Meridian study on the response current affected by acupuncture needling direction

Chien-Hung Lin, Yung-Fang Tan, Shih-Ting Tseng, Wen-Chung Chen, Chuan-Wei Kuo, Chia-Chuan Wu, Tsung-Ming Tsai, Wen-Long Hu, Ting-Chang Chang, Yu-Chiang Hung, Chien-Hung Lin, Yung-Fang Tan, Shih-Ting Tseng, Wen-Chung Chen, Chuan-Wei Kuo, Chia-Chuan Wu, Tsung-Ming Tsai, Wen-Long Hu, Ting-Chang Chang, Yu-Chiang Hung

Abstract

Acupuncture manipulation with needling direction is important for the therapeutic effect based on traditional Chinese medicine theory. However, there is controversy over directional manipulation and therapeutic effect, despite some research showing that acupuncture manipulations may have something to do with therapeutic effect. Moreover, research usually focuses on the therapeutic effects on the acupoints and acupuncture time rather than exploring the manipulation method. This study applies a semiconductor analyzer to investigate the effects of acupuncture manipulation. 10 healthy participants were recruited for the study. We used a cross-over design to compare the effect of different manipulation on individuals. This study employed an Agilent B1500A semiconductor analyzer to investigate the electric characteristics of meridians under directional supplementation and draining manipulation. We measured the electric current of meridians under different manipulation, and compared the difference between supplementation and draining manipulation in healthy individuals. The electric current was significantly larger in supplementation manipulation compared to draining manipulation in the meridians (P < .001). The measured electric current in the same manipulation methods did not show a statistical difference between meridians (P = .094). The different directional manipulation result in different electric currents in humans. Our finding implies that the supplementation and draining manipulation may result in different therapeutic effects clinically as the description of traditional Chinese medicine theory. Therefore, directional manipulation may need to be taken into consideration in future acupuncture studies and clinical management.

Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05261919.

Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no conflicts of interest to disclose.

Copyright © 2022 the Author(s). Published by Wolters Kluwer Health, Inc.

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Schematic experimental setup of our study. Participants receive acupuncture first followed by measurements using an Agilent B1500A semiconductor analyzer connected to the needles and providing electric output to measure the electricity of meridians.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
(A) The acupoints involved in this study. (B) Schematic diagram showing the supplementation and draining manipulations. We defined supplementation as the angle of needle insertion to skin as 45 degrees with the needle tip in the same direction as the meridian. In contrast, draining is defined as the angle of needle insertion at 45 degrees with the needle tip direction opposite to that of the meridian.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
The primary outcome of our study. The mean electric current and its 95% confidence interval for supplementation and draining manipulations in different meridians are shown above.

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