Tag: acupuncture and fMRI
Editorial: Neural Substrates of Acupuncture: From Peripheral to Central Nervous System Mechanisms
This editorial article summarized recent acupuncture research found. It came up on my feed because of Vitaly Napadow, friend of blog. He’s branched out so much in his research, I’m glad to see him still intimately involved in acupuncture issues. Vitaly Napadow,1,* Florian Beissner,2 Yiwen Lin,3 Younbyoung Chae,4 and Richard E. Harris5 Author information Article…
Read MoreModulation of brainstem activity and connectivity by respiratory-gated auricular vagal afferent nerve stimulation in migraine patients.
This study combines two key areas I’m interested in. One is using auricular vagal stimulation, and the other is migraine. Napadow has been a colleague of mine for over 10 years and he does brilliant work. He’s an expert in brain imaging and fMRI. Frankly, I’ve hesitated to use ear stim in migraine patients because…
Read MoreAcupressure for Cancer Fatigue: Richard Harris
The SAR conference finished yesterday and there were some very provocative presentations. The work that I am most amazed at is the work of Richard Harris from University of Michigan. But there were other very impressive presentations also. I’ve posted about Richard Harris’ work on Acupressure for cancer fatigue. He fleshed out and presented the…
Read MoreEvoked Pressure Pain Sensitivity Is Associated with Differential Analgesic Response to Verum and Sham Acupuncture in Fibromyalgia
This is an important observation and conclusion, that not all patients are alike in their response to needling. Some patients prefer, if not require light needling. I did a poster presentation on this very topic in Stockholm. The more general take away, is that there is definitely a role for “precision medicine” in acupuncture; better…
Read MoreTranscutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation (RAVANS) fMRI in Migraineurs
I have been exploring Transcutaneous Vagal Nerve Stimulation (tVNS) by way of auricular cymba concha stimulation as an adjunct to acupuncture treatment for over two years. This article by friend of blog Vitaly Napadow, looks at TVNS in migraineurs. They up the ante a bit by synchronizing the stimulation (30hz, non-painful stimulation) with exhalation. This…
Read MorefMRI and Effective Migraine Acupuncture Treatment
In this study, they gave intensive treatment. Daily acupuncture for 5 days, 2 days off for 4 weeks. I was surprised that their results were not better. They also used three different treatment protocols, two relied heavily on gall bladder points, one with St 37 and Pianli. In sum, quite different protocols than what I…
Read MoreTerminology and Word Games: Somatosensory Stimulation
A rose by any other name would smell as sweet? Apparently not. The Somatosensory Stimulation in this article is acupuncture, of course. I can’t blame them for wanting to distance themselves from the “stigma” of using the term acupuncture if they want their article submitted. Kind of hilarious though. They found clinical improvement in this…
Read MoreHypothalamus and Amygdala Response to Acupuncture Stimuli in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome
This article is almost 10 years old, but apparently I’ve never posted it on the blog. It’s pertinent to the autonomic piece of the puzzle that I’m trying to solve re:acupuncture results. Hypothalamus and Amygdala Response to Acupuncture Stimuli in Carpal Tunnel Syndrome V Napadow,1,2 N Kettner,2 J Liu,1 M Li,1 KK Kwong,1 M Vangel,1 N Makris,3 J Audette,4 and KKS Hui1 Abstract Brain…
Read MoreHarris Acupressure Protocols for Cancer Fatigue with Chemotherapy
These two point prescriptions were presented in Boston at the SAR. The points for relaxation were, Yin Tang, Heart7. Liver 3 and Spleen 6. The points for energy were Sishencong, UB10, LI4, Sp36, and Ki1 They found that even the relaxation points lead to less fatigue. I have found no journal article to document their…
Read MoreAcupuncture Stimulation and EEG fMRI
Carefully done study in healthy volunteers looking at stimulation of St36 compared to nonacupuncture points. Mu wavelength increases with acupuncture stim, not with stim to nonacupuncture points. This suggests that there is a pain inhibitory effect through the mu activity that is triggered by acupuncture at acupuncture points, but not at nearby points. Full…
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