New research demonstrates that acupuncture combined with oral curcumin intake provides significant protection against hepatic fibrosis. Researchers examined the efficacy of curcumin and acupuncture both separately and combined for their ability to prevent liver fibrosis. The researchers discovered a synergistic effect when curcumin and acupuncture are combined. In the study, histological and pathological findings for hepatic disturbances and fibrosis were measured.

The controlled randomized clinical trial was performed on rats. There were several study groups: control, model, sham acupuncture, verum acupuncture, curcumin and the combination group. Acupuncture was applied to Liv3 (Taichong, Great Rushing), Liv14 (Qimen, Cycle Gate), UB18 (Ganshu, Liver Shu) and St36 (Zusanli, Leg Three Miles). Curcumin is a principle polyphenol in turmeric (Jiang Huang), a member of the ginger family of herbs used for invigorating the blood in traditional Chinese medicine. Oral intake of curcumin was combined simultaneously with acupuncture in the combined therapy group.

The researchers concluded that, “Acupuncture combined with curcumin potently protected the liver from…  injury and fibrogenesis.” This was confirmed with laboratory measurements of serum aspartate aminotransferase, alanine aminotransferase, alkaline phosphatase, hyaluronic acid, laminin and procollagen 3. Other histological findings and measurements of alpha smooth muscle actin, extracellular matrix, fibronection and alpha 1 collagen confirm the synergistic hepatoprotective effects of acupuncture combined with curcumin.

Courtesy of HealthCMI

I saw this story in today’s online news and figured I would share. Many of our patients at Acupuncture & Alternative Health being treated for infertility have similar stories of inspiration for families trying to conceive… – Marc Herns

WEATHER presenter Clare Nasir believes that acupuncture helped her finally conceive after battling with fertility problems.

“In my early 30s I was a career girl through and through and thought I’d just have children, pop them in nursery while I worked and my life would just sail on,” she said.

“I think it’s an understatement to say it didn’t quite work out like that.”

Diagnosed in 2000 with multiple and unusually large fibroids – growths in the uterus – she endured increasing pain and weight gain for years until she had treatment to shrink them.

“I ended up having three operations. Eventually I had to have a tumor, originally the size of a rugby ball, surgically removed,” she said.

After Clare met and married Chris Hawkins, 35, in 2005, the couple tried immediately for a baby.

After two years they turned to fertility treatment – but this failed three times.

Clare said: “I was feeling rock-bottom both emotionally and physically.”

But she believes the turning point was a chance encounter with acupuncturist Bernard Nolan.

“I met him at a launch party and he impressed me with his calm, gentle manner and confidence that I could be helped,” said Clare.

“Bernard told me that my body resembled a battlefield after all it had gone through, with so many drugs and the operations.

“He suggested acupuncture could open up all the energy channels in my body and regulate the blood flow in my system.”

Clare finally gave birth to Sienna on November 11, 2009, two months before her due date.

The little girl suffered a string of health problems but is now strong.

Clare is supporting the first Acupuncture Awareness Week, which runs until Sunday.

To find out more about acupuncture, and how it could help you, log onto the website, which can be found at www.introducingacupuncture.co.uk

Courtesy of the Daily Record

 
Evgeny Plushenko’s back injury does not require surgery and can be treated with physiotherapy and acupuncture, a doctor for the European skating champion told RIA Novosti on Tuesday.
 
After winning gold at the championships in Sheffield, England, earlier this month, Plushenko underwent surgery on his left knee in Munich, Germany.
 
He had anticipated needing to go under the knife again for a hernia that had been found in his spine, but Tweeted ecstatically on Monday that an operation wouldn’t be required.
 
“The injury will be treated with non-invasive methods: injections into the muscles, physiotherapy, acupuncture,” Russian skating team doctor Yaroslav Bugaev said Tuesday, adding the injury would stop causing Plushenko pain after a minimum two weeks’ treatment.
 
Plushenko is expected to take a month to recover from surgery on knee cartilage before continuing with a comeback to the sport he hopes will culminate in gold at his home Winter Games in Sochi in 2014.
 
The 29-year-old has had to skip the world championships in Nice, France, which start on March 26, depriving skating fans of a confrontation between Plushenko and his Canadian rival Patrick Chan this season.
 
He received special dispensation from the International Skating Union to take part in Sheffield after failing to accrue enough points in competition this season to qualify.

Courtesy of Ria Novosti

About 2 percent of the population in this country suffers from fibromyalgia.
 
It is difficult for conventional Western medicine to diagnose fibromyalgia. There are no lab tests or X-rays to diagnose it.
 
Fibromyalgia is similar to chronic fatigue syndrome in that it is a collection of symptoms. If a patient exhibits enough of the standard fibromyalgia symptoms, then she/he is diagnosed with fibromyalgia.
 
Fibromyalgia means “pain of the muscle fiber.” The most characteristic symptom is a high level of muscle pain. Other symptoms include exhaustion or overwhelming fatigue, sleep disorder and very stiff muscles, especially upon awakening.
 
Fibromyalgia patients often have depression, anxiety, headaches, and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS).
 
Unfortunately, even when fibromyalgia is diagnosed, few treatments address the actual problem. Patients complain of depression and may be treated with anti-depressants. Insomnia is common, so sleep medications often are prescribed. Exercise is recommended, and pain medications or trigger-point injections are often used.
 
Fibromyalgia can be diagnosed when 11 out of 18 specific areas of the body are tender to touch.
 
Many of these locations happen to be acupuncture points on the energy meridians mapped in Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) charts.
 
According to this 3,000-year-old medical model, energy or qi (“chee”) circulates through our bodies along specific pathways, connecting all organs and tissues. Efficient energy flow has potential to create a high functioning mind, body and spirit.
 
When the flow becomes altered, the individual can experience any number of symptoms, many corresponding to the Western medical diagnosis of fibromyalgia.
 
TCM says the quality of meridian energy is healthiest when it is unobstructed and abundant, nourishing the entire body with fresh resources. It is likened to water in a living river, where the water is continuously refreshed with new water.
 
However, when the flow of energy is diminished, blocked or deviated, symptoms related to fibromyalgia can appear. The TCM-trained acupuncturist interviews the patient and gathers information regarding all aspects of their health. This information is helpful to determine where energy flow in their body is hampered and where to place the very fine, sterile needles to restore the system to normal.The goal of the plan is to eliminate symptoms while addressing the root cause.
 
Each TCM patient with fibromyalgia may have a unique root cause of symptoms. Examples are liver qi stagnation and spleen qi deficiency.
 
The liver in TCM is responsible for controlling the flow of qi, blood and emotions. If this liver is not doing its job, the rest of the body is not getting proper nourishment. Muscles and tendons become stiff. This can lead to depression, anger, anxiety and insomnia. The treatment plan would be to course liver qi.
 
The spleen in TCM transforms food into blood and qi. Poor eating habits, over-concentration and worry can weaken the spleen energy leading to fatigue, digestion problems and shortness of breath. The treatment plan would be to tone spleen qi.
 
Typically, patients would have one acupuncture treatment a week for about four weeks, each visit assessing and addressing the progress towards eliminating symptoms. Treatment continues at a frequency that continues to show improvement and maintain results achieved.

New research examines the role of acupuncture in nerve regeneration of the brain following a stroke due to cerebral ischemia – a condition due to restricted blood flow to the brain. The research cites the ability of acupuncture to “promote the proliferation and differentiation of neural stem cells in the brain… accelerate angiogenesis and inhibit apoptosis.” The researchers note that the Conception Vessel (CV, Ren channel) and Governing Vessel (GV, Du channel) are effective acupuncture meridians to “prevent and treat neural injuries following cerebral ischemia.”

Recent studies demonstrate that neural stem cells (NSCs) in the brain have the “ability of self-duplication, self regeneration and continuous differentiation into neuron and neuroglial cells.” Studies show that acupuncture on the Conception and Governing Vessels promotes “proliferation and differentiation of NSCs in the ischemic brain.” Specifically, GV20 (Baihui) and GV26 (Shuigou) regulate cells which “increase the release of nerve growth factors (NGFs) to make nerve cells survive and axons grow, synthesize neurotransmitters, (and) metabolize toxic substances….” The research notes that needling CV24 (Chengjiang), CV4, (Guanyuan), GV26 (Shuigou) and GV20 (Baihui) “could inhibit excessive proliferation of the hippocampal astrocytes and promote cellular differentiation.” The research also notes that these points increase GFAP/NSE double-labeled cells. GFAP (glial fibrillary acidic protein) is a marker of astrocyte activation and NSE (neuron-specific enolase) is a marker of the neurons.

The research indicates that electroacupuncture on the CV channel increases growth factors in the brain. Electroacupuncture increased growth factors bFGF, EGF and NGF mRNAs in the sub-ventricular zone and the hippocampal dentate gyrus. Needling acupuncture points CV24 (Chengjiang), CV4 (Guanyuan) and CV3 (Qihai) up-regulated bFGF, EGF and NGF.

The research shows that acupuncture plays an important role in angiogenesis- the physiological process involving the growth of new blood vessels from pre-existing vessels. Acupuncture at GV20 and GV14 (Dazhui) increases neural repair following cerebral ischemia. These points increased the expression of VEGF (vascular endothelial growth factor) and Ang-1 (angioprotein 1) in the area of the ischemic focus. Both VEGF and Ang-1 are important angiogenic modulators. Needling GV20 and GV26 up-regulated VEGF, VEGFR (the receptor for VEGF) and Ang-2 (angioprotein 2) at the ischemic focus. The research also documents that acupuncture at GV20 and GV14 affects the contents and expressions of signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs). STATs play an important role in Janus kinase (JAK-STAT)- a pathway that transmits information from chemical signals outside the cell, through the cell membrane and into gene promoters on the DNA in the cell nucleus (causing DNA transcription and activity in the cell). The researchers note that the influence of acupuncture on STATs indicates that acupuncture activates bodily self-protection and reduction of “apoptosis of the nerve cells in and around the ischemic focus.”

Courtesy of HealthCMI

David Gray/Reuters

Good Housekeeping, February
 
If the idea of being poked with needles sounds less than appealing, acupuncture may not be for you. But according to Good Housekeeping, new research shows that the needles help with pain relief in some cases. “German studies have shown that something is definitely going on, neurologically speaking, when acupuncture needles are in place: In a series of imaging experiments involving short electric zaps to the ankle, researchers found that when acupuncture needles were inserted before the zap, the pain centers in volunteers’ brains were significantly calmer.”
 
The same study also compared the pain relief when acupuncture supplemented doctor-prescribed treatment with the relief delivered by traditional treatment alone. After looking at several common ailments, including arthritis, neck pain, migraines and seasonal allergies, the subjects who received acupuncture along with standard care felt more improvement, defined as feeling at least 50 percent better, than those who received standard care alone.
 
Karen Sherman, senior scientific investigator at the Group Health Research Institute in Seattle, says it’s worth being patient when you try acupuncture. “You probably won’t be able to tell after one visit” if it has helped, though “you don’t want to wait 20 sessions” to get relief. Most important, when considering acupuncture, look for an accredited professional. The National Certification Commission of Acupuncture and Oriental Medicine (www.nccaom.org) is a good place to start your search.

Acupuncture may help some women conceive through in-vitro fertilization, according to a new analysis on past studies, however the true benefit remains unclear.

Acupuncture is the traditional Chinese medicinal needle treatment for a range of health problems.

Ten years ago, German researchers reported that acupuncture seemed to improve pregnancy rates in women undergoing IVF, but since then research on the topic has shown conflicting results.

German studies have also showed in a series of imaging experiments that pain centers in participants’ brains were significantly calmer after researchers applied a few short electrical zaps to acupuncture needles that were pinned to the skin on their ankles.

In the new meta-analysis, published in the journal Fertility and Sterility, Chinese researchers looked at the overall picture of the effectiveness of acupuncture and IVF by combing results of past studies.

Dr. Cui Hong Zheng and colleagues at Tongji Medical College looked at 24 small clinical trials testing the effects of acupuncture in women undergoing IVF that consisted of a wide variety of acupuncture techniques like needle acupuncture, electro-acupuncture and laser acupuncture.

Chinese researchers found that women who had acupuncture generally had a slightly higher pregnancy rate, but not a higher birth rate than women who did not have the therapy.

Researchers noted that many of the studies differed in what they used as their control variable. When researchers excluded five studies that used blunt needles as a control, the results of the women who received acupuncture seemed to have more improvements.

Zheng justified removing the experiments that labeled “blunt-needle” acupuncture as control or placebo variables because the treatment is still acupuncture and may actually have similar effects to the real thing.

The researchers said that when the five trials were dropped, 41 percent of the women became pregnant versus 37 percent of those who did not have the treatment.

Researchers also looked at birth rates and found that 35 percent of the women who received acupuncture had a baby compared with 25 percent of women in the control groups.

Researchers are unsure as to why acupuncture may help a woman conceive with IVF, but they note that there is some evidence that suggests needle stimulation may improve blood flow to the uterus.

Scientists are still researching if acupuncture treatments could yield a uterine wall to be more receptive to the embryo.

Acupuncture is generally safe with little side effects like bruising at the needle site. The cost varies widely.

The study is published online in the Fertility and Sterility on January 12, 2012.

Courtesy of Medical Daily

A recent study shows that using Chinese herbs and acupuncture with intrauterine insemination (IUI), a common fertility treatment, increases the number of pregnancies and births. http://www2.tau.ac.il/news/engnews.asp
 
This study was conducted at Tel Aviv Medical Center’s Fertility Research Institute, where they treated one group of women with infertility using IUI alone and another group with a combination of IUI and Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), specifically acupuncture and Chinese herbs. Among the 29 women in the IUI plus TCM group, 65.5% conceived and 41.4% delivered healthy infants, while in the control group, only 39.4% conceived and 26.9% delivered healthy babies.
 
This research follows a recent study from Adelaide University where women using Chinese herbal medicine doubled their pregnancy rate, achieving “on average, a 60% pregnancy rate over 4 months compared with 30% achieved with standard western drug treatment or IVF over 12 months.” The study also found that the same improvement in pregnancy rates was true whether Chinese herbal medicine was used alone or in conjunction with either Western drugs or IVF. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22036524
 
The surprising thing about the Tel Aviv study is that the TCM group, which had more pregnancies and live births, was made up of older women .This suggests that acupuncture and herbs may make a bigger difference for older women who are having difficulty conceiving.
 
According to the authors, Dr. Shahar Lev-Ari and Keren Sela of TAU’s Sackler Faculty of Medicine, “the average age of the women in the study group was 39.4, while that of the control group was 37.1. Normally, the older the mother, the lower the pregnancy and delivery rates.”

Auricular acupuncture (needles in the ear) helps to control cravings. It’s not a magic bullet, but if someone has the desire to quit, acupuncture is an amazing tool. It’s generally a weaning process. With each visit you have less desire and your body is detoxing. Acupuncturist Marc Herns recommends that people do six treatments over the course of three weeks, and notes that most people have no pain or discomfort and that many experience “a feeling of incredible calmness and peace.”
 
Sessions cost $65 for a one hour treatment.
 
Stopping smoking is a process. Acupuncture can help in that process – help people through the withdrawals.
 
Mr. Herns individualizes his one-hour treatments which involve needles in various points all over the body’s Qi meridians, based on what the client’s goals and needs are. “It’s always a matter of working with the bigger picture,” he said. For those trying to stop smoking, he suggests trying as many methods as possible.