Acupuncture effects on the body's defence systems and conditions responsive to AP

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AP IN THE TREATMENT OF INFLAMMATION

 

Inflammation is the normal defence reaction to local injury, infection, necrosis, allergy or other local irritation. Thus, inflammation is a desirable reaction and one does not try to treat inflammation per se, but to help the inflammatory response and to speed up its successful resolution. Where possible, the cause of the inflammation should be diagnosed, removed and/or treated also. In practice, many inflammations arise from non-specific or unidentified causes. In these cases, orthodox treatment consists of analgesic, anti-inflammatory, antibiotic drugs + penetrating agents and physical therapy, used in an empirical manner.

 

AP is a highly effective means of treating clinical inflammatory conditions in humans and animals. The needles usually are used on local points (points near the inflamed organ or area), plus some needles on distant points on meridians passing through the affected organ or area. When they arise, associated symptoms (such as fever, cough, headache, back pain, etc) are treated by needling the relevant points for these symptoms.

 

Human inflammatory conditions responsive to AP in clinical practice include:

  • Ear, nose, throat, eye, mouth (otitis, rhinitis, sinusitis, tonsillitis, pharyngitis, opthalmitis, conjunctivitis, stomatitis, gingivitis, glossitis
  • Respiratory tract (tracheitis, bronchitis, pneumonia)
  • Gastrointestinal tract (gastritis, duodenitis, gastroduodenal ulcer, enteritis, appendicitis, colitis, proctitis)
  • Liver, gallbladder, pancreas, peritoneum (inflammation,pain, colic etc)
  • Urinary tract (nephritis, cystitis, urethritis)
  • Genital tract (oophoritis, salpingitis, metritis, cervicitis, and cervical erosion, vaginitis, orchitis, prostatitis)
  • Muscle-skeletal (myositis, bursitis, tenosynovitis, arthritis) Cardiovascular (thromboangiitis, varicose ulcers, myocardial infarct and myositis)
  • Lymphatic (lymphadenitis, lymphangitis)
  • Skin and subcutaneous tissue (eczema, dermatitis, acne, furunculosis)
  • Nervous tissue (neuritis, encephalitis)

 

Inflammatory conditions in animals which respond clinically to AP are basically similar to those in humans. However, as mentioned in the previous section, AP in animals has not been used as extensively as in humans. Veterinary AP literature mentions clinical success with inflammation in similar regions to those in humans. Examples are:

  •  gingivitis, stomatitis, rhinitis
  • bronchitis, pneumonia
  • gastritis, enteritis,
  • hepatitis, cholecystitis, pancreatitis, peritonitis
  • nephritis, cystitis, metritis, pyometra
  • myositis, tenosynovitis, arthritis, laminitis
  • eczema, lick granuloma
  • mastitis, encephalitis 

 

Klide and Kung's textbook and the books of Westermayer and Brunner list many more inflammatory conditions which are said to respond clinically to AP (see Appendix 1 of this paper).

 

 

The conditions listed above refer to uncontrolled clinical observation in humans and animals. It could be argued that such observations do not prove that AP has anti-inflammatory effects. However, there is direct evidence from experimental work with animals which shows that AP has powerful effects on the inflammatory response.

 

 

Experimental inflammation

  • Bacterial peritonitis was produced in rabbits and other laboratory animals. AP greatly reduced the volume of inflammatory exudate produced and the exudate became (bacteriologically) sterile in a much shorter time in treated animals than in the control animals.
  • Inflammatory granuloma was produced on the skin of the back in rats. After 8 days of treatment by AP or moxa at ST36 (TsuSanLi), treated rats produced 3.5 ml effusate, as compared with 7.0 ml in control rats.
  • Turpentine injection in rabbits caused severe inflammation. AP treatment increased local circulation and lymph drainage and had strong effects in resolving the inflammation.
  • Perforated gastric or duodenal ulcers were produced in rabbits. AP enhanced peritoneal activity (speed of adhesion and speed of resorption of effusate) and was effective in alleviating the clinical signs.
  • Myocardial infarct, necrosis and cardiopathy was produced in dogs and rabbits by arterial ligation. AP at PC06 (NeiKuan) improved coronary circulation, reduced the size of the infarct and the subsequent necrosis.

 

These experiments were conducted by Chinese workers but other experiments in animals also confirm that AP has anti-inflammatory effects. One of the most obvious uses of AP for its anti-inflammatory effects is in surgical (operative) cases. AP analgesia or AP therapy post-surgery causes a marked reduction in the incidence of post-operative complications (wound sepsis, slow healing, intestinal atony etc). Wound healing in acupunctured animals is fast and clean. The points used are similar to those used in AP analgesia for the surgical area (see paper on AP Analgesia) but points LI04 (HoKu), LI11 (ChuChih), GV14 (TaChui) and ST36 are especially effective in controlling wound infection and fever.