Acupuncture has won medical acceptance

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Subject: Acupuncture has WON medical ACCEPTANCE

From: -Date: 3/22/2005 6:45:00 PM ( 5 days ago ) ... viewed 182 times

since Feb 20 2005 R/N (recommended for CureZone Newsletter!)

Acupuncture has won medical acceptance

By Judy Foreman, Globe Staff | March 22, 2005

I lie down on the table at Wellspace Inc. in Cambridge, sighing in grateful

anticipation as my longtime acupuncturist, Jen Forrest , goes to work.

Some days, she gently pokes needles into my chronically tight lower back. Other

days, she focuses on my pesky sinuses. Still other days -- the best ones -- the

goal is a general tune-up of my Qi (pronounced ''chee " ), the Chinese term for

vital (and sometimes, not vital enough) energy.

This ancient Chinese technique of sticking needles into the skin to relieve

pain, nausea and many other ills never fails to make me feel better -- more

mellow and more energized. I used to think this lovely state was mostly due to

the placebo effect.

But a growing body of evidence -- brain scans, ultrasound and other

techniques -- now shows that acupuncture triggers direct, measurable effects on

the

body, including perhaps activation of precisely the regions of the brain that

would be predicted by ancient Chinese theory. This is potentially good news for

the millions of Americans now scrambling for pain relief in the wake of

conflicting government recommendations on painkillers Vioxx and Celebrex.

At the University of California at Irvine, researchers have shown that when a

needle is placed in a point on the side of the foot that Chinese theorists

associate with vision, sure enough, the visual cortex in the brain ''lights up "

on functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, though the cause and effect

are not totally clear.

Neuroscientist Seung-Schik Yoo of Brigham and Women's Hospital has shown that

when a needle is placed in a point called pericardium 6 on the wrist, known

in Chinese medicine as a sensitive point for nausea, the part of the brain that

controls the vestibular system (which affects balance and nausea) lights up

on scans.

While much about acupuncture remains mysterious, at least to Westerners, a

great deal is becoming clearer, thanks to an explosion of studies using Western

scientific techniques.

''The quality and amount of research being conducted now on acupuncture is

improving greatly, " said Wayne, director of research at the New England

School of Acupuncture, which has received $3.2 million in federal grants to

study acupuncture.

Acupuncture, an extraordinarily safe technique, has been used so far by 8.2

million Americans, according to the National Center for Complementary and

Alternative Medicine, a government agency. Some insurers also now pay for

acupuncture.

More than 40 clinical trials have shown that acupuncture reduces nausea

following chemotherapy or surgery, said Ted Kaptchuk, an assistant professor of

medicine at Harvard Medical School who is also a doctor of Chinese medicine.

The data on chronic pain and headache are somewhat mixed, but acupuncture

clearly helps with dental pain, Kaptchuk said. A recent, randomized, controlled

study of 570 people with osteoarthritis of the knee showed that real

acupuncture, as opposed to a fake form used as a control, reduced pain and

increased

function by about 30 percent

''This is roughly the same effect size " as with ibuprofen-type drugs, said

Dr. Berman, the study leader and director of the Center for Integrative

Medicine at the University of land School of Medicine. At the moment, Berman

recommends that patients use acupuncture with, not instead of, pain

medications, though it may help reduce the amount of medication needed.

But perhaps the most intriguing scientific question is not whether

acupuncture works but how.

In acupuncture theory, there are 360 major points in the skin that lie along

the 12 major channels, or meridians, in the body, through which the Qi energy

flows. In Western terms, the acupuncture points correspond to areas of

decreased electrical resistance on the skin.

Since the 1970s, Western researchers have known that one of the ways

acupuncture works is by releasing endorphins, the body's natural painkillers.

Acupuncture seems to calm precisely the part of the brain that controls the

emotional response to pain, said Dr. Kathleen K. S. Hui, a neuroscientist at

the os Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General Hospital,

which has a $5 million federal grant to study acupuncture's effects on the

brain. Her brain-scan studies show decreased activation in deeper brain

structures

in the limbic system, which governs emotions and other physiological functions.

Researchers also have shown that acupuncture boosts levels of serotonin,

which is often deficient in depression, and lowers levels of norepinephrine and

dopamine, which are often elevated in stress and pain.

Precisely how signals travel from acupuncture points to the brain is still a

matter of some debate. Most researchers, Hui among them, believe that

electrical signals travel along nerve tracts that branch off from the brain stem

to

the limbic system.

Others, like Dr. Helene Langevin, a neurologist at the University of Vermont

College of Medicine, believe signals may pass also along the 12 major

acupuncture ''meridians " that run through the body.

For years, Western scientists doubted the existence of these meridians. But,

in a series of studies using ultrasound, Langevin has found evidence that the

meridians lie along the sheets of connective tissue that surround organs. By

analyzing meridians in the arm of a cadaver, Langevin said she discovered

''that 80 percent of the acupuncture points coincided to where the major

connective

tissue plane was. We also did a statistical analysis -- this was not due to

chance. "

The bottom line? At long last, Western scientists are beginning to show, by

their standards, just what Chinese acupuncturists have been saying for

millennia: That the effects of acupuncture are real. And that, at least for

certain

problems and to some degree, acupuncture can help relieve pain and suffering.

Judy Foreman is a freelance columnist who can be contacted at

foreman@...

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2005/03/22/acupunctur

e_has_won_medical_acceptance/

mjh

http://foxhillfarm.us/FireBasil/

[Guest guest]

No doubt there will be a lot of docs amazed to discover acupuncture

worked before western medicine developed too.

Zoe

>

>

> Message URL: http://curezone.com/forums/m.asp?f=237 & i=1913

> Warning Printer-Friendly Version Email this message to a

friend

> Subject: Acupuncture has WON medical ACCEPTANCE

> From: -Date: 3/22/2005 6:45:00 PM ( 5 days ago ) ... viewed

182 times

> since Feb 20 2005 R/N (recommended for CureZone Newsletter!)

>

> Acupuncture has won medical acceptance

>

> By Judy Foreman, Globe Staff | March 22, 2005

>

>

> I lie down on the table at Wellspace Inc. in Cambridge, sighing in

grateful

> anticipation as my longtime acupuncturist, Jen Forrest , goes

to work.

> Some days, she gently pokes needles into my chronically tight lower

back. Other

> days, she focuses on my pesky sinuses. Still other days -- the best

ones -- the

> goal is a general tune-up of my Qi (pronounced ''chee " ), the

Chinese term for

> vital (and sometimes, not vital enough) energy.

>

> This ancient Chinese technique of sticking needles into the skin to

relieve

> pain, nausea and many other ills never fails to make me feel

better -- more

> mellow and more energized. I used to think this lovely state was

mostly due to

> the placebo effect.

>

> But a growing body of evidence -- brain scans, ultrasound and other

> techniques -- now shows that acupuncture triggers direct,

measurable effects on the

> body, including perhaps activation of precisely the regions of the

brain that

> would be predicted by ancient Chinese theory. This is potentially

good news for

> the millions of Americans now scrambling for pain relief in the

wake of

> conflicting government recommendations on painkillers Vioxx and

Celebrex.

>

> At the University of California at Irvine, researchers have shown

that when a

> needle is placed in a point on the side of the foot that Chinese

theorists

> associate with vision, sure enough, the visual cortex in the

brain ''lights up "

> on functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, though the cause

and effect

> are not totally clear.

>

> Neuroscientist Seung-Schik Yoo of Brigham and Women's Hospital has

shown that

> when a needle is placed in a point called pericardium 6 on the

wrist, known

> in Chinese medicine as a sensitive point for nausea, the part of

the brain that

> controls the vestibular system (which affects balance and nausea)

lights up

> on scans.

>

> While much about acupuncture remains mysterious, at least to

Westerners, a

> great deal is becoming clearer, thanks to an explosion of studies

using Western

> scientific techniques.

>

> ''The quality and amount of research being conducted now on

acupuncture is

> improving greatly, " said Wayne, director of research at the

New England

> School of Acupuncture, which has received $3.2 million in federal

grants to

> study acupuncture.

>

> Acupuncture, an extraordinarily safe technique, has been used so

far by 8.2

> million Americans, according to the National Center for

Complementary and

> Alternative Medicine, a government agency. Some insurers also now

pay for

> acupuncture.

>

> More than 40 clinical trials have shown that acupuncture reduces

nausea

> following chemotherapy or surgery, said Ted Kaptchuk, an assistant

professor of

> medicine at Harvard Medical School who is also a doctor of Chinese

medicine.

>

> The data on chronic pain and headache are somewhat mixed, but

acupuncture

> clearly helps with dental pain, Kaptchuk said. A recent,

randomized, controlled

> study of 570 people with osteoarthritis of the knee showed that

real

> acupuncture, as opposed to a fake form used as a control, reduced

pain and increased

> function by about 30 percent

>

> ''This is roughly the same effect size " as with ibuprofen-type

drugs, said

> Dr. Berman, the study leader and director of the Center for

Integrative

> Medicine at the University of land School of Medicine. At the

moment, Berman

> recommends that patients use acupuncture with, not instead of, pain

> medications, though it may help reduce the amount of medication

needed.

>

> But perhaps the most intriguing scientific question is not whether

> acupuncture works but how.

>

> In acupuncture theory, there are 360 major points in the skin that

lie along

> the 12 major channels, or meridians, in the body, through which the

Qi energy

> flows. In Western terms, the acupuncture points correspond to areas

of

> decreased electrical resistance on the skin.

>

> Since the 1970s, Western researchers have known that one of the

ways

> acupuncture works is by releasing endorphins, the body's natural

painkillers.

>

> Acupuncture seems to calm precisely the part of the brain that

controls the

> emotional response to pain, said Dr. Kathleen K. S. Hui, a

neuroscientist at

> the os Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts General

Hospital,

> which has a $5 million federal grant to study acupuncture's effects

on the

> brain. Her brain-scan studies show decreased activation in deeper

brain structures

> in the limbic system, which governs emotions and other

physiological functions.

>

> Researchers also have shown that acupuncture boosts levels of

serotonin,

> which is often deficient in depression, and lowers levels of

norepinephrine and

> dopamine, which are often elevated in stress and pain.

>

> Precisely how signals travel from acupuncture points to the brain

is still a

> matter of some debate. Most researchers, Hui among them, believe

that

> electrical signals travel along nerve tracts that branch off from

the brain stem to

> the limbic system.

>

> Others, like Dr. Helene Langevin, a neurologist at the University

of Vermont

> College of Medicine, believe signals may pass also along the 12

major

> acupuncture ''meridians " that run through the body.

>

> For years, Western scientists doubted the existence of these

meridians. But,

> in a series of studies using ultrasound, Langevin has found

evidence that the

> meridians lie along the sheets of connective tissue that surround

organs. By

> analyzing meridians in the arm of a cadaver, Langevin said she

discovered

> ''that 80 percent of the acupuncture points coincided to where the

major connective

> tissue plane was. We also did a statistical analysis -- this was

not due to

> chance. "

>

> The bottom line? At long last, Western scientists are beginning to

show, by

> their standards, just what Chinese acupuncturists have been saying

for

> millennia: That the effects of acupuncture are real. And that, at

least for certain

> problems and to some degree, acupuncture can help relieve pain and

suffering.

>

> Judy Foreman is a freelance columnist who can be contacted at

> foreman@g...

>

>

>

>

>

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2005/03/22/ac

upunctur

> e_has_won_medical_acceptance/

>

>

>

>

> mjh

> http://foxhillfarm.us/FireBasil/

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

In addition to the two other doctors my wife is currently seeing, she

is seeing a Chinese doctor (not a USA medical doctor though she is

supposedly working on studies with doctors in the Houston medical

center) for a form of Chi-Gong therapy. It is based upon the same

principle as acupuncture - opening up the chi/energy

pathways/releasing blockages & negative energy - but achieved by

manipulating and pinching the flesh instead of using needles.

> >

> >

> > Message URL: http://curezone.com/forums/m.asp?f=237 & i=1913

> > Warning Printer-Friendly Version Email this message to

a

> friend

> > Subject: Acupuncture has WON medical ACCEPTANCE

> > From: -Date: 3/22/2005 6:45:00 PM ( 5 days ago ) ... viewed

> 182 times

> > since Feb 20 2005 R/N (recommended for CureZone Newsletter!)

> >

> > Acupuncture has won medical acceptance

> >

> > By Judy Foreman, Globe Staff | March 22, 2005

> >

> >

> > I lie down on the table at Wellspace Inc. in Cambridge, sighing

in

> grateful

> > anticipation as my longtime acupuncturist, Jen Forrest ,

goes

> to work.

> > Some days, she gently pokes needles into my chronically tight

lower

> back. Other

> > days, she focuses on my pesky sinuses. Still other days -- the

best

> ones -- the

> > goal is a general tune-up of my Qi (pronounced ''chee " ), the

> Chinese term for

> > vital (and sometimes, not vital enough) energy.

> >

> > This ancient Chinese technique of sticking needles into the skin

to

> relieve

> > pain, nausea and many other ills never fails to make me feel

> better -- more

> > mellow and more energized. I used to think this lovely state was

> mostly due to

> > the placebo effect.

> >

> > But a growing body of evidence -- brain scans, ultrasound and

other

> > techniques -- now shows that acupuncture triggers direct,

> measurable effects on the

> > body, including perhaps activation of precisely the regions of

the

> brain that

> > would be predicted by ancient Chinese theory. This is potentially

> good news for

> > the millions of Americans now scrambling for pain relief in the

> wake of

> > conflicting government recommendations on painkillers Vioxx and

> Celebrex.

> >

> > At the University of California at Irvine, researchers have shown

> that when a

> > needle is placed in a point on the side of the foot that Chinese

> theorists

> > associate with vision, sure enough, the visual cortex in the

> brain ''lights up "

> > on functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, though the cause

> and effect

> > are not totally clear.

> >

> > Neuroscientist Seung-Schik Yoo of Brigham and Women's Hospital

has

> shown that

> > when a needle is placed in a point called pericardium 6 on the

> wrist, known

> > in Chinese medicine as a sensitive point for nausea, the part of

> the brain that

> > controls the vestibular system (which affects balance and nausea)

> lights up

> > on scans.

> >

> > While much about acupuncture remains mysterious, at least to

> Westerners, a

> > great deal is becoming clearer, thanks to an explosion of studies

> using Western

> > scientific techniques.

> >

> > ''The quality and amount of research being conducted now on

> acupuncture is

> > improving greatly, " said Wayne, director of research at the

> New England

> > School of Acupuncture, which has received $3.2 million in federal

> grants to

> > study acupuncture.

> >

> > Acupuncture, an extraordinarily safe technique, has been used so

> far by 8.2

> > million Americans, according to the National Center for

> Complementary and

> > Alternative Medicine, a government agency. Some insurers also now

> pay for

> > acupuncture.

> >

> > More than 40 clinical trials have shown that acupuncture reduces

> nausea

> > following chemotherapy or surgery, said Ted Kaptchuk, an

assistant

> professor of

> > medicine at Harvard Medical School who is also a doctor of

Chinese

> medicine.

> >

> > The data on chronic pain and headache are somewhat mixed, but

> acupuncture

> > clearly helps with dental pain, Kaptchuk said. A recent,

> randomized, controlled

> > study of 570 people with osteoarthritis of the knee showed that

> real

> > acupuncture, as opposed to a fake form used as a control, reduced

> pain and increased

> > function by about 30 percent

> >

> > ''This is roughly the same effect size " as with ibuprofen-type

> drugs, said

> > Dr. Berman, the study leader and director of the Center for

> Integrative

> > Medicine at the University of land School of Medicine. At the

> moment, Berman

> > recommends that patients use acupuncture with, not instead of,

pain

> > medications, though it may help reduce the amount of medication

> needed.

> >

> > But perhaps the most intriguing scientific question is not

whether

> > acupuncture works but how.

> >

> > In acupuncture theory, there are 360 major points in the skin

that

> lie along

> > the 12 major channels, or meridians, in the body, through which

the

> Qi energy

> > flows. In Western terms, the acupuncture points correspond to

areas

> of

> > decreased electrical resistance on the skin.

> >

> > Since the 1970s, Western researchers have known that one of the

> ways

> > acupuncture works is by releasing endorphins, the body's natural

> painkillers.

> >

> > Acupuncture seems to calm precisely the part of the brain that

> controls the

> > emotional response to pain, said Dr. Kathleen K. S. Hui, a

> neuroscientist at

> > the os Center for Biomedical Imaging at Massachusetts

General

> Hospital,

> > which has a $5 million federal grant to study acupuncture's

effects

> on the

> > brain. Her brain-scan studies show decreased activation in deeper

> brain structures

> > in the limbic system, which governs emotions and other

> physiological functions.

> >

> > Researchers also have shown that acupuncture boosts levels of

> serotonin,

> > which is often deficient in depression, and lowers levels of

> norepinephrine and

> > dopamine, which are often elevated in stress and pain.

> >

> > Precisely how signals travel from acupuncture points to the brain

> is still a

> > matter of some debate. Most researchers, Hui among them, believe

> that

> > electrical signals travel along nerve tracts that branch off from

> the brain stem to

> > the limbic system.

> >

> > Others, like Dr. Helene Langevin, a neurologist at the University

> of Vermont

> > College of Medicine, believe signals may pass also along the 12

> major

> > acupuncture ''meridians " that run through the body.

> >

> > For years, Western scientists doubted the existence of these

> meridians. But,

> > in a series of studies using ultrasound, Langevin has found

> evidence that the

> > meridians lie along the sheets of connective tissue that surround

> organs. By

> > analyzing meridians in the arm of a cadaver, Langevin said she

> discovered

> > ''that 80 percent of the acupuncture points coincided to where

the

> major connective

> > tissue plane was. We also did a statistical analysis -- this was

> not due to

> > chance. "

> >

> > The bottom line? At long last, Western scientists are beginning

to

> show, by

> > their standards, just what Chinese acupuncturists have been

saying

> for

> > millennia: That the effects of acupuncture are real. And that, at

> least for certain

> > problems and to some degree, acupuncture can help relieve pain

and

> suffering.

> >

> > Judy Foreman is a freelance columnist who can be contacted at

> > foreman@g...

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

>

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/health_science/articles/2005/03/22/ac

> upunctur

> > e_has_won_medical_acceptance/

> >

> >

> >

> >

> > mjh

> > http://foxhillfarm.us/FireBasil/

> >

> >

> >