Acupuncture : An Alternative medicine

Acupuncture therapy has long been connected with Oriental Medicine, but it has lately been discovered in the field of Complementary and Alternative Medicine as a potentially curative method with excellent scientific proof . Oriental Medicine is commonly regarded as having a distinct pathophysiological view of disease, the flow of which is a type of energy.

Acupuncture treatment began in China and is commonly associated with Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). It has its own method for disease diagnosis and treatment. TCM-based acupuncture therapy is extensively utilised across the world, however different types of acupuncture exist, as do countless varieties of acupuncture therapy. This is especially true in Japan, where a new type of acupuncture has emerged that employs fine needles with shallow insertion without de-qi, which refers to a sensation of numbness, distension, or tingling at the needling site that radiates along the corresponding meridian and is considered an essential feature of TCM acupuncture therapy.

Action mechanisms

A group at Peking University released a major pharmacological study in 1950, which sparked scientific interest in the mechanism of action of acupuncture. They proved that an analgesic effect requires an induction period of 15 to 20 minutes and hypothesised the involvement of chemical compounds in the analgesic activities of acupuncture. Because the opioid receptor antagonist naloxone antagonises electro-acupuncture analgesia (EAA), endogenous opioid peptides (EOPs) were considered important possibilities for a role in acupuncture's action .Furthermore, following EAA, a rise in EOPs in plasma or cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) has been seen in humans .

An's group at Peking University established a frequency-dependent participation of several EOPs in EA-induced analgesia, employing a variety of approaches to identify the various opioid receptors and their endogenous agonists. Han concluded that low-frequency (2 Hz) EAA is induced by the activation of mu- and delta-opioid receptors in supraspinal CNS regions via the release of enkephalin, beta-endorphin, and endomorphin, whereas high-frequency (100 Hz) EAA is induced by the actions of dynorphin on kappa opioid receptors in the spinal cord.

Patients treated for pain symptoms at acupuncture clinics, on the other hand, frequently get pain relief right away, with no induction time, which may be owing to gentle manipulation of the small needle. As a result, several processes may be required to explain the rapid benefits of acupuncture. DNIC, which was initially described by Le Bars et al. based on experiments in anaesthetized rats, is one proposed mechanism to explain the instantaneous decrease of pain by conditioning stimulus. A noxious stimulus delivered to any part of the body, according to DNIC, can cause rapid inhibition of pain transmission in neurons of the trigeminal caudalis and/or the spinal dorsal horn.

DNIC involves the activation of thin afferent fibres (A-delta and C fibres), which are stimulated by painful pinching, immersion in a hot-water bath, or injection of analgesic drugs into muscle . As a result, nociceptors that respond to mechanical, thermal, and chemical stimuli provide afferent DNIC input. These receptors are found throughout the body in skin, muscle, and viscera. These afferent inputs have properties that are quite similar to polymodal receptors (PMR)

Acupuncture points

Acupuncture points are important components of acupuncture therapy for diagnosis and treatment. Unfortunately, despite several research attempting to clarify the anatomical or histological relevance of acupuncture sites, no conclusive proof of their existence has been produced. Tenderness and palpable hardenings of acupuncture sites, on the other hand, are thought to be sensitization of nociceptors and their effector functions, at least in part.

Evidences that support Acupuncture therapy

Acupuncture clinical studies have been undertaken in large numbers, and as the quality of these trials has increased, so has the quality of the data supporting evidence-based acupuncture therapy. The German mega trials, among these acupuncture experiments, heralded a new era in acupuncture research. Cumming detailed the specifics of the German trials known as ART, ARC, COMP, and GERAC, and we direct the reader to his study for further information on the German Acupuncture Trials. Acupuncture for the treatment of persistent musculoskeletal pain has also been the subject of several systematic reviews and meta-analyses, many of which have been amended and updated.

Safety

When acupuncture needles are put incorrectly, they can cause major adverse outcomes because the needle causes tissue harm. Cross-infection of the hepatitis B virus through the use of unsterile acupuncture needles was found as another severe concern in the 1980s. Professional healthcare practitioners have virtually eradicated such infections in acupuncture therapy due to improved understanding of the need of preventing such infections through the use of single-use disposable needles.

Regarding adverse occurrences associated with acupuncture therapy, abundant trustworthy data from prospective surveys of acupuncture safety done in the United Kingdom , Germany, and Japan  are now available. There were only six reported cases of adverse events such as pneumothorax, depression exacerbation, acute hypertensive crisis, vasovagal reaction, and asthma attack with hypertension and angina in a larger-scale German survey of over 9000 German physicians providing 760 000 acupuncture treatments . In another major survey of 2.2 million consecutive acupuncture treatments, two patients (pneumothorax and lower limb nerve damage) professional healthcare providers had adverse outcomes.

On the other hand, there is a recognised link between NSAID usage and internal bleeding or perforated gastro-duodenal ulcers, and a comprehensive investigation found that one in every 1200 patients using NSAIDs for at least two months dies from gastro-duodenal complications . Acupuncture therapy is safe, according to data from large-scale prospective surveys, and significant adverse events and fatalities caused by acupuncture therapy are uncommon.

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The journal publishes original research papers, clinical studies, case studies, and review articles on a variety of medical subjects, such as Herbal medicine, Biomedicine, Osteopathic, Regenerative, Holistic, Naturopathic, Functional, and Herbal medicine, as well as Psychology and Counseling, Physical Therapy, Homeopathy, Acupuncture, and East Asian Medicine, Nutrition, and Dietary Therapy.

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