ABSTRACT
<p><b>Objective </b>: To determine the effectiveness of acupuncture therapy on <i>hiesho </i>in maturate stage females.<br> <b>Design </b>: Multicenter, randomized, prospective, open blind, waiting list-controlled trial.<br><b>Setting </b>: A clinical center attached to three universities and one vocational school.<br><b>Participants </b>: Twenty two females between 18-39 years of age and with a level of more than four points on the “<i>hiesho </i>sensation scale” proposed by Kusumi et al for <i>hiesho</i>. <b>Interventions </b>: Participants were randomly assigned to receive therapies of either acupuncture or no therapy (waiting list controls). Acupuncture therapy was provided by needle retention to SP 6 and electro-acupuncture therapy to BL 32 at a frequency of 1 Hz for 20 minutes. One session per week of this therapy was provided for a total of four sessions. <b>Method of Measurement </b>: The primary outcome of change in <i>hiesho </i>intensity was measured using the visual analogue scale (VAS). Secondary changes were measured by an eight heading score and three component summaries of the standard edition SF-36 v 2.<br><b>Results </b>: The statistical analyses used an intent-to-treat analysis that included two participants who dropped out, and the mixture of one participant targeted for exclusion who was censored from the analyses. As a result, 21 participants were classified as either in the acupuncture group (n = 12) or the control group (n = 9). Efficacy with acupuncture therapy was not found for effect size (Cohen <i>d</i>, point-biserial correlation <i>r</i>) for VAS and the scores of SF-36 between the two groups.<br><b>Conclusions </b>: Effectiveness of the acupuncture therapy was not found, which suggests that it may be due to the smaller sample size, frequency of intervention, and symptoms associated with autonomic dysfunction.</p>
ABSTRACT
On December 11, 2013, we visited Baden, a hot spring town in Switzerland. The natural hot spring water at Baden contains sulfur, is 46.5°C with a pH of 6.43, and is used in both drinking and bathing therapies. In addition to the hot spring, the hotel spa contains a massage parlor for medical massage, relaxing massage, cosmetic massage, or various other types of massage. Previous studies have reported a preference in about half the Swiss population for hospitals that offer complementary and alternative medicine. Also, acupuncture, manual therapy, and massage are frequently used in such facilities. Medical Center Baden has both a medical department and a therapeutic department. In the medical department, medical doctors practice manual medicine (<i>manuelle Medizin</i>) and in the therapeutic department, physical therapists (<i>Physiothera-peuten</i>) practice various kinds of physical therapy (<i>Physiotherapie</i>) such as manual therapy (<i>manuelle Therapie</i>), kinetics (<i>funktionelle Bewegungslehre</i>), biomechanics, respiratory therapy, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, and electrotherapy/ultrasound. Medical massage therapists (<i>medizinische Masseure</i>) in the therapeutic department practice various kinds of massage including classic massage, manipulative massage, reflexology, connective tissue massage, manual lymphatic drainage, and <i>Fango</i> (a type of pelotherapy). These divisions indicate that the practices of massage and manual therapy in German-speaking Switzerland are sorted and named individually by the stimulated anatomical tissue and by type of functional and physical stimulation. In contrast, Japanese manual therapy, <i>Anma</i> massage therapy<i> </i>is holistic and based on the patient’s subjective physical and mental state. These are characteristic features of Eastern Asian medicine, which tends toward whole-body, individualized treatments.
ABSTRACT
On December 11, 2013, we visited Baden, a hot spring town in Switzerland. The natural hot spring water at Baden contains sulfur, is 46.5°C with a pH of 6.43, and is used in both drinking and bathing therapies. In addition to the hot spring, the hotel spa contains a massage parlor for medical massage, relaxing massage, cosmetic massage, or various other types of massage. Previous studies have reported a preference in about half the Swiss population for hospitals that offer complementary and alternative medicine. Also, acupuncture, manual therapy, and massage are frequently used in such facilities. Medical Center Baden has both a medical department and a therapeutic department. In the medical department, medical doctors practice manual medicine (manuelle Medizin) and in the therapeutic department, physical therapists (Physiothera-peuten) practice various kinds of physical therapy (Physiotherapie) such as manual therapy (manuelle Therapie), kinetics (funktionelle Bewegungslehre), biomechanics, respiratory therapy, proprioceptive neuromuscular facilitation, and electrotherapy/ultrasound. Medical massage therapists (medizinische Masseure) in the therapeutic department practice various kinds of massage including classic massage, manipulative massage, reflexology, connective tissue massage, manual lymphatic drainage, and Fango (a type of pelotherapy). These divisions indicate that the practices of massage and manual therapy in German-speaking Switzerland are sorted and named individually by the stimulated anatomical tissue and by type of functional and physical stimulation. In contrast, Japanese manual therapy, Anma massage therapy is holistic and based on the patient’s subjective physical and mental state. These are characteristic features of Eastern Asian medicine, which tends toward whole-body, individualized treatments.