PREFACE
Anyway, a growing number of patients are looking for help from the specialists in the area of complimentary medicine, and particularly acupuncturists among the others. For a long list of disorders acupuncture has been used not less, but rather more effectively than the conventional medicine. Nevertheless, prior to proceeding to the above mentioned list I would like to emphasize the following very important aspect. That is that the Chinese Medicine refers to the human body and consequently to its physiology and pathophysiology in a substantially different way from the allopathic (modern) medicine. Therefore, the perception of diseases, their diagnostics and treatment are totally different and incomparable to this of the modern medicine. Without getting to deep into the principals of the Chinese Medicine, it is essential to mention one of the major differences between the Chinese Medicine approach of the diagnostics and treatment as compared to these of the modern medicine. In the classical modern medicine all the efforts are generally directed to treat the symptoms of the disease. Chinese Medicine refers to the symptoms as to alarm signals, which can be turned off, but it does not treat the cause of the disease. According to the Chinese Medicine, the symptoms of a disease are a guide that can be used in combination with the diagnostics to find a cause of a disease and to affect it. That is why, although a diagnosis may sound the same in the Chinese Medicine and modern medicine, its essence and consequently the treatment are different. For instance, such concepts as pain, neuralgia, asthma, rhinitis etc. have unequal meaning in the modern medicine as compared to the Chinese Medicine.
CONTENTS
WHO classification of diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials
1st category
2nd category
3rd category
4th category
Evaluation of the effect of acupuncture
LIST OF INDICATIONS FOR ACUPUNCTURE TREATMENT ACCORDING TO
WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION
In 2003, the World Health Organization published a landmark study titled "Acupuncture: Review and Analysis of Reports on Controlled Clinical Trials". According to this study, the diseases or disorders for which acupuncture therapy has been tested in controlled clinical trials can be classified into four categories:
1. Diseases, symptoms, or conditions for which acupuncture has been proven to be effective
Adverse reactions to radiotherapy and/or chemotherapy
Allergic rhinitis (including hay fever)
Biliary colic
Depression (including depressive neurosis and depression following
a stroke)
Dysentery, acute bacillary
Dysmenorrhoea, primary
Epigastralgia, acute (in peptic ulcer, acute and chronic gastritis, and
gastrospasm)
Facial pain (including craniomandibular disorders)
Headache
Hypertension, essential
Hypotension, primary
Induction of
labor
Knee pain
Leukopenia
Low back pain
Correction of
fetus
malposition
Morning sickness
Nausea and vomiting
Neck pain
Pain in dentistry (including dental pain and temporo-mandibular dysfunction)
Periarthritis of the shoulder
Postoperative pain
Renal colic
Rheumatoid arthritis
Sciatica
Sprain
Stroke
Tennis elbow
Abdominal pain (in acute gastroenteritis or due to gastrointestinal spasm)
Acne vulgaris
Alcohol dependence and detoxification
Bells palsy
Bronchial asthma
Cancer pain
Cardiac neurosis
Cholecystitis, chronic, with acute exacerbation
Cholelithiasis
Competition stress syndrome
Craniocerebral injury, closed
Diabetes mellitus, non-insulin-dependent
Earache
Epidemic haemorrhagic fever
Epistaxis, simple (without generalized or local disease)
Eye pain due to subconjunctival injection
Female infertility
Facial spasm
Female urethral syndrome
Fibromyalgia and fasciitis
Gastrokinetic disturbance
Gouty arthritis
Hepatitis B virus carrier status
Herpes zoster (human (alpha) herpesvirus 3)
Hyperlipaemia
Hypo-ovarianism
Insomnia
Labour pain
Lactation, deficiency
Male sexual dysfunction, non-organic
Mιniθre disease
Neuralgia, post-herpetic
Neurodermatitis
Obesity
Opium, cocaine and heroin dependence
Osteoarthritis
Pain due to endoscopic examination
Pain in thromboangiitis obliterans
Polycystic ovary syndrome (Stein-Leventhal syndrome)
Postextubation in children
Postoperative convalescence
Premenstrual syndrome
Prostatitis, chronic
Pruritus
Radicular and pseudoradicular pain syndrome
Raynaud's syndrome, primary
Recurrent lower urinary-tract infection
Reflex sympathetic dystrophy
Retention of urine, traumatic
Schizophrenia
Sialism, drug-induced
Sjogren syndrome
Sore throat (including tonsillitis)
Spine pain, acute
Stiff neck
Temporomandibular joint dysfunction
Tietze syndrome
Tobacco dependence
Tourette syndrome
Ulcerative colitis, chronic
Urolithiasis
Vascular dementia
Whooping cough (pertussis)
Chloasma
Choroidopathy, central serous
Colour blindness
Deafness
Hypophrenia
Irritable colon syndrome
Neuropathic bladder in spinal cord injury
Pulmonary heart disease, chronic
Small airway obstruction
Breathlessness in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Coma
Convulsions in infants
Coronary heart disease (angina pectoris)
Diarrhea in infants and young children
Encephalitis, viral, in children, late stage
Paralysis, progressive bulbar and pseudobulbar
EVALUATION OF THE EFFECT OF ACUPUNCTURE USING THERMOGRAPHY
(MEDICAL INFRARED IMAGING)
The effect of acupuncture on the areas of pain is generally confirmed using thermograms taken by an infrared imaging system. Areas of chronic pain, inflammation, wound healing, or disease can be evaluated thermographically to assist the physician with a diagnosis and treatment plan in the following way:
To detect thermal indicators as they relate to infection, inflammation, or fibrocystic disease
To determine thermal indications of angiogenic or blood vessel significance that would require further evaluation
Infrared imaging is the test of choice for undetermined pain disorders such as:
Muscular skeletal disorders, including wound healing and chronic pain
Impaired peripheral circulation, including varicosities, peripheral vascular disease, or blood viscosity concerns
Neuropathies
Infrared imaging in two patients suffering from pain in different areas
Red and yellow color areas of increased temperature typical for infection, inflammation, and pain. Blue and green color areas of normal temperature.