Comparative study on skin temperature response to menstruation at acupuncture points in healthy volunteers and primary dysmenorrhea patients.

OBJECTIVE: To assess skin temperature response to menstruation at acupuncture points in primary dysmenorrhea (PD) patients and healthy volunteers so as to explore acupuncture point specificity in reflecting diseases in the light of skin temperature. METHODS: Fifty-two PD patients and 49 healthy volunteers were recruited. Skin temperature measurements were performed with a skin temperature assessment device at 10 points. Absolute difference between skin temperature of the same point on the left and right side is used as main outcome measure. RESULTS: On the first day of menstruation, when menstrual pain attacking in PD patients, a significant increase in skin temperature difference was detected at Taixi (KI 3) compared with the healthy group (P < 0.01). A significant reduction in skin temperature difference was detected at Taixi (KI 3) in the first day of menstruation compared with those values in the third day after menstruation (P < 0.01) in the healthy group. On the third day after menstruation, a significant reduction in skin temperature difference was found at Zhongdu (LR 6) in PD group compared with the healthy group (P < 0.05). No significant differences of skin temperature were detected at other points (P > 0.05). CONCLUSION: The skin temperature difference at menstruation-relevant points in PD patients did not all change significantly more than those in women without PD. Significant difference was only found in Taixi (KI 3), the Yuan-source point of Kidney meridian.

[GAO Yuchun's experience in the treatment of insomnia].

Professor GAO Yuchun's experience is introduced in insomnia treated with the acupuncture technique for regulating the governor vessel and calming down the mind. GAO's acupuncture technique is in one of the series of character techniques in the acupuncture academic school in the region of Hebei province. Professor GAO believes that insomnia resultes from the disharmony of the nutrient and the defensive and the dysfunction of spleen and stomach. The acupoints are selected on the basis of regulating the governor vessel, calming down the mind, nou-rishing the water and the wood to harmonize the mind, strengthening the spleen and stomach to calm down the mind, in which the acupoints of the governor vessel and the yuan-primary points are used in combination. For regulating the governor vessel, Baihui (GV 20) and Shenting (GV 24) are used, combined with Zhongwan (CV 12) for regulating the nutrient and the defensive and calming down the mind. The yuan-primary points of the heart, liver and kidney meridians are selected to nourish water and wood and harmonize the mind. Tianshu (ST 25), Zhongwan (CV 12) and Yinlingquan (SP 9) are used to strengthen the spleen and stomach and for the treatment of the root cause of disease. Additionally, the sequence of needling, the needling techniques for reinforcing and reducing, as well as needle withdrawing are considered. The idea of regulating the governor vessel and calming down the mind as well as the needling techniques for insomnia are considerably introduced in the paper.

Do changes in electrical skin resistance of acupuncture points reflect menstrual pain? A comparative study in healthy volunteers and primary dysmenorrhea patients.

Electrical skin resistance (ESR) measurements were performed with a four-electrode impedance detector at 10 points bilaterally on the first day of and the third day after menstruation in 48 healthy volunteers and 46 primary dysmenorrhea (PD) patients, to assess whether ESR changes of acupuncture points can reflect menstrual pain or not. The results showed statistical reductions in ESR imbalance ratio between left and right side that were detected at SP8 (Diji) and GB39 (Xuanzhong) (P < 0.05), and a statistical increase was detected at SP6 (Sanyinjiao) (P = 0.05) on the first day of menstruation compared with those values on the third day after menstruation in dysmenorrhea group. No significant differences were detected at other points within and between two groups (P > 0.05). This study showed that the imbalance of ESR at uterine-relevant points in PD patients is not significantly different from those of healthy women on both the 1st day of and the 3rd day after menstruation. The ESR imbalance ratio of certain points can either be lower or higher during menstruation in PD patients. The ESR property of acupuncture points needs to be investigated in further clinical trials with appropriate points, diseases, larger sample sizes, and optimal device.

[History and progress of study on electrical properties of acupoints at home and abroad].

Ninety articles on electrical properties of acupoints and 38 closely related articles with the time raged from 1950s' till present were retrieved and studied from Pubmed, CNKI and VIP databases. Conclusions indicate that most of the low-resistance points or high potential points of the skin are in accordance with acupoints. However, not every acupoint shows the property of low-resistance or high potential feature. The electrical properties of acupoints vary with the physiological and pathological changes of the human body. And the electrical properties of acupoints which share the same name on the affected meridians located symmetrically on bilateral sides of the body were in a condition of imbalance. However, the result of measurement can be affected by the type of apparatus, intensity, size and number of the electrode etc. Therefore, the future study should be focused on the reaction laws of electrical properties of acupoints under physiological and pathological conditions through selection of different resistance measurement apparatus and strictly control of the impacting factors during the researching process.