Backgrounds : The one of the leading factors of deteriorating condition is upper respiratory tract infections (URTI) in athletes. Athletes who are forced in regularly intensive training often decrease salivary secretory immunoglobulin A (SIgA) which has important role of immune function in the buccal cavity. It causes increase of morbidity risk in URTI. Acupuncture treatment is one of the conditioning methods in the competition field and mainly treated for orthopedic injuries. On the other hands, acupuncture treatment induced increase of natural healing ability which involved immune response, and prevent and treat some diseases. It has been reported acupuncture increase SIgA level. However, the relationship between time course and diagnostic of cold by the acupuncture stimulation effect is still unclear. Thus, the purpose of this measurement is to investigate the effect of acupuncture stimulation on the SIgA during training camp. Furthermore, it is important to investigate questionnaire about diagnostic of cold during and 1 week after training camp, it leads to clear the effect of acupuncture stimulation on the URTI.
Methods : Eighty subjects men who have auditory difficulties (26.7±0.9 yr[±SE]) participated in this study. The subjects were randomly assigned two groups; acupuncture group and control group. The training camp conducted 3 days and training performed 3 hours each in the morning and afternoon. Acupuncture stimulation was applied at LU 6 (Kongzui), LI 4 (Hegu), ST 36 (Zusanli), and ST 6 (Jiache), for 30 min after dinner. To measure SIgA level, saliva samples were taken 7 times; daytime and evening of first day (Day1(D), Day1(E)), morning, daytime and evening of the second day (Day2(M), Day2(D), Day2(E)), morning and daytime in the third day (Day3(M), Day3(D)). The questionnaire about diagnostic of cold was conducted Day1(D), Day2(M), Day3(M) and 1 week after training camp.
Results : The secretion rate of SIgA in the control was not significantly changed during training camp. However, the acupuncture group was significantly higher level in the Day2(M) and Day3(M) compared to the Day1(D) (P<0.05). Both control and acupuncture group was significantly higher SIgA concentration in Day2(M) and Day3(M) compared to the Day1(D) (P<0.05), but acupuncture group was significantly higher in the Day3(M) compared to the control. The frequency of diagnostic cold was 1 in the acupuncture group and 4 in the control group. Moreover, 1 week after training camp, 6 in the acupuncture group and 6 in the control.
Conclusion : Acupuncture stimulation induced significant increase SIgA level during training camp. Moreover, the diagnostic of cold was lower during training camp in the acupuncture group. Therefore, acupuncture stimulation might reduce the risk of the morbidity of the URTI.