• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.18 no.1
• /
• pp.50-60
• /
• 2001

In order to review the studies related to the facial pain by acupuncture, we have referred to a PubMed site by using MeSH searching word of "facial pain and acupuncture". 12 journals with 20 papers were reported on the facial pain and acupuncture. Among them, 4 papers were appeared in Am J Chin Med, 3 in Acupunct Electrother Res, 2 in Br. Dent J, J Orofac Pain and Swed Dent J respectively, and 1 in 7 journals respectively. According to the classification of the patterns, 15 papers were done by clinical studies, 2 by review and meta-analysis respectively, and 1 by experimental study. TMD was the most disease that related to facial pain and CMD, neurogenic facial pain (trigeminal neuralgia, postherpetic pain), dental pain and MPS were also appeared. Most of the studies didn't mention the acupuncture points, L14 Habkok in 4 papers and ST36 Chogsamni in a paper were only mentioned. Various modalities were applied in the trials such as classical acupuncture, electroacupuncture, TENS, SSP and auricular acupuncture. By the above results, we concluded that various acupuncture techniques are used with effectiveness on the facial pain. It would be needed further research on the acupuncture point specific and therapeutic techniques as well.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.40 no.3
• /
• pp.177-187
• /
• 2023

Varicose veins have a substantial burden on individuals' aesthetics and overall quality of life. The current body of research on Korean medical interventions for varicose veins is limited in Korea, and exploration into clinical trends is lacking. This review specifically analyzed fire acupuncture, which is an understudied intervention in Korea that demonstrated efficacy in alleviating pain and paralysis while promoting tissue regeneration. A comprehensive investigation of the China National Knowledge Infrastructure database was conducted, utilizing terms such as "varicose vein," "fire needle," "fire acupuncture," "burning acupuncture," "burning needle," "huǒzhēn," "xiàzhī jìngmài," and "jìngmài qūzhāng." This review included 14 studies investigating the role of fire acupuncture in treating varicose veins. We extracted variables, including age, sex, disease duration, intervention method, treatment frequency, treatment period, acupoints, and outcomes. Fire acupuncture appeared as the primary intervention method, followed by general acupuncture. The protruding part of varicose veins is the main treatment area for fire acupuncture, while the acupoints BL57 and ST36 were most frequently utilized for general acupuncture. Treatment results revealed significant improvement in all studies. However, there are limitations, such as scarce studies, limited side effects studies, and potential bias. Consequently, extensive and well-structured future studies are necessary to demonstrate the role of fire acupuncture in varicose veins.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.40 no.4
• /
• pp.329-343
• /
• 2023

Recently, acupuncture has demonstrated extraordinary clinical results in the treatment of several categories of health conditions worldwide. The mechanisms of action of acupuncture (including immune mechanisms) have been investigated by biomedical studies over the last few decades. The immune mechanisms of representative clinical conditions and their clinical effects were thoroughly assessed, with a comprehensive investigation into the mechanisms of action of acupuncture (including immune responses) in this study. Conditions such as stroke, migraine, depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, lower back pain, hypertension, irritable bowel syndrome, sepsis, and allergic diseases were meticulously examined. This in-depth analysis aims to ensure a foundational understanding of the immune mechanisms involved in acupuncture, thereby serving as an initial step toward integrating the impact of acupuncture on the immune system.

• Journal of Pharmacopuncture
• /
• v.8 no.2
• /
• pp.83-90
• /
• 2005

Objective : This study was performed to compare needle acupuncture combined herbal acupuncture therapy with only needle acupuncture therapy in VAS and pain threshold. Methods : We used pressure algometer to evaluate the change of pain threshold before and after treatment. The numberical value of pressure algometer is obtained twice and averaged by identical acupuncturist. Visual analogue scale(VAS) was used to estimate the efficacy of needle acupuncture combined herbal acupuncture therapy. Result : The following results were obtained; 1. The significant difference in VAS was showed before and after treatment in only needle acupuncture therapy. 2. The significant difference in pain threshold and VAS was showed before and after treatment in needle acupuncture combined herbal acupuncture therapy. 3. In the pain threshold, the significant difference between only needle acupuncture and needle acupuncture combined herbal acupuncture therapy was not showed. 4. Needle acupuncture combined herbal acupuncture therapy showed the more effective change of VAS than only needle acupuncture therapy. Conclusions : In the pain control, needle acupuncture combined herbal acupuncture therapy is more effective than only needle acupuncture therapy.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.28 no.5
• /
• pp.29-38
• /
• 2011

Objectives : Recent well-designed randomized controlled trials(RCTs) and their meta-analysis have been published on the efficacy of acupuncture in different condition. In most of them, real acupuncture is compared with sham acupuncture including invasive and non-invasive sham methods. But it is not clear how active sham methods are. These results tend to lead the conclusion that acupuncture has no more effective than sham acupuncture. In order to investigate that sham acupuncture is appropriate as a control, we reviewed several acupuncture trials using different sham acupuncture as a control. Methods : We searched Cochrane researches of acupuncture, reviewed and analyzed 25 RCTs in 42 Cochrane reviews. And especially we compared the effect of acupuncture according to the type of sham acupuncture. Results : Invasive sham acupunctures are used in 12 RCTs and non-invasive types are used in the rest. The majority of studies(19 RCTs) fail to show effects beyond a sham acupuncture. Streitberger's sham needle is a validated sham acupuncture of non-invasive type that was used in 8 trials and also no significant group differences are shown except one trial. Conclusions : Acupuncture is a complex intervention. Clinical trials of acupuncture need to be reexamined and redesigned to remove several bias. Especially, sham acupuncture as a control might be investigated for physiological effects as well as validation test including patient-blinding and de qi sensation. Other research need to be investigated and developed for acupuncture trials.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.28 no.1
• /
• pp.15-28
• /
• 2011

Objectives : To understand the strength and weakness of traditional warm needle acupuncture based on existing research outcomes in Korea mostly and to suggest how to build the desirable warm needle acupuncture apparatus by overcoming demerits of traditional and currently existing ones. Methods : We searched warm needle relating papers in Korean with the key words of '온침, 화침, 열자극' by using DBpia, Journal of Korean Oriental Medical Society, Journal of Korean Acupuncture & Moxibustion Society and Journal of Society for Meridian and Acupoint. Degree dissertations in Korean were also searched with the same words through the search engine of Library of Kyung Hee University. We also searched with words of 'warm, thermal, heat, needle, acupuncture, temperature' via Pubmed and found a small number of English written papers and large number of Chinese written ones. To find english translated version of those papers, we googled with the same words with no success. Results : About 20 papers on warm needle acupuncture written in Korean were found and analyzed with respect to experimental factors that affected the thermal properties or the amount of heat stimulus of the acupuncture. More rigorous descriptions seemed to be required on the insertion depth, duration and manipulation of warm needle treatment. A basic heat transfer model was presented for the clarification of heat loss through the needle of warm needle acupuncture. Environmental factors such as air flow on the properties seems to be considered for the warm needle acupuncture. Conclusions : Papers on warm needle acupuncture were reviewed and analyzed based on their thermal properties and tools such as needles and moxa cones. Several suggestions were made on the descriptions relating the properties. Necessary specifications were introduced to aim modernized warm needle systems.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.39 no.4
• /
• pp.249-257
• /
• 2022

This study aimed to evaluate clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) for ankle sprains using the Appraisal of Guidelines for Research and Evaluation II tool, using electronic databases (GIN, PubMed, EMBASE, NCKM, CNKI, CiNii, WanFang database, RISS, and SCOPUS), to suggest strategies for improvement in the future. The search was performed on April 23, 2021 and 10 CPGs were selected for evaluation. Three CPGs were recommended without modification (Class A scores), five were recommended with modification (Class B), and two were not recommended (Class C scores). The CPG domain that received the lowest score was "applicability." The traditional medicine CPGs scored higher [Class A (n = 1) and Class B (n = 1)] than the conventional Western medicine CPGs [Class A (n = 2), Class B (n = 4), and Class C (n = 2)] and were considered to be more methodical. In the future, more research into traditional medicine is required.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.215-229
• /
• 2007

Objectives : Placebo phenomena have been considered as a confounding factor of clinical trial. Expectancy and belief of acupuncture have not been evaluated quantitatively. The present study was performed to analyze the emotional and cognitive factor .of acupuncture and investigate whether the expectancy of acupuncture treatment is associated with the cognition of acupuncture. Methods : The expectancy and the perception of bodily sensation (PBS) of 22 participants were assessed using self-reported questionnaire. The subjects used the self assessment manikin (SAM) to rate each of the standard affective image of the international affective picture system (lAPS) and other acupuncture-related image. Based on the degree of expectancy, the high expectant (HE) and the low expectant (LE) group were classified. The thermal and pressure pain threshold was objectively evaluated using radiant-heat device and algometer. The degree of expected pain of acupuncture and the actual pain of painful stimulation was subjectively evaluated using facial pain scales (FPS). Results : Using SAlVI analysis, we identified the negative correlation between hedonic valence and arousal dimension on acupuncture-related visual cue. The degree of the PBS and general pain threshold did not show any significant difference between the HE and the LE group. The HE group rated the acupuncture images as more pleasant, more arousing, than the LE group. In addition, we also found that the higher expectancy marked the lower FPS of the expected pain of acupuncture, but not of the actual pain of painful stimulation. Conclusions : Our preliminary study identified the psychological dimensions of acupuncture-related visual cue. These findings indicate that the expectancy of acupuncture could affect the cognition of acupuncture.

• The Journal of Korean Obstetrics and Gynecology
• /
• v.23 no.1
• /
• pp.42-52
• /
• 2010

Purpose: This report aims to administer methodologic issues around recently conducted multicenter study for evaluating the effects of acupuncture on menopusal hot flashes and discuss practical issues for further implementation of acupuncture clinical trial for hot flashes. Methods: Study process were mentioned, and issues related to avoiding risk of bias, designing appropriate control group, optimal outcome measurement, potential different effects of menopausal status on study outcomes, and suggestions for developing future clinical trials are discussed. Results: Shortcomings of our multicenter study include lack of allocation concealment and assessor blinding, subjective outcome measurement, short-term follow-up, and fixed acupuncture regimen despite pragmatic purpose of this study. Improving trial design, using objective or validated outcomes, assessing long-term effects of acupuncture, and individualizing acupuncture regimen are needed in future clinical trials. Conclusion: We expect these practical discussions to enable researchers to plan and develop future well-designed clinical trials for evaluating the effects of acupuncture on hot flashes or other women's health issues.

• Journal of Acupuncture Research
• /
• v.30 no.5
• /
• pp.117-123
• /
• 2013

Objectives : The purpose is to review large-scale clinical researches, the acupuncture randomized trials(ART) and the acupuncture in routine care(ARC), concerning efficacy and effectiveness of acupuncture performed in Germany. Methods and Results : We have reviewed the studies that were searched by keyword 'acupuncture' as the title and'Witt CM' as one of the main authors in PubMed. Sixteen clinical reports focused on the ART and ARC studies were analyzed among all thirty six were searched. Six studies were related with the ART and eight were focused on the ARC, and other two were on both. Finally, across all researches except osteoarthritis of knee trials in the ART, compared the acupuncture group with the control were significantly improved. On the other hand, ARC showed that additional acupuncture plus routine care was more effective than routine care alone and the response to treatment of the non-randomized group did not differ the one of the randomized acupuncture group. Conclusions : The results may suggest that acupuncture treatment has obvious clinical effectiveness. These results are expected to inspire domestic research and clinical applications in Korea, and more rigorous research on the efficacy of acupuncture should be guaranteed.