[The influence of acupuncture on the quality of life and the level of thyroid-stimulating hormone in patients presenting with subclinical hypothyroidism].

This study included 27 female patients who applied for medical treatment of arthralgias and myalgias. They were found to have elevated levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone in conjunction with the normal concentrations of thyroid hormones. The therapeutic procedures included corporal and auricular acupuncture, introduction of needles into the reflexogenic scalp and wrist zones (depending on clinical symptoms) and into the thyroid gland projection zones on the skin, massage of paravertebral regions of the cervical and thoracic spine using a bone scraper (the Gua Sha healing technique). Twenty of the 27 patients completed two therapeutic courses with a 3-4 month interval between them. The treatment resulted in a significant decrease of the number and severity of the initial clinical symptoms; the levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone fell down to the physiological values, characteristics of the quality of life became comparable with those of healthy subjects. It is concluded that acupuncture may be regarded as an alternative to substitution therapy of subclinical hypothyroidism.

[Chrono- and reflexotherapy for the treatment of the biliary tract dysfunctions].

The objective of this work was to develop a scientifically sound rationale for the method of reflex correction of biliary tract dysfunction based on chronobiological data concerning functioning of the acupuncture points corresponding to biliary ducts. It was shown that patients presenting with biliary dyskinesia (i.e., forming desynchronism) experience a shift of both skin temperature and electrical resistance at the acupuncture points. The chronoreflexotherapeutic technique employed in this study makes it possible to rapidly restore disturbed biorhythms of functioning of the biliary system, normalize the motor-evacuating activity of the gallbladder, and eliminate clinical manifestations of the disease.