Acupunctura in tratamentul Durerii

cateva referinte bibliografice pot fi utile celor ce dresc o imagine a utilizarii acupuncturii in durere la ora actuala dintr o perspectiva istorica

Though acupuncture has been used to treat many diseases, the pain relief is the most effective in the history of acupuncture. The ability of acupuncture to inhibit pain is referred to as “acupuncture analgesia”(AA).

Based on AA, acupuncture anesthesia on thyroidectomy was developed in 1958 at the First People’s Hospital in Shanghai. Apart from Shanghai, doctors in other cities of China, such as Xi’an, Wuhan, and Nanjing, carried out operations such as tooth extraction, detachment of retina, thyroidectomy, and appendectomy using acupuncture anesthesia in the same or the subsequent year.In 1960, the First Tuberculosis Central Hospital in Acupuncture Therapy of Neurological Diseases: A Neurobiological View

Shanghai succeeded in applying acupuncture anesthesia to pneumonectomy. Subsequently, many other major and difficult operations (such as surgery on the anterior cranial fossa, total laryngectomy, cardiac surgery, cholecystectomy, subtotal gastrectomy, pan-hysterectomy, cesarean section) were also carried out using acupuncture anesthesia between 1960s and 1970s, which showed satisfactory results (Zhang 1989).

However, during that period, acupuncture failed to produce sufficient analgesia during operation, although it had prominent analgesic effect and could be used in many surgical operations.

It was found that the shortcoming of acupuncture anesthesia could be overcome by combining acupuncture with certain drugs (Xu et al. 1989).

Acupuncture combined with selected drugs to fulfill the requirement of anesthesia is termed as acupuncture-balanced anesthesia, which is a type of balanced anesthesia (Cao 1997).

Scientific advances in AA research have promoted the use and development of acupuncture worldwide. Although the Chinese medicine, as a part of the Chinese culture, came to the United States in 1836, acupuncture was not officially recognized until 1972, when President Richard M. Nixon brought acupuncture back to the United States from China.

In June 1971, James Reston, the Director of the Washington Bureau of The New York Times, who was a gifted reporter and writer, was sent by the Times to China, prior to the official visit by Nixon. During his visit in Beijing, he suffered an acute attack of appendicitis. His appendectomy was performed under conventional chemical anesthetics, while his post-surgical complications were treated by acupuncture. Twenty minutes after acupuncture treatment, he felt a noticeable relaxation of the pressure and distension within an hour, and no recurrence thereafter. On July 26, 1971, Reston published his famous essay titled, Now, About My Operation in Peking, in the Times, in which he reported his personal experience about acupuncture in China (Reston 1971). Most Americans deeply trusted what he wrote.

In addition, Schwartz reported, “Acupuncture: The Needle Pain-Killer comes to America” and “Nothing in the American discovery of China has excited the popular imagination more than acupuncture anesthesia” (Schwartz 1972; Li and Singer 2006).

Liao et al (1994) pointed out that “Since the late 1960s and early 1970s, well-designed laboratory studies, initiated in China, confirmed the effectiveness of AA. The discovery of a relationship between acupuncture analgesia and neurochemicals, particularly endorphins, was exciting indeed, and began to provide a scientific basis for understanding its mechanism”. For achieving the goal, “health for all by the year 2000”, the WHO, in 1979, listed 43 kinds of indications that may benefit from the use of acupuncture and/or moxibustion.

The Consensus Development Conference (CDC) on Acupuncture held by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in 1997 evaluated the scientific and medical data on the uses, risks, and benefits of acupuncture procedures for a variety of conditions. The statement of CDC on acupuncture suggested that acupuncture is effective for some diseases, such as adult post-operative and chemotherapy nausea and vomiting,

History of Modern Acupuncture Research in China
  • some painful diseases,
  • addiction,
  • stroke rehabilitation, and
  • asthma.

One of the advantages of acupuncture is that the occurrence of adverse side effects is extremely low. Findings from basic research have begun to elucidate the mechanisms of action of acupuncture (National Institutes of Health 1997).

Both the NIH and WHO have issued statements confirming the usefulness of acupuncture in the treatment of a wide variety of conditions, and the establishment of the World Federation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion.

Currently, the practice of acupuncture is spread over 160 countries and regions.

In brief, acupuncture research is one of the rare fields that has influenced the western science and technology.