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This study investigated the population prevalence of chronic arterial occlusion (CAO) using the ankle pressure index (API) of patients with lower back pain in an acupuncture clinic. The API was measured in 60 lumbago patients ≥ 50 years old at the Meiji College of Oriental Medicine Acupuncture Center. There were 19 patients (31.7%) with unilateral or bilateral API < 0.9, which was presumed to indicate CAO. Thirty-four patients had symptoms in the lower limbs, and 17 of 34 patients showed an API below 0.9. In all but 4 patients (13 of 17, or 76.5%), laterality of the lower API and the symptoms were noted. In conclusion, API measured noninvasively might be useful as a predictor of CAO in acupuncture clinics.
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The frequencies of the urinary complaints oa the outpatients (male 188, female 339, average age 59.2+14.9) of the five acupuncture clinics were surveyed. The elder patients showed the higher frequencies of the urinary complaints. The frequencies of the complaints were as follows: nocturia (25.8%), urinary urgency (17.7%), stress incontinence (16.3%), sense of residual urine (15.2%), protracted micturition (12.0%), and retarded micturition (11.3%), respectively. The nocturia was accompanied with the majority of the other urinary complaints. These results suggest that the survey of the patient's complaint of nocturia is useful.
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We report a case of overactive type neurogenic bladder with detrusor sphincter dyssnergia (DSD) that was successfully treated with acupuncture. The patient had urinary dysfunction after laminectomy of Th11, Th12 and L1. The symptoms chart, the frequency volume chart and urodynamic study (UDS) were used to evaluate urinary disturbance and the effect of acupuncture treatment. After the treatment, those charts showed improvement of pollakisuria, urinary urgency, urge incontinence, sense of residual urine and voiding volume. The UDS showed increase of bladder capacity, decrease of residual urine volume and disappearance of DSD. These results suggest that acupuncture treatment for overactive bladder and DSD is therefore useful. However, it is considered that the treatment for neurogenic bladder patients should be required long-term examination because of the importance for long-dated clinical observation.
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A male patient aged 70 years, diagnosed as the benign prostatic hypertrophy (BPH) stage I, was the subject of this study. The effectiveness of acupuncture was evaluated by uroflowmetry (UFM). The patient received acupuncture treatments once a week for 5 weeks. Disposable needles (0.30mm in diameter), were inserted into bilateral Zhongliao (BL-33) points and rotated manually for 10 minutes. Average flow rate (AFR), maximum flow rate (MFR) and flow curve (FC) were used to evaluate the effectiveness of acupuncture treatment. The AFR before acupuncture, immediately after the treatments and twelve months after the cessation of acupuncture were 3.2ml/s, 11.4ml/s and 2ml/s, respectively. The MFR were 10ml/s, 20ml/s and 10ml/s, respectively. FC was observed as normal pattern during the treatment, but the obstructive pattern were recorded before and after the treatment.<br>Acupuncture treatment to the BL-33 points for BPH was shown to be useful although the effect was not long-lasting.
ABSTRACT
The term, propagated sensation along the channels (PSC) means the peculiar sensation expeerienced by some people along thier meridians when given acupunctural stimulation of acupoints.<br>In the present study, the incidence of PSC in outpatients who were undergoing acupuncture treatment was investigated.<br>Low frequency electrical stimulation was performed through press needles at twenty-six points: the twelve terminal points of the twelve regular meridians and the Inner-Zhiyin points of both sides. PSC was assessed on a four-grade basis after the manner carried out in China.<br>The incidence of PSC was significantly high among the outpatients compared with that among healthy youth. Patients with hypertension or posttraumatic neck syndrome showed higher incidence of PSC than the other patients.
ABSTRACT
With the advancement and complexity on present society it has been called the “age of depression”. One gets the feeling that depression, following a singular path of increase in recent years is one sort of “sickness of the era”. This time we conducted a screening test for masked depression, selected those showing such a tendency, and here report the remarkable improvement in a short period of time the condition of depression using acupuncture.<br>Method: Nakajima's test for masked depression (abbr MD test) was carried out on students from Meiji special school of Oriental Medicine and Meiji Junior College of Acupuncture and Moxibustion and screened 65 subjects with depression tendencies. Twenty-seven of these 65 subjects were randomly selected and divided into two groups of 16 in “actual group” and 11 in “placebo group”. Acupuncture method: In the actual group six acupoints that commonly applied on the psychic disease were used as follows; HYAKUE (GV 20), SHINCHU (GV 12), SHIN-YU (BL 15), KOKETSU (CV 14), SHINMON (HT 7) and SAN-INKO (SP 6) and the other hand in the placebo group five acupoints close to these in the former group but which are not directly related to psychic disease were applied as follows; TOH-DO (GV 13), FU-MON (BL 12), SUIBUN (CV 9), GEREN (LI 8) and KENSYO (GB 39). Acupuncture was performed for 10 minutes stationally by using gold needle (0.20mm wide, 40mm length) and was undertaken three times in a week for four weeks. Its clinical effect was evaluated by the MD test and the CMI test every two weeks.<br>Results: 1) In the actual group the score on the MD test averaged out to a return to normal range within two weeks whereas in the placebo group even after four weeks the score still remained in the sphere of depression.<br>2) In the actual group a 80% of the subjects showed in area IV (the sphere of neurosis) on the CMI test was resistant to the therapy. Even they did not relieve into the sphere of normality.<br>3) The acupuncture therapy indicated a tendency to the improvement of both physical and psychic symptoms in the actual group.<br>Conclusion: It was demonstrated that the acupuncture therapy applying acupoints suitable for psychic disease brought rappydly improvement of not only psychic symptoms but also physical symptoms and then gave a relief from the condition of depression.
ABSTRACT
In China, for years they have been studying the PSC to investigate scientifically the substance of traditional meridians. As we had been to there, we learned how to investigate it. According to their method we did it in Japan.<br>Objects were 340 healthy youths. The stimulated points were the well points in each meridian. The low frequency electroacupuncture (5-20Hz) was given to these points 30 minutes. Objects showed us their sensation or orally or by gesture.<br>We divided the result into 4 stages according to the chinese method;<br>salient…5 (1.5%)<br>comparatively salient…3 (0.9%)<br>slightly salient…7 (2.0%)<br>Non-salient…325 (95.6%)<br>In China, by the way, objects were 1, 000 people and it was 1.3%, 1.8%, 15.2% and 81.7%.<br>In this study, though it showed a low incidence of about 4.4% (about 18% in China), it was found that there was a phenomenon of the PSC.
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Purpose:<br>We believe there are very few therapists who in seeking therapeutic results use simply acupuncture or moxibustion. Most supplement therapy with physical therapy or some other form of therapy. We examined to see whether or not differences in results when acupuncture was used alone or accompanied by physical therapy were discernible.<br>Methods of Observation:<br>From among the charts of patients who visited our clinic during the year 1980 we selected periarthritis of the shoulder, lumbago and motor disturbance of the knee patients, divided them into 2 groups-acupuncture and moxibustion only group, and supplementary treatment (physical therapy techniques including infrared rays, UHF and low frequency therapy) and compared results. The evaluation was based on answers to questionairres circulated 2-3 months after the end of treatment or answers received during telephone interviews.<br>Results:<br>The rate of effectivity of therapeutic results was about the same however the number of treatment periods required was fewer in the supplementary treatment group.<br>Discussion of Results:<br>By supplementing acupuncture-moxibustion therapy with physical therapy techniques the range of diseases to which therapy is applicable is greatly, moreover it became empirically clear from this study that it is possible to quicken results.
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We have treated 117 patients, who visited the Pain Clinic of our Department complaining some pain 1973-1975, applying “in situ” needle, electrical acupuncture and low frequency electrical acupuncture therapy. And we have examined the immediate effects during 3 days after the treatment through patients' subjective evaluation, at what degree the state of pain was improved as compared with the state before the treatment on a scale of 1-10.<br>As the results, we classified the appearing ways of effects in 4 types: continuous type (the effect lasts 3 days right after the treatment), decreasing type (the effect gradually disappears immediately after the treatment), increasing type (it slowly produces effect) and invariable type (during 3 days a slight effect or no effect is observed). And it became clear that for the duration of effect and the efficiency of the therapy the low frequency electrical acupuncture therapy is most execellent.<br>Discussion of Results:<br>Immediate good results from directly following therapy to the 2nd day after therapy were obtained in more than 70% of the cases and were especially remarkable with LFEA therapy as compared to EAP or LN therapies.
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<b>Purpose</b>: Upon very specific diagnosis facial pain can be classified into idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia, secondary trigeminal neuralgia, neuralgia of the glossopharyngeal nerve, superior pharyngeal neuralgia, knee area neualgia and indeterminate facial pain.<br>In the future it will be necessary to determinate to what degree the acupuncture-moxibustion therapy is effective in treating these cases, and also when nerve block therapy is indicated and should be applied.<br>In the literature of the acupuncture-moxibustion trigeminal neuralgia is found among such diseases, for which A-M therapy is indicated, however the degree of effectiveness is unclear. Therefore we intend to clarify just how effective can be the acupuncture-moxibustion therapy in the pain clinic treatment of definitely diagnosed idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia.<br><b>Method:</b> Among the facial pain patients, who visited the Pain Clinic, the Dep. of Anesthesiology, Osaka Medical University, we selected idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia patients, in whom the pain occured along the branch of the nerve, and indeterminate trigeminal neuralgia patients, in whom the pain occured diffusely and not necessarily along the path of the nerve, and we performed a comparison of effect of treatments with principally accupuncture and with principally nerve block.<br>The study was based on a questionnaire investigating long term results.<br><b>Results:</b> Concerning facial pain, the results of the acupuncture-moxibustion therapy for idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia showed fewer cases of excellent or effective results than the nerve block therapy, but in fact most results of the former showed some effect. However, for indeterminate type trigeminal neuralgia more excellent results were observed with acupuncture therapy.<br>Of facial pain the acupuncture-moxibustion therapy is indicated for the treatment of indeterminate type of trigeminal neuralgia, however, it was learned that in general for the treatment of idiopathic trigeminal neuralgia the acupuncture-moxibustion therapy was less effective than the nerve block therapy.
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<b>Introduction:</b><br>There are two types of phenylalanine, one of the essential amino acids, D-Type and L-type. Phenylalanine in itself has shown no clear analgesic effect in human beings, however, as we reported previously, D-type phenylalanine (DPA) when administered prior to acupuncture analgesia in human beings lengthens the analgesic effects of acupuncture. At this time then, using volunteers in whom acupuncture analgesia failed to raise the pain threshold (PT) we experimentally studied whether or not DPA has any influence.<br><b>Methods:</b><br>Subjects were divided into an acupuncture anesthesia effective group (a rise in PT was observed due to acupuncture) and an acpuncture anesthesia ineffective group (no rise in PT). 4.0g. DPA was administered orally in both groups 30 minutes prior to acupuncture anesthesia. For acupuncture anesthesia right and left LI-4 and right and left ST-36 were used with low frequency electric current administered for 50 minutes. For the determination of PT a radiant heat pain meter was used. The PT was measured when DPA was administered, during acupuncture anesthesia and at every 30 minutes for 3 hours after the needles were withdrawn.<br><b>Results:</b><br>In the acupuncture anesthesia effective group, a rise in the PT was observed in 4 of the 5 cases and, the rise was much faster than when acupuncture anesthesia was used alone. In the acupuncture anethesia ineffective group, there were cases in which a remarkable rise in PT was observed or in which no rise in the PT occured during acupuncture stimulation but occured after the discontinuation of the acupuncture and some cases in which no rise occured during or after anesthesia.<br><b>Discussion:</b><br>1. In the acupuncture anesthesia effective group due to DPA pre-medication, the rate of PT rise quickened.<br>2. After operations the PT rise was lengthened.<br>3. The individuality of the acupuncture effectiveness in human beings was partially eliminated.
ABSTRACT
As reported in a previous paper, acupuncture stimulus at 8 meridian points, CV-3, ST-25, BL-20, BL-18, LI-11, ST-36, SP-8 and LV-3 revealed significant increase in supplementary secretion of insulin during OGTT in normal subjects.<br>In this study it was cauied out to evaluate effect on secretion of insulin during OGTT using the same 8 meridian points individually as acupuncture stimulus.<br>It was clear that supplementay secretion, total secretion and secretion response of insulin during OGTT showed a highly significant increase by acupuncture stimalus at LI-11 and supplementary secretion and secretion response of it resulted in a marked increase at LV-3. However, no significant changes of insulin secretion were observed at ST-36 and ST-25.<br>The results suggested that significant differeuce in insulin secretion existed among these meridian points which used popularly for diabetes mellitus.