ABSTRACT
To examine the effectiveness of pain relief for muscle electro-acupuncture therapy (muscle-EAT), we performed a study using rats, with the adjuvant-induced arthritis (AA) rat as an experimental arthritis model. Twenty-four female SD rats (6 weeks) were divided into three groups. AA rats were raised for 8 weeks as chronic pain model. Group I (AA-E) received stimulation of the quadriceps (depth 5mm) with muscle-EAT 1 HA 10 minutes, for five days. Group II (AA-N) was untreated as controls. Group III (CTL) were the normal rat controls.<br>After muscle-EAT stimulation, we measured the blood flow volume in the rat foot, reactive speed response to pain-related scores, and the amount of locomotor activity. The AA group showed significantly lower blood volume and locomotor activity response than the CTL group.<br>Moreover, sensory abnormalities caused a delayed reactive speed to heat stimulation. After muscle-EAT stimulation, Group I showed increased blood flow volume in the foot, locomotor activity and reactive speed response in pain-related scores, compared with those shown by Group II. These findings suggest that muscle-EAT is effective for relief of pain induced by chronic inflammation.
ABSTRACT
We investigated the difference between muscle-EAT and nerve-EAT basically and clinically. A basic study was performed on healthy adult males. The skin blood flow, deep-tissue temperature, deep hemodynamics, heart rate, and deep-pain threshold were adopted as indexes, and they were compared for a total of three groups: the muscle stimulation-EA group, nerve stimulation-EA group and control group (no stimulation). An acupuncture needle was inserted into the gastrocnemius muscle for muscle stimulation-EA and another needle into the tibial nerve in the femoral region for nerve stimulation-EA. Electric current was then applied at 1Hz for 15 minutes after the flexibility of the foot joint was conformed. Each index was measured after it became stable and was recorded from 10 minutes before starting stimulation until 20 minutes after ending stimulation.<br>A clinical study was performed on 41 patients with cervical radiculopathy. Muscle-EAT was applied to the patients as the first choice. Cases graded five points or less in pain score (10-point method) after one month were included in the muscle-EAT group. Cases graded six points or more were subjected to nerve-EAT and were included in the nerve-EAT group. The therapeutic results in these two groups were examined for a period of three months at intervals of one month based on the pain score and the evaluation criteria for the results of treatment of cervical radiculopathy.<br>As a result, we found that the skin blood flow significantly increased on the stimulated side in both the muscle stimulation-EA and nerve stimulation-EA group. The increase was greater in the nerve stimulation group than in the muscle stimulation group. The deep-tissue temperature rose significantly on the stimulated side in the nerve stimulation-EA group. Regarding the deep hemodynamics, deoxy Hb decreased significantly in the nerve stimulation-EA group. No difference was found in heart rate between the two groups. The deep-pain threshold was significantly raised by nerve stimulation.<br>Patients with cervical radiculopathy who did not respond to continuous muscle-EAT for one month were subjected to nerve-EAT. After three months (two months after changing to nerve-EAT), similar improvements were found in both groups. Significant improvement of paresthesia was obtained with nerve-EAT.<br>These results suggested that the nerve-EAT influences the peripheral circulation and the deep pain threshold more effectively, enhancing the clinical efficacy.