[Objective]In clinical practice, it is important that patients experience symptomatic improvement or at least gain a certain level of satisfaction early on during a series of treatments. Most patients decide whether or not to return to the clinic based on these factors. At our school, students are trained in protocols from three different treatment styles:modern acupuncture, meridian acupuncture (based on classic acupuncture) and traditional Chinese medicine. In this study, we investigated the characteristics of each style, such as the presence of immediate effects and the types of sensations perceived by patients.
[Methods]Questionnaires were given before and after treatment to 177 patients who came to the clinic associated with our teacher training course for acupuncture, moxibustion and massage. We received valid responses from 169 patients. The practitioners surveyed were second-year students who had treated the surveyed patients 1.2 times on average prior to answering the questionnaire. Before treatment, patients were asked about their main complaints and symptoms, and afterward about changes in their symptoms, satisfaction level and other sensations. The resulting data was subjected to statistical analysis.
[Results]The style chosen by most practitioners was modern acupuncture, followed by meridian acupuncture, and then traditional Chinese acupuncture. Most lower back, leg and joint pain was treated with modern acupuncture protocols, while internal disorders were more often treated with meridian acupuncture or traditional Chinese acupuncture. All three styles were able to alleviate symptoms and achieve patient satisfaction with no statisticallysignificant differences among the three groups.
[Discussion]The results demonstrated that training practitioners in these three styles for one year helped them achieve positive and immediate effects. While there are many different styles of acupuncture, in actual clinical practice, the style is less important than how much a patient feels the effect of the treatment.
[Conclusion]All three styles, modern acupuncture, meridian acupuncture and traditional Chinese acupuncture, were able to alleviate symptoms and achieve patient satisfaction with no statistically significant differences among them.

[Objective]Although warm-tube moxibustion is easy-to-use in acupuncture therapy, the timing of moxa removal varies among practitioners. In the present study, we used near infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) to compare effects of different durations of moxibustion stimulation on improvement in local circulation as measured by changes in blood oxygenation dynamics in muscle tissue.
[Methods]Twelve healthy adults underwent warm-tube moxibustion with a single cone applied to the upper right shoulder region;measurements of tissue blood oxygenation dynamics (ΔOxy-Hb, ΔTotal-Hb) were obtained at intervals of 0.5 s. Control measurements were first taken for 15 min without intervention (Control);then, subjects received moxibustion 2 min after the start of measurement and had the moxa removed at the following time points: 30 s after patients experienced heat pain (Removal 30, moxibustion group); 45 s after heat pain (Removal 45, moxibustion group);or did not have the moxa removed (Continuous moxibustion group). These 4 different conditions were compared. Additionally, we determined the burning temperature of moxa and the skin temperature and intensity of heat pain sensation at the site of moxibustion.
[Results]Compared with the Control, the Removal 30, Removal 45, and Continuous moxibustion groups had significant increases in ΔOxy-Hb, ΔTotal-Hb, and skin temperature, with no significant differences among the moxibustion groups. No significant difference in the intensity of heat pain sensation was observed among the moxibustion groups. All moxibustion groups began to show rapid increases in both ΔTotal-Hb and ΔOxy-Hb around the time when subjects began to feel heat pain, suggesting that the axon reflex evoked by noxious stimuli of heat pain increased blood volume and arterial blood flow.
[Conclusion]Hemodynamic improvement in muscle tissue through the use of continuous warm-tube moxibustion for 30 s or longer after the occurrence of heat pain was confirmed.

[Objective]In recent years, communication skills have been recognized as an essential competence for acupuncturists. This study proposes to develop a scale for measuring the medical communication skills of acupuncturists.
[Materials and Methods]A questionnaire of 20 items was used to measure medical communication skills. These items were adopted from a concept analysis conducted in a previous study.
Cronbach's alpha was used to examine the scale's reliability. The scale's validity was examined by correlation analysis and multiple regression analysis comparisons with normal communication skills subscale scores (ENDCOREs, Encode, Decode, Control, Regulate) and a Japanese version of characteristic trait anxiety scores (STAI, State-Trait Anxiety Inventory).
[Results]Factor analysis, using a principal extraction method and promax rotation, was conducted on responses from 443students and therapists. As a result, the original 20 items were reduced to 16, and the following three factors were extracted:I. Acceptance of patients and self-control;II. Appropriate explanation to patients;and III. Understanding of patient's feelings. These three factors had high degrees of internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha =.872 -.892).
The scores of the three factors correlated significantly with the scores of the six factors of ENDCORE, and with the anxiety scores. Although the results of multiple regression analysis showed that each factor of ENDCORE explained the three factors, the anxiety scores did not influence medical communication skills. The scores for the three factors correlated significantly with self-evaluation scores of medical interview skill. In addition, these three factors were affected by the degree of clinical experience.
[Conclusion]These results suggest that this scale may be a reliable instrument for assessing medical communication skills among Japanese acupuncturists.

[Objective] Photographers perform a variety of tasks, including taking photographs for extended periods of time, using personal computers to organize photographic data, and preparing and transporting their equipment. Although photographers may exhibit a variety of symptoms, there have been no reports on investigations of pain or disease in photographers. In this study, we conducted a questionnaire survey on the actual status of work-related pain in photographers. We, then, performed acupuncture and evaluated the effects in subjects for pain or stiffness in the neck and shoulders, which was the most common chief complaint in the questionnaire.[Subjects and Methods] The survey was sent to 138 professional photographers. The survey included seven items, such as symptoms experienced during work activities and the content of the work. Among the respondents who reported chief complaints of pain in the neck and shoulder regions, six (one male and five females) opted to receive acupuncture treatment. We used the visual analog scale (VAS) scores to determine the amount of shoulder stiffness and tenderness in the shoulders and neck, as well as induration, before and immediately after treatment.[Results] Responses were obtained from 60.1% subjects. The most common chief complaint involved the neck and shoulder region in 86% of subjects. In the analysis of sex differences, the most common chief complaint in females was in the neck and shoulder region, whereas the most common chief complaint in males was in the lower back region. In the assessment of effects of acupuncture, the VAS scores for shoulder stiffness decreased after acupuncture (p < 0.05) and tenderness and induration scores decreased after acupuncture (p < 0.05).[Discussion and Conclusion] Low muscle strength may be a contributing factor for a higher complaint of neck and shoulder pain and stiffness in females. A higher complaint of pain and stiffness in the lower back region in males may be attributable to a higher load on the lower back region because they tend to have poor posture owing to height differences with the object being photographed. These results suggest that acupuncture is useful for work-related pain in the neck and shoulder region, which is the most common chief complaint in photographers.

[Objectives] Psychological factors are mentioned as one of the causes of menstrual pain and menstruation-associated symptoms. In this study, the relationship between menstrual pain, menstruation-associated symptoms, and personality was examined. [Methods] We targeted women who were menstruating and had provided informed consent. A questionnaire was conducted to obtain information on age, height, weight, degree of menstrual pain, menstruation-associated symptoms, and new personality inventory. Correlation analysis of Spearman was conducted on the relationship between menstrual pain, menstruation-associated symptoms, and personality.[Results] We distributed questionnaires to 250 persons and obtained responses from 166 persons. "Anxiety" correlated with menstrual pain and multiple factors of menstruation-associated symptoms, "depression" correlated with multiple factors of menstruation-associated symptoms. In addition, "aggression," "inferiority complex," and "non-cooperativeness" correlated with negative emotional factors of menstruation-associated symptoms.[Discussion] For "anxiety" and "depression," it was speculated that the symptoms became stronger due to poor circulation and serotonin deficiency during menstruation. In addition, the depressive aspects of "aggression," "non-cooperativeness," and "inferiority complex" were also considered to have an influence on negative emotional factors of menstruation-associated symptoms.[Conclusions] "Anxiety" correlated with menstrual pain and multiple factors of menstruation-associated symptoms, and "depression" correlated with multiple factors of menstruation-associated symptoms.