[Objectives] The increase in skin temperature due to acupuncture treatment has been reported visually using thermography and other techniques. In this study, we measured the main acupuncture temperatures of the whole body before and after treatment, captured the characteristics of the correlation between pre- and post-treatment temperatures, and discussed the mechanism of cooling improvement. [Methods] Eight women who were aware of their coldness, who gave informed consent, were treated during a particularly cold season (December X to X+1 February). As a whole body treatment, five minutes of acupuncture was applied to CV12, ST25, and CV4 in the abdomen, BL10 and GB20 in the cervical region, BL17, BL18, BL20, and BL23 in the back, and BL40 and BL58 in the feet. Before and after treatment, the temperatures of the acupuncture points of the whole body (CV22, CV14, CV8, CV4, GB26, PC6, TE5, BL15, SP6, KI1, GV12, GV9, and GV4) were measured with a non-contact thermometer. Subsequently, for each acupuncture point, a graph plotting the temperature before and after treatment was created, and temperature changes before and after treatment were assessed by t-testing, and the presence or absence of attribute trends in pre-treatment acupuncture point temperature was assessed by linear regression analysis.[Results] For the abdomen, medial upper extremity, and medial lower extremity, transapical temperature increased significantly after treatment, uniformly independent of pre-treatment temperature. For the dorsal, lateral upper extremity, and lateral lower extremity, the acupuncture temperature did not rise uniformly after treatment; the lower pre-treatment temperature increased after treatment, but the higher pre-treatment temperature decreased after treatment. The temperature of the lateral abdomen and the soles of the feet increased significantly after treatment, and the degree of increase was greater in people with lower pre-treatment temperatures. And this balance of heat was found to promote blood flow to the tip of the foot.[Discussion] After the whole-body treatment as in this study, it is thought that by confirming the temperature measured before and after the treatment, in addition to the subject's subjective awareness of the warmth of his or her body, it is possible to convince the subject of the meaning of the treatment and to improve his or her main complaint. I thought it could be introduced as a method of examination.

[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.

[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.