“Rats with damaged spines can walk again thanks to acupuncture. But it’s not due to improvements in their energy flow or ‘chi’. Instead, the ancient treatment seems to stop nerve cell death by reducing inflammation.
Acupuncture’s scientific credentials are growing. Trials show that it improves sensory and motor functions in people with spinal cord injuries.
To find out why, Doo Choi and his colleagues at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, South Korea, damaged the spines of 75 rats. One-third were given acupuncture in two locations: Shuigou – between their snout and mouth, and Yanglingquan – in the upper hind leg. Others received no treatment or “simulated acupuncture”.
After 35 days, the acupuncture group were able to stand at a steeper incline than the others and walk better. Staining their paws with ink revealed that their forelimb-hindlimb coordination was fairly consistent and that there was very little toe dragging, whereas the control groups still dragged their feet.”
Read more at New Scientist (thanks, Mill)
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Is this really acupuncture though? What resemblance does the procedure used in this experiment have with traditional techniques. I think this is simply piercing using needles. Whether it counts truly as acupuncture is something to ponder as it seems it simply serves to aid in nerve cell repair by agravating the area. Hardly as inspiring or exotic an explanation as those offered by woo merchants.
“between their snout and mouth”
Last time I checked this wasn’t the spine.
Humans seek for accupuncture theirselves .. these rats don’t.
I myself dont reallly believe in accupuncture. But I dont dislike the fact that the article mentions the fact that it might be simply stress due to the sharp needles that triggers something in those rats. Although accupuncture needles are not really painfull. But if they used the same needles on rats .. considering the size of rats .. to them those needles are huge ofcourse and might indeed cause pain and stress.
Awfull to read how they damage animals for this. They could have used humans for experiments. Spinal cord injuries?? That’s something you never would try to cure with sticking needles into someone. Only in a few cases perhaps, if surgery is not an option. But then you should also experiment on those humans.
It has the same effect as homeopathy or praying.
I didn’t expect to find something like this on derrenbrown.co.uk
I agree Peter.
i wonder if this is yet another thing we can cure in rats but not people.
anyway, it helps to be the nationality of the modality you are using.
I just finished a blog post about this New Scientist article (link in my name), where I point out that if you look at the human study that’s linked to in the paper, it’s not actually double blinded. There is no sham acupuncture in the control group. It’s useless as far as I’m concerned. Another thing is that New Scientist doesn’t mention that the human study is about *electrical* acupuncture, a difference which would have been worthy of noting.
In regards to the animal study, I agree with Fred. The explanations given for the positive results are entirely physiological in nature. There’s no mention of chi or anything, so how can the the results be credited to acupuncture?
I was given acupunture for my CRPS/ RSD (Complex Regional Pain Syndrome/ Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy ) in right ankle. I was apprehensive & sceptic about it, thinking that it would most likely make things worse by over stimulating the area.
I was wrong and after a 2 treatments started to notice a difference. After 4 treatments the swelling had reduced & discoloration had improved. I had a reduction of pain & pain meds became more effective. Treatment only lasted for a few weeks before i needed a ‘top up’ for pain but 9months on and the swelling and discolouration is still much better.
I’m not saying acupuncture is a miracle cure & is for everyone but it does help in some cases. More research is needed to find out why & how it helps & the the benifits it can have for some people.
I’ve been having acupuncture for the treatment of epilepsy and have found it hugely beneficial, both in the reduction of seizures and the anxiety associated with having them. Medication has a multitude of scientific credentials, yet I’ve found it to be far less helpful than acupuncture which has little to no scientific endorsement.
Of course this is acupuncture. The points used in this study are points used on humans and would be indicated for similar health problems. Furthermore, acupuncture points are not necessarily inserted where the problem is. The point “between the snout and mouth” is on the Du meridian which traverses the spine.The advantage to using animals is that you eliminate the possibility of the placebo effect,
Funny one for me – I am a sceptic with pretty much everything, and as per some comments above, I don’t believe in Chi, meridians and all that. In saying that, I was randomly given acupuncture when I was younger on my shoulder – I didn’t know what it was or what it was supposed to do, but it did something – probably what Fred said in the first post around aggravating the area.
Would be interesting if there was anything to it.
First, I don’t like the use of damaging rats fro validating acupuncture – there are much better methods for this.
There are may studies – some a more water tight methodology than others – a more interesting one was the use of a point classically used to treat pain (Hegu LI4) – when this point was stimulated it turned part of the brain off. This was detected by scanning the brain and its changes in activity. The part of the brain was said to be to do with the recognition of pain.
Then there are numerous theories and evidence to see the chemical changes in the body when fine needles are inserted into acupuncture points. These have been shown to reduce inflammation.
The point I make is Acupuncture is complex. One experiment will not pigeonhole it -