De psychologie van acupunctuur leidt de schrijver u de wereld van de alchemie binnen en
dringt daarmee door tot het mysterie van de geest. De interactie van yin en yang en de
vijf elementen van de acupunctuur zijn alchemistische processen die u actief kunt
beïnvloeden. Met behulp van westerse en Chinese teksten uit onder andere de I Tjing en de
Tao teh tjing, laat hij u de alchemie van de psyche beleven. Hierdoor leert u zelf de
energie van lichaam en geest te reguleren.Een intrigerend boek dat acupunctuur en
psychologie op originele wijze bij elkaar brengt. Geschikt voor een ieder die nog weinig
van acupunctuur weet en voor hen die meer willen weten over het effect van acupunctuur op
de psyche.
Een bepaalde behandeling op een acupunctuurpunt kan ervoor zorgen dat een baby in
stuitligging voor de bevalling ‘spontaan’ draait. Dit concludeert Ineke van den
Berg, onderzoeker van het Erasmus MC.
Acupuncture may help some older
children with lazy eye
Acupuncture could potentially become an alternative to patching for treating amblyopia
(lazy eye) in some older children, according to a report in the December issue of Archives
of Ophthalmology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals. About 0.3 percent to 5 percent of
individuals worldwide have amblyopia, according to background information in the article.
About one-third to one-half of the cases are caused by differences in the degree of
nearsightedness or farsightedness between the two eyes, a condition known as
anisometropia. Correcting these refractive errors with glasses or contact lenses has been
shown to be effective in children age 3 to 7 years, but among older children age 7 to 12,
only 30 percent respond to visual correction alone. Adding occlusion therapy-in which one
eye is patched-increases this response rate to two-thirds, but some patients may not
comply and those who do may experience emotional problems or reverse amblyopia, the
authors note. Jianhao Zhao, M.D., of Joint Shantou International Eye Center of Shantou
University and Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shantou, China, and colleagues compared
acupuncture-which has also been used to treat dry eye and myopia-to patching in a
randomized controlled trial involving 88 children.
Acupuncture may help depression in
postmenopausal women
Dørmænen A. and colleagues from University of Tromsø in Norway conducted a study
suggesting that acupuncture may help menopause-induced depression in postmenopausal women
with hot flashes.
Acupuncture Helps Ease Side Effects
and Symptoms of Some Cancers
Recent studies have shown that acupuncture can help control a number of symptoms and side
effects -- such as pain, fatigue, dry mouth, nausea, and vomiting -- associated with a
variety of cancers and their treatments. Experts from Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer
Center's Integrative Medicine Service, who have either conducted or reviewed many of those
studies, recommend that cancer patients interested in acupuncture seek a certified or
licensed acupuncturist who has training or past experience working with individuals with
cancer.
Acupuncture does work as it
stimulates a natural pain killer, scientists find
Acupuncture works by stimulating a natural painkiller in the body that swells arteries and
allows more blood to flow through, scientists have discovered.
Scientists have identified the molecule adenosine as a central player in parlaying some of
the effects of acupuncture in the body. Building on that knowledge, scientists were able
to triple the beneficial effects of acupuncture in mice by adding a medication approved to
treat leukemia in people.
Acupuncture changes brain's
perception and processing of pain
Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), researchers have captured pictures of
the brain while patients experienced a pain stimulus with and without acupuncture to
determine acupuncture's effect on how the brain processes pain. Results of the study,
which the researchers say suggest the effectiveness of acupuncture, were presented today
at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America (RSNA). "Until
now, the role of acupuncture in the perception and processing of pain has been
controversial," said lead researcher Nina Theysohn, M.D., from the Department of
Diagnostic and Interventional Radiology and Neuroradiology at University Hospital in
Essen, Germany. "Functional MRI gives us the opportunity to directly observe areas of
the brain that are activated during pain perception and see the variances that occur with
acupuncture." fMRI measures the tiny metabolic changes that take place in an active
part of the brain, while a patient performs a task or is exposed to a specific external
stimulus.
Dr. Edward Lamadrid's New Study
Advances Link Between Weight Loss and Acupuncture
Could a few pinpricks make someone thinner? Evidence weighs heavily in favor of that
proposition, according to the results of a new study to be presented at the Pacific
Symposium in San Diego this week. The groundbreaking study, "The Effects of
Acupuncture on Weight-Loss in Over-Weight and Obese Adults Over 24 Years Old,"
reports that 95 percent of its subjects lost weight in a six-week period after receiving
regular acupuncture treatments. Of those subjects, another 50 percent continued to lose
weight after treatments stopped.
Beenspieren worden sterker door een
behandeling met acupunctuur. Dat is de uitkomst van een studie door de Goethe-University
Frankfurt die verscheen in de European Journal of Applied Physiology van deze maand. De
onderzoekers gebruikten 33 recreatieve sporters als proefpersoon.
TEDxBratislava - Charmian Wylde -
The wonder of Chinese medicine
Charmian is the Head of Chinese Medicine
Department and a Senior Lecturer in the School of Health and Bioscience at The University
of East London. In her talk she talks about her 20 years' experience in learning about and
practising acupuncture in the UK and Nanjing, China. What is it about those little needles
that make them alleviate pain, treat illnesses and even help women to get pregnant?
Acupunctuur: goed voor het hart!
Bij hartfalen helpt acupunctuur. Dat bleek
uit een Duitse placebo gecontroleerde studie naar de effecten van acupunctuur bij
hartfalen. In het tijdschrift Heart, in juli 2010, werd het onderzoek beschreven. De kop
in Science Daily hierover: Acupuncture can improve exercise tolerance in patients
suffering from chronic heart failure, according to new research from Germany.
IOCOB was eigenlijk al een beetje op de toer van dat meridianen metaforen zijn uit het
oude China. Nu worden we echter door een supermodern onderzoek wakker geschud. En vast wij
niet alleen. Bestaan er nu toch fysiek aantoonbare meridianen? In het toonaangevende
tijdschrift PLosOne van juli 2010 is een onderzoek gepubliceerd, en het lijkt erop dat
meridianen toch bestaan. Het zijn vermoedelijk banden van collageen, die onder de huid
liggen en een lage electrische weerstand hebben.
Pfizer werkte enkele jaren geleden al met
IOCOB samen aan een project waarbij we anesthesisten en neurologen een workshop aanboden
om in enkele uren te leren de acupunctuur aald te hanteren en enkele van de belangrijkste
pijnstillende punten samen te leren toepassen. Dat was tijdens een Nederlands symposium
over neuropathische pijn in Maastricht. Een facultatief programma-onderdeel was qigong,
dat we ook mochten aanbieden. Een heel aantal reguliere collega's genoot van de qigong
les. Qigong is een simpele, rustgevende bewegingsvorm die ook pijnstillend kan werken. Nu
blijkt dat Pfizer ook in Canada de Integrated Medicine ondersteunt op het gebied van de
neuropathische pijn. Een waar voorbeeld van samenwerking tussen de farmaceutische
industrie en de complementaire geneeskunde!
In de New York Tines van 23 oktober 2009
een pleidooi voor holistische geneeskunde, en het toevoegen van acupunctuur aan het
hedendaagse therapeutische arsenaal van dokters. Waar in Nederland de Kackadorisnominatie
aan ziekenhuisdirecteuren die acupunctuur steunen wordt verleend, wordt in de VS juist de
aandacht gevestigd op de positieve bijdrage van acupunctuur aan de gezondheidszorg.
Scientists trial device to treat
chemotherapy-related nausea
Trials to test acupressure wrist bands as a drug-free alternative for chemotherapy-related
nausea are to take place at the University of Liverpool. More than 75% of patients
undergoing chemotherapy experience nausea, which can impact negatively on their quality of
life. Acupressure wrist bands can reduce the symptoms of travel sickness by applying force
to the Nei Kuan pressure point on each wrist. The national study of more than 700
patients, at nine NHS cancer centres, will now measure the cost and clinical effectiveness
of acupressure wrist bands in reducing and controlling chemotherapy-related nausea. Led by
Professor Mari Lloyd-Williams, from the University’s Academic Palliative and
Supportive Care Studies Group, the team will analyse a wide range of patients, diagnosed
with different types of cancer and undergoing chemotherapy, in order to discover which
patient groups would most benefit from the intervention. Professor Lloyd-Williams said:
“Developments in anti-emetic drugs – used to combat nausea and vomiting –
have decreased the symptoms suffered by chemotherapy patients but nausea remains a
debilitating and poorly controlled symptom. “Patients rank nausea and vomiting
amongst the most distressing side effects of chemotherapy. In some cases, poorly
controlled symptoms can lead to patients choosing to stop potentially curative treatment.
These symptoms can contribute towards a loss of social life, prevent people from working,
and lead to anxiety and depression.
Acupuncture may hold promise for
women with hormone disorder
Getting pregnant with her first child was difficult, but when Rebecca Killmeyer of
Charlottesville, Va., experienced a miscarriage during her second pregnancy, she wasn't
sure if she would ever have another baby. When she decided to enter a study testing the
impact of acupuncture on women with polycystic ovary syndrome at the University of
Virginia Health System, she came out with a miracle.
Electroacupuncture at PC6 may
decrease frequency of transient lower esophageal sphincter relaxation
New research shows that electroacupuncture at PC6 may decrease the frequency of transient
lower esophageal sphincter relaxation, which is the main mechanism underlying
gastroesophageal reflux disease. This effect appears to act at the brain stem, and may be
mediated through NO, CCK-A and mu-opioid receptors.
Acupuncture reduces pain, need for
opioids after surgery
Using acupuncture before and during surgery significantly reduces the level of pain and
the amount of potent painkillers needed by patients after the surgery is over, according
to Duke University Medical Center anesthesiologists who combined data from 15 small
randomized acupuncture clinical trials.
Acupuncture wristbands Ease Nausea
with Cancer Treatment
Cancer patients who wore acupressure wristbands had much less nausea while receiving
radiation treatment, making the bands a safe, low-cost addition to anti-nausea medication,
according to a study in the Journal of Pain and Symptom Management by University of
Rochester Medical Center researchers. Previous research has suggested that the placebo
effect – essentially, an outcome related to your body that you expect to happen
– might be why elastic wristbands reduce nausea. However, the findings of the latest
study do not support that notion, even though researchers continue to believe in the
mind’s powerful influence over symptoms. “We know the placebo effect exists, the
problem is that we don’t know how to measure it very well,” said Joseph A.
Roscoe, Ph.D., corresponding author and research associate professor at the James P.
Wilmot Cancer Center at URMC. “In this study we attempted to manipulate the
information we gave to patients, to see if their expectations about nausea could be
changed. As it turned out, our information to change people’s expectations had no
effect – but we still found that the wristbands reduce nausea symptoms.” The
clinical trial enrolled 88 people divided into three groups. All had reported some degree
of nausea after receiving at least two radiation treatments for any type of cancer.
Although chemotherapy is more closely linked with producing nausea and vomiting, radiation
to the intestinal tract can also cause nausea, Roscoe said.
For Women With PCOS, Acupuncture
And Exercise May Bring Relief, Reduce Risks
Exercise and electro-acupuncture treatments can reduce sympathetic nerve activity in women
with polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), according to a new study. The finding is
important because women with PCOS often have elevated sympathetic nerve activity, which
plays a role in hyperinsulinemia, insulin resistance, obesity and cardiovascular disease
The study also found that the electro-acupuncture treatments led to more regular menstrual
cycles, reduced testosterone levels and reduced waist circumference. Exercise had no
effect on the irregular or non-existent menstrual cycles that are common among women with
PCOS, nor did it reduce waist circumference. However, exercise did lead to reductions in
weight and body mass index. “The findings that low-frequency electro-acupuncture and
exercise decrease sympathetic nerve activity in women with PCOS indicates a possible
alternative non-pharmacologic approach to reduce cardiovascular risk in these
patients,” said one of the researchers, Dr. Elisabet Stener-Victorin of the
University of Gothenburg, Sweden. The findings regarding menstrual cycles and decrease in
testosterone levels in the low-frequency electro-acupuncture are also of interest,
according to the researcher. The study, “Low-frequency electro-acupuncture and
physical exercise decrease high muscle sympathetic nerve activity in polycystic ovary
syndrome” was conducted by Elisabet Stener-Victorin, Elizabeth Jedel, Per Olof Janson
and Vrsa Bergmann Sverrisdottir, all of the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg,
Sweden and the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden. The study is in the online edition
of the American Journal of Physiology-Regulatory, Integrative and Comparative Physiology,
published by The American Physiological Society.
An acupressure treatment applied to children undergoing anesthesia noticeably lowers their
anxiety levels and makes the stress of surgery more calming for them and their families,
UC Irvine anesthesiologists have learned. According to Dr. Zeev Kain, anesthesiology and
perioperative care chair, and his Yale University collaborator Dr. Shu-Ming Wang, this
noninvasive, drug-free method is an effective, complementary anxiety-relief therapy for
children during surgical preparation. Sedatives currently used before anesthesia can cause
nausea and prolong sedation. “Anxiety in children before surgery is bad because of
the emotional toll on the child and parents, and this anxiety can lead to prolonged
recovery and the increased use of analgesics for postoperative pain,” said Kain, who
led the acupressure study. “What’s great about the use of acupressure is that it
costs very little and has no side effects.”
Acupuncture Eases Radiation-Induced
Dry Mouth in Cancer Patients
Twice weekly acupuncture treatments relieve debilitating symptoms of xerostomia - severe
dry mouth - among patients treated with radiation for head and neck cancer, researchers
from The University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center report in the current online
issue of Head & Neck. Xerostomia develops after the salivary glands have been exposed
to repeated doses of therapeutic radiation. People who have cancers of the head and neck
typically receive large cumulative doses, rendering the salivary glands incapable of
producing adequate saliva, said Mark S. Chambers, M.S., D.M.D., a professor in the
Department of Dental Oncology. Saliva substitutes, lozenges and chewing gum bring only
temporary relief, and the commonly prescribed medication, pilocarpine, has short-lived
benefits and bothersome side effects of its own. "The quality of life in patients
with radiation-induced xerostomia is profoundly impaired," said Chambers, the study's
senior author. "Symptoms can include altered taste acuity, dental decay, infections
of the tissues of the mouth, and difficulty with speaking, eating and swallowing.
Conventional treatments have been less than optimal, providing short-term response at
best." M. Kay Garcia, LAc, Dr.P.H., a clinical nurse specialist and acupuncturist in
M. D. Anderson's Integrative Medicine Program and the study's first author, noted that
patients with xerostomia may also develop nutritional deficits that can become
irreversible.
Real and Simulated Acupuncture
Appear More Effective Than Usual Care for Back Pain
Three types of acupuncture therapy—an individually tailored program, standard therapy
and a simulation involving toothpicks at key acupuncture points—appear more effective
than usual care for chronic low back pain, according to a report in the May 11 issue of
Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.Back pain costs Americans
at least $37 billion annually, according to background information in the article. Many
patients with this condition are unsatisfied with traditional medical care and seek help
from complementary and alternative care providers, including acupuncturists. "Back
pain is the leading reason for visits to licensed acupuncturists, and medical
acupuncturists consider acupuncture an effective treatment for back pain," the
authors write. Several recent studies have suggested that simulated acupuncture, or
shallow needling on parts of the body not considered key acupuncture points, appear as
effective as acupuncture involving penetrating the skin. To expand on these results,
Daniel C. Cherkin, Ph.D., of Group Health Center for Health Studies, Seattle, and
colleagues compared four different types of treatment in a randomized clinical trial
involving 638 adults (average age 47) with chronic low back pain at Group Health in
Seattle and Kaiser Permanente Northern California in Oakland. During the seven-week
treatment period, 157 participants received 10 acupuncture treatments in a manner
individually prescribed by a diagnostic acupuncturist; 158 underwent a standardized course
of acupuncture treatments considered effective by experts for low back pain; 162 received
10 sessions of simulated acupuncture, in which practitioners used a toothpick inside of an
acupuncture needle guide tube to mimic the insertion, stimulation and removal of needles;
and 161 received usual care. Participants reported changes in their symptoms and in the
amount of dysfunction caused by their back pain by phone after eight, 26 and 52 weeks.
"Compared with usual care, individualized acupuncture, standardized acupuncture and
simulated acupuncture had beneficial and persisting effects on chronic back pain,"
the authors write. At the eight-week follow-up, 60 percent of the participants receiving
any type of acupuncture (individualized, standardized or simulated) experienced a
clinically meaningful improvement in their level of functioning, compared with 39 percent
of those receiving usual care. At the one-year follow-up, 59 percent to 65 percent of
those in the acupuncture groups experienced an improvement in function compared with 50
percent of the usual care group.
Electroacupuncture protects
acetylsalicylic acid-induced acute gastritis in rats
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are widely used as anti-inflammatory and
analgesic agents. However, they often cause gastrointestinal injury in gastric lesions by
inhibiting COX (cyclooxygenase) and detailed mechanism remains unclear. Thus, effective
strategies are required to protect the gastrointestinal mucosa. A research article to be
published on February 28, 2009 in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this
question. The research team led by Dr. Choi from Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine
investigated the protective effects of acupuncture against NSAID-induced ulceration in a
rat model. In their study, 72 rats were randomly divided into three groups including
control (administered with distilled water), ASA group (administered 100 mg/kg ASA) and EA
group (administered EA + 100 mg/kg ASA). Each rat was fasted for 18 to 24hours before
experimentation, and lesion scores, gastric acidity, cyclooxygenase (COX)-1 and -2 mRNA
levels, and total nitric oxide (NO) concentration were measured. They found that the
lesion scores of the EA group were significantly lower than those of the NSAID-induced
ulceration group. Gastric acidity of NSAID-induced ulceration group and EA group was
reduced as compared to the control group. COX-1 and -2 mRNA levels were significantly
increased in the EA group as compared to the control and NSAID-induced ulceration group,
and NO levels were also significantly increased in the EA group as compared to the
NSAID-induced ulceration group.
Acupuncture relieves hot flushes in
breast cancer patients taking tamoxifen
Acupuncture provides effective relief from hot flushes in women who are being treated with
the anti-oestrogen tamoxifen following surgery for breast cancer, according to new
research presented today (Friday) at the 6th European Breast Cancer Conference (EBCC-6) in
Berlin. Mrs Jill Hervik, a physiotherapist and acupuncturist at the Vestfold Central
Hospital (Tønsberg, Norway), told a news briefing that breast cancer patients who
received traditional Chinese acupuncture had a 50% reduction in hot flushes, both during
the day and the night, and that this effect continued after the acupuncture ceased.
Acupuncture Reduces Side Effects of
Breast Cancer Treatment As Much As Conventional Drug Therapy
Acupuncture is as effective and longer-lasting in managing the common debilitating side
effects of hot flashes, night sweats, and excessive sweating (vasomotor symptoms)
associated with breast cancer treatment and has no treatment side effects compared to
conventional drug therapy, according to a first-of-its-kind study presented September 24,
2008, at the American Society for Therapeutic Radiology and Oncology’s 50th Annual
Meeting in Boston. Findings also show there were additional benefits to acupuncture
treatment for breast cancer patients, such as an increased sense of well being, more
energy, and in some cases, a higher sex drive, that were not experienced in those patients
who underwent drug treatment for their hot flashes. “Our study shows that physicians
and patients have an additional therapy for something that affects the majority of breast
cancer survivors and actually has benefits, as opposed to more side effects. The effect is
more durable than a drug commonly used to treat these vasomotor symptoms and, ultimately,
is more cost-effective for insurance companies,” Eleanor Walker, M.D., lead author of
the study and a radiation oncologist at the Henry Ford Hospital Department of Radiation
Oncology in Detroit, said.
Acupuncture treatment may be more
effective than conventional therapy in treating lower back pain
Six months of acupuncture treatment appears to be more effective than conventional therapy
in treating low back pain, according to a study in the Sept. 24 issue of Archives of
Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals, although the study suggests that
both sham acupuncture and traditional Chinese verum acupuncture appear to be effective in
treating low back pain.
Acupuncture just as effective
without needle puncture
Acupuncture works - but it works equally well with or without needle penetration. This
conclusion can be drawn from a treatment study involving cancer patients suffering from
nausea during radiotherapy. Anna Enblom, a physiotherapist and doctoral candidate at the
Department of Medicine and Health Sciences at Linköping University and the Vårdal
Institute in Sweden, carried out four studies that are now being reported in her doctoral
dissertation. The first study involved a group that received ordinary medical treatment
for nausea, but not acupuncture. In that group only one quarter of the nauseous patients
experienced any relief. The acupuncture study of 215 patients who were undergoing
radiation treatment in the abdomen or pelvic region chose by lot one of these two
acupuncture types. 109 received traditional acupuncture, with needles penetrating the skin
in particular points. According to ancient Chinese tradition, the needle is twisted until
a certain 'needle sensation' arises. The other 106 patients received a simulated
acupuncture instead, with a telescopic, blunt placebo needle that merely touches the skin.
The acupuncture was performed by physiotherapists two or three times a week throughout the
five-week radiation period.
Medical acupuncture gaining
acceptance by the US Air Force
Medical acupuncture, which is acupuncture performed by a licensed physician trained at a
conventional medical school, is being used increasingly for pain control. Richard
Niemtzow, MD, PhD, MPH, Editor-in-Chief of Medical Acupuncture, a peer-reviewed journal
(www.liebertpub.com/acu) and the official journal of the American Academy of Medical
Acupuncture, is at the forefront of these efforts in the military. The technique developed
by Dr. Niemtzow has been so successful that the Air Force will begin teaching
"Battlefield Acupuncture" to physicians deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan in
early 2009. "Battlefield Acupuncture" can relieve severe pain lasting several
days. Based on modern neurophysiological concepts, Niemtzow developed a variation of
acupuncture that involves inserting very tiny semi-permanent needles into very specific
acupoints in the skin on the ear to block pain signals from reaching the brain. This
method can lessen the need for pain medications that may cause adverse or allergic
reactions or addiction. "This is one of the fastest pain attenuators in
existence," said Dr. Niemtzow, who is the Consultant for complementary and
alternative medicine for the Surgeon General of the Air Force, and is affiliated with
Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda. "The pain can be
gone in five minutes."
Dr. Shyam Bhat, an internist and psychiatrist with Southern Illinois University School of
Medicine who is medical director of integrative medicine at the Center for Living, said
more and more physicians are accepting acupuncture as an alternative for patients who
haven’t found relief for chronic pain and other long-term problems.
It sounds far-fetched — sticking needles in women to help them become pregnant —
but a scientific review suggests that acupuncture might improve the odds of conceiving if
done right before or after embryos are placed in the womb.
A growing number of allergy sufferers in the United States are turning to the ancient
therapy of acupuncture to bring them relief from the sneezing, congestion and watery eyes
that plague them.
