual analogue scale (VAS) scores between either of the treatment groups and the control group. Finally, the incidence of opioid-related side effects, such as dizziness, was less in the acupuncture group and electro-acupuncture group than in the control group.

CONCLUSIONSThis study shows that the application of acupuncture and electro-acupuncture could definitely delay the time of requesting pain relief medication after cesarean section and decrease the PCA doses used within the first 24 hours.

Acupuncture Therapy ; methods ; Adult ; Analgesics ; therapeutic use ; Cesarean Section ; Female ; Humans ; Male ; Morphine ; therapeutic use ; Pain, Postoperative ; drug therapy ; therapy ; Pregnancy

BACKGROUND: Low-back pain (LBP) in nurses is a major health concern that affects their quality of life and ability to work, with consequences for their economic status. OBJECTIVE: This study evaluates the effect of low-level laser acupuncture combined with auricular acupressure (LAA) on pain intensity, pain interference and quality of life in nurses with LBP. DESIGN, SETTING, PARTICIPANTS AND INTERVENTIONS: This randomized controlled trial recruited a convenience sample of hospital-based nurses from one teaching hospital in Taiwan, China. Participants were randomly assigned to the LAA group (n = 38) receiving low-level laser acupuncture and auricular acupressure for 4 weeks, and the control group (n = 38) receiving only sham laser acupuncture treatment without laser energy output. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Data were collected for the primary pain outcome using the Short Form of the Brief Pain Inventory, while the secondary outcome, quality of life, was evaluated using the Roland-Morris Disability Questionnaire. Both primary and secondary outcomes were scored before the intervention, and after 2-week and 4-week intervention. The rate of LBP recurrence was evaluated at the 4th week and 8th week after the end of intervention. RESULTS: After controlling for prior pain, the result of linear mixed model analysis showed trends in significant between-group differences in the level of current pain occurring in week 4 (P < 0.001), worst pain in week 2 (P < 0.001) and week 4 (P < 0.001), least pain in week 2 (P = 0.032) and week 4 (P < 0.001), pain interference in week 2 (P = 0.009) and week 4 (P < 0.001), and in the life dysfunction in week 2 (P < 0.001) and week 4 (P < 0.001). Recurrence rates of LBP at the 4th and 8th weeks after the end of intervention were 0% and 36.89% in the LAA group, and 69.44% and 36.11% in the control group. CONCLUSION: This study shows that 4-week LAA intervention reduced pain intensity and pain interference, and improved quality of life for hospital-based nurses with LBP. These effects were maintained continuously for at least 4 weeks after the intervention. The nonpharmacological intervention, LAA, may be another efficacious, feasible, noninvasive, analgesic intervention for LBP. TRIAL REGISTRATION This study is registered at Clinicaltrials.gov (registration number NCT04423445).
Humans ; Acupressure ; Quality of Life ; Treatment Outcome ; Low Back Pain/therapy* ; Acupuncture Therapy ; Nurses